Food for thought with to large a Footprint...

I was remembering "World Overshoot Day" and looked it up, to my great surprise it's already past, it's really time to think about it more seriously, something I am doing all my live already, but you should maybe start doing it NOW...

Overshoot Day: Living too Large on a Finite Planet | Blog Posts | WWF

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/earth_overshoot_day/

Peace

 

In this regard, i have already planted numerous trees in 3 different islands, we also use solar system in 4 different projects. As housewife, i make sure no wastage food goes in the garbage, i also encourage my daughter, friends, relatives buying surplus/used clothes, but, i still shop when there's an awesome sale. Our garbage are being segregated at the dumpsite by the locals who wants to make money out of it. As much as possible we buy vegetables & fruits that are produced by small farmers that can't afford pesticides. I know somebody who works at the Geothermal Power Plant Valencia and surprisingly his electric monthly bill is only 650pesos/month,i asked him why? He said he wants to save energy for Bacong!

 

That's the way to go and keep going, to many people are just not caring enough about their impact on the environment, they live to large and to selfish, in Switzerland where I come from we live very selfish and through a lot of Brainwashing only a few people are different. But if you are living in a Third World Country where your next door neighbour has nothing and you have everything, I find this really perverse, many people I know are coming here and because of their pensions from abroad live here with all the luxury they could never afford at home, why do you have to rub it in that you are rich by comparison...

 

Just curious. How did you get to PH in the first place? Not by one of them carbon unfriendly airplanes I presume.

 

By YAT (Yugoslavian Airline) in 1984, by then only a very few people were aware of what was coming up, for me the reason to leave Switzerland and come here, it would have been pretty difficult to come here overland or by ship...

As an afterthought, you and everybody else living in this congested City should have a look on Google Earth and count all the BIG new house with their swimming pools and then justify them in the face of their neighbours that use the minimum of water...

 

Everyone should be able to live at whatever lifestyle they can afford. It is not any one person's fault that someone else is poor or doesn't have/haven't had/wasted opportunities. Enjoying the fruits of your efforts and labor is your right and you should not feel any shame because you have and someone else has not. Wealth distribution and global socialism has not yet come about, even though everyday there are more and more people in this world not willing to work for what they get.

Having said that, it is always a good idea not to trash your home (or home planet). More trees, less trash, less waste, better planning is always a good thing.

The main problem is that this planet has too many people for the resources that are being used. Resource Economist have stated more than once that the maximum population that this planet's resources can sustain is 2.5 billion people. We are now at 7 billion and rising.

Global warming is a natural cycle of the planet. Perhaps man's action can slow it down or speed it up, but not by more than a few generations(at most). After the planet has reached its peak temperature, it will then begin to cool and it will slowly cool until it becomes a frozen wasteland (ice age). Anything man thinks they can do to stop it is hubris and arrogance.

Mother Nature and plant Earth know better than we do and they will be in control. Those who cannot stand the heat will die. Those that live and cannot survive the cold will die. Through cyclical events Mother Nature will right all past wrongs and a new planet will emerge, just as a plant goes dormant in the winter and lives again to bloom and flourish through the spring. So goes man. Live as best you can, while you can. Mother Nature will erase all evidence of your existence over time.

 

Yes larry_H,
I agree with most of which you said.
"Mother Nature will right the wrongs"for example, but I doubt this planet will be recreate it will more than likely be laid to waste!
As for the "Sod you Jack, I'm alright attitude",I dont go along with that. Not everyone has the same opportunities in life and therefore should not be judged by how little they may have or assumed lazy for not improving their lifestyle.
Feeling Guilty may not be the words to use, but I believe in helping those less fortunate.

 

John Boy, while it is true that not everyone has or has had the same opportunities in life as others, and of course, many of those "less fortunate" are not worthless and lazy, too many people are relying too much on handouts and not enough on a solid work ethic to achieve their goals...Also true, some people have no goals....

I do agree that we should help other less fortunate than ourselves, and I do....I will give almost anyone a hand up.....however, I will give no one a hand out. (Emergency disaster relief and children are the exceptions...no one can stop the weather and children cannot change their circumstances).

I don't feel guilty for working hard, gaining an education, furthering my career and being able to retire in comfort.

 

Did I write that one should not get a good education, or not have dreams? What I am getting at is the moral compass that man is supposed to posses, how can one live with the facts known to him that one is consuming to much of everything and disregarding the fate of ones neighbours (on a global and local scale), if one pollutes a lot because one uses all the gas and diesel powered toys and vehicles without a second thought, one consumes food and drinks in to large amounts so he/she and their family becomes obese without thinking of the ones that have barely enough, than that's the things I want you to think about and change your habits, you will feel better ones you change...
It's not about Climate Change it's about ones attitude...

 

"moral compass that man is supposed to posses"

....this would be a Judeo-Christian concept? A made up concept to get people to give to the church so that they can in turn spend a little of that (very little) to help others. They say, you will feel so good about yourself knowing you have helped your fellow man. But the church you gave that money to, they will spend less than 1% of it to help anyone.

Man is an animal, we call ourselves civilized because we learned how to use our thumb and do possess an imagination. But, man is still an animal and our first thought is of our own needs and wants. That said, we are also an envious and jealous animal. We want what we don't have and we are envious of what other people have that we don't have. Instinctively, we take care of ourselves and our family first. We are hunters and gatherers. Meaning we get for ourselves and we keep for ourselves. Only when we feel we have more than enough do we share with others. Sharing does give us a feeling of superiority. We feel good about ourselves when we know that we have so much that we can afford to give some of it away to others. Wasting resources is a matter of perspective. What you call waste, someone else might call need. Nobody gets to say whether someone else's needs or wants are not valid.

I read on the internet; comments from people when someone else spends a lot of money on a huge house..."OMG! They could have fed half of Africa for the money they wasted on that house!"....Why it is anyone's responsibility to care for of support anyone else othere than those they choose to support? If I can afford to drive a Hummer that get 8 MPG, then I have the right to do that. And no one has the right or authority to tell me I can't.

Do you drive a car? Why don't you walk or ride a bicycle? Do you use an A/C? How dare you when so many other people don't even have electricity! Do you enjoy three meals a day? Gluttony! When so many others can barely get 1 meal a day? Do you have a savings account? Take that money out of the bank and give it to the poor and unfortunate! Do you own apartments that you rent? How insensitive! Let the poor and underprivileged live in them for free...you obviously have too much since you can afford to build them. You are a waster of resources simply so you can gather more unto yourself. Or maybe you give all the rent money you collect to charity each month?

We are animals. Hunters and gatherers/ nestors and providers...Such is the nature of man....anything else that we try to be is against our basic nature.

My basic philosophy is this. No one else matters but my family and other select few people that I care about. (most people feel this way whether they admit it or not) I am nobodys keeper. I'll help you do almost anything. I won't do it for you. Your choice. Your decision. Like myself, fend for yourself or fail to thrive.