We are all in this together: ‘environmentalists’ were campaigners who believed they saw a problem and tried to persuade people. Now the reality of environmental destruction is right in our faces and people who understand the pickle we are in can only help us to cope with an increasingly unpredictable climate.
We ALL have a choice –
A. Wake up and smell the coffee and work out how we can modify and improve our lifestyles so that we have a less negative impact on the environment that sustains us or
B. Let it all hang, take chance on it all being OK and bequeath our kids whatever remains.
If you are in Group A, congratulations! There’s lots of advice and information available, or you may be able to get out there and help others.
If you are in Group B, imagine WHAT IF the International Panel On Climate Change (thousands of scientists) and almost all of the World Governments are right and climate change and habitat destruction IS a reality?
Technology cannot solve the problem on its own – it can’t put the oil and coal back under the ground as a resource or restore extinct species and ecosystems. Nor can it prevent the sea levels rising during the coming decades.
Can you actually take that risk? Isn’t it time to think about how you can contribute to a future for yourself, the children and their children?
And let’s face it, if you consume less and waste less and destroy less, you will save money and your world will be a nicer place. You’ll even come to feel good about it!
One Environment, One Humanity, One Survival.
Hi Doug,
I agree with your stand here, it still amazes me how most people have their head buried firmly in the sand, but I think if they knew a lot more they would leave it buried there. The more I discover, the more I feel that it is all too late and that we do not have what it takes to turn things round. That would involve sacrificing our very comfortable life style in the west and adopting universal birth control.
Cheers,
John Bond (Rowland’s cousin)
Hi Doug,
I’m glad to see calling you an “Environmentalist” the other day got under your skin in a way as to prompt this latest blog. You make a good point. Its no good looking out side of ourselves towards the Environmentalist Leaders of the past. They have served their purpose educating us and making us all aware of the critical state of the earth. As you say, now is the time for all of us to become One with each other, for each other. Thanks for your continued role modeling.
Susanne
Dear Doug,
My involvement in humanitarian work particularly in West Africa has brought an ever-present realisation of the difference in life styles between ourselves in the “developped world” and our fellow humans in Africa. 200 deaths per 1000 births before 5 years old in some countries; a 5-mile hike for water; no food (apparently starving to death is not a very pleasant experience); death from malaria where a $5 bed net would have saved the life; no medical supplies; limited education, often excluding the females etc…
Comparing this to our lives brings the realisation that we have absolutely everything we could possibly need and a lot more beside – and still we manage to complain and according to many studies today, this material well-being doesn’t necessarily bring happiness! So what’s the link with your stance? Obvious n’est-ce pas? It’s even possible we could be happier with less, and we could share the surplus so that our brothers (not excluding the girls!) on this earth lead a life that is worthy of the name. And where do you and I start? Give away some of the surplus (but what about tomorrow – “we may need it”!); cancel the overseas holiday or the drive to the golf course? John above makes the same point, so what’s the answer? (Incidentally, he’s probably wrong about universal birth control as we are heading for 9 billion on earth whether he likes it or not. However, by about 2050 the world’s population starts to decline as education, health care and other improvements kick in – so the answer lies in educating people and providing good health care. This of course assumes we can still breath and find food to eat when there are 9 bn of us!
Any suggestions on how to procede are of interest, bearing in mind the minor constraint that politicians never think long term and are always out for what is good for themselves in the short term.
love
John