Earth Night

Last night we gathered with friends to watch the movie "Do the Math" created by the folks at www.350.org. Lynn blogged about it earlier in the month (theres-new-movement-afoot). While the movie was informative and shared some compelling information about climate change, I believe it fell short in providing a more comprehensive view of the causes with respect to our diminishing quality of life on planet Earth. In fact, I have found this to be the case with most of the documentaries or articles I have come across. They tend to hone in one one or two main ideas or causes, such as energy consumption or the pursuit of obtaining fossil fuels. I compiled a list earlier this morning that I emailed to our friends who watched the video last night. I have decided to share it here. It is not a full list but you will get the idea nonetheless.

Contributing factors in the decline of our livable planet:

• Diminishing water supply due to weather changes and poorly planned development. i.e. California as an agricultural state despite lack of natural water supply. Palm Springs as a desert houses numerous golf courses as does Arizona. Too many of these situations to list. Simply areas that cannot sustain
• Overpopulation especially in areas that are not conducive to humans. Cannot grow food, no water, no natural resources locally.
• Mass production of food - Big energy hog as well as water drain. Also contributing to change in climate. Not even getting into the negative impacts to the human body or cruelty to animals.
• Developing nations utilizing old school infrastructure. i.e. China and its numerous coal plants(contributing to CO2 probs) instead of renewable energy methods. People in China have been wearing masks for years to protect against pollution. Imagine the environmental problems there that we don't see!
• The obsession with accumulating goods. Started in the western countries, US in front of the line, now spreading to the super highly populated areas like China. The demand for a Gucci bag, Mercedes, etc. has increased the need to produce, thereby utilizing more resources to produce.
• In turn, creating more and more waste. Garbage, factory, etc. Waste has a huge impact on the environment. Oceans, land, air.

I am sure there are more examples. That is how I see it. It would take a huge cultural shift to get people to change their behaviors. And what's more, some of these folks are experiencing modernization for the first time. I hardly think they would be agreeable to having it taken from them. It's obvious that we must sharply reduce the demand for all resources, just not sure how we do that globally.

I am not a doomsayer by any stretch of the imagination. Rather, just an observer of the changes going on around me. I appreciate the time and energy people have put into educating us on our food, energy, climate changes, etc. It's just that I believe that there is a lot more to the story. The interconnections exist and are pervasive. Nuff said. :)