This is something i have been thinking about quite a bit. Divajood recently wrote a post about it- and it is all over the news and media. What is it? Saving the planet. Diva asked what we, as americans, were willing to do to help save the planet- and that is what got me thinking. What am i willing to do? What am i willing to sacrifice?
The american culture is built around cheapness and convenience- are we willing to give that up to save the world? Will we, who makes up 5% of the world's population but is the number one polluter, be willing to lead the way to save the planet? I hope so.
I googled some sites and came up with 6- but there are many, many more. Overall, what i saw were things that we can get started on right now- cost effective ideas that we can do right away to start conserving our resources. These ideas take preparation and planning- we can't cop out by being too busy at work or with family. These strategies take moments to do- and really minimal effort. This will help in the short term while we pursue long term planet saving goals. I will link to the sites i found but here are some ideas i came up with myself:
instead of a full week's vacation every year, perhaps a long weekend and use the savings to upgrade appliances or other home improvement projects
buying less and buying local. Dollar stores are tempting but the amount of money they actually cost in terms of waste and trucking the goods in- isn't worth it.
pressure of the purse- research and buy from companies who go green. If we can use our buying power for good- and pressure corporate america to care about the environment, that is easy enough to do- think before you buy
pressure local and national politicians- this may seem futile- but if there are enough of us out there voting and voicing our preferences, some of these eggheads are bound to get the message.
There are many other things we can do- instead of buying huge amounts of gifts- perhaps planting a tree in someone's name- or supporting a conservation organization that protects the rain forests or wetlands. Talking to family and friends in our circles and making commitments to start- is a start. This isn't something that we can try at- we have to do it- or not do it. If we don't do it- then we don't have a home.
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3 comments:
betmo, I like it that you spent some time thinking about ways we all can help, as well as researching those useful links. That is activism (on behalf of the Blue Marble) at its finest. May I link to this for part of my weekly "activism" feature?
carol- you don't even have to ask- link away :)
We've been doing the tree thing and I love it, thinking about a tree standing because of my birthday. One thing that people in this country won't consider giving up is the American dream - owning one's own house with a yard. We may have to learn to live in commune, but that's going to take time.
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