... and carry on regardless with your fingers crossed!
"Humankind is having a negative impact on almost every aspect of the earth's environment and is heading towards catastrophe unless urgent action is taken. The Global Environment Outlook has been compiled by hundreds of scientists from around the world. It concludes we are living way beyond our environmental means and if this continues the survival of humankind could be in doubt." Radio 4, 6pm News, 25 October 2007
Has anyone done anything like my quality of life improvements, below to acknowledge the above realities?
- Driving a smaller car than you could afford or, limiting yourself to one car per couple or family or, making the motor last longer by repair rather than replacing.
- Reducing your hypermobility when it comes to both work and holidays. My holidays are in a 12 year old car that doubles up as my superb hotel on wheels. When it's my five star hotel it is zero fossil fuel use 'cos the central heating comes from my layers of clothing and down filled sleeping bag!
- For work, when I thought for so long that, as an essential car user, I could not possibly do without the motor, I have proved that my HPV (human powered vehicle) is just as good, with little or no loss of productivity - and 20p/mile danger money, on official council council business, from all you cycle blind drivers!
- Banning the tumble drier and using the fresh air or the warmth of the house.
- Giving up the dish washer for manual washing up - that I have now returned to!
- Walking or cycling short distances instead of jumping in the carbon polluter.
- Only boiling the water needed at any one time.
- Reducing the time when the shower is burning up the energy and the planet's wealth.
- Spending less - especially at Christmas!
- Forgoing electric heating, for gas; forget the plane and use the train.
- Condoms to cut your family size and to cut catastrophic climate change, instead of blaming immigration! 3m growth in UK population with zero migration or, 10m growth with immigration over 25 years, said the statisticians this week. Source: Evan Davis on 'Today', 26 Oct 2007
- Back all that up by refusing to vote for the political parties that still peddle their live it up now and pay later economics; and, that so love engaging in war fighting on foreign (was Communist but is now Muslim) soil.
Here, we have eleven 'do something' actions; and, one occasional vote (or abstention) to change the politicians and to be part of the solution. Best not to wait for the politicians to act but, to be your own politician and to act yourself!
From alpha to omega for the meaning of life!
Live more simply so that future generations - and poorer nations - can simply live!
Live so that others may live (all religious faiths and political parties could try non-violence as an alternative to their present aggression).
Try leaving the planet in as good a heart as when you were born into it.
Retrench your lifestyle to postpone ecocide!
Economic and population growth means ecological disaster is, in effect, what the UN report, at the top, has stated this week.
