As humanity continues to expand and consume at an alarming rate, the consequences of these actions are beginning to have a negative effect of this planet we call home. It’s come to my attention that nearly every time I turn on the tube to watch the news, the airwaves are cluttered with floods, heavy rains, tornados and other severe weather patterns from around the world. It is becoming clear that as we continue to do nothing (or at least not enough) in regards to preventing global warming or living sustainably, severe weather situations are becoming more frequent, costly and deadly. Link
Choosing to do nothing is not something that can continue to be a viable option if we are going to provide a world similar to ours for future generations. Choosing to live amongst our neighbourhoods and society as if our unsustainable actions can continue to go on unaccounted for is not only ignorant, irresponsible or destructive but distressing to think that people don’t care or more importantly that our governments are choosing to do nothing to stop this vicious cycle.
Here is a link to Al Gore’s blog, he posts almost daily and his favourite topic is always the costs of our inactions. Link
As Westerners we are so spoiled and completely unaware of the costs associated with entering a grocery store and expecting to find a variety of produce from around the world. No one really understands the costs associated with the mango they are purchasing and how it traveled thousands of kilometers by boat, rail and trucks for us to pay just 99 cents a piece. What about all the pesticides that were applied to that crop and how they will inhabit the soil for over a decades worth of growing seasons. What about the amount of CO2 that was released into the atmosphere during the growing, shipping and distribution processes for you to enjoy your beautifully ripe mango. Not to mention the fact that you were too lazy to walk to the grocery store and opted to take your massive SUV to purchase that same mango. The money spent on growing, harvesting, shipping and purchasing that one fruit could have provided an entire village with clean drinking water in less fortunate countries. I’m not sure what’s worse, democratically choosing to do nothing to modify our ways or how relentlessly we spend our money on such luxuries as a mango, in January, in Canada, when that same dollar could have given dozens of people clean water access in Africa.
It’s more than just the ignorance of our exotic produce purchases that is unsustainable. The produce that we do grow here in Canada or which we purchase abroad is commonly grown using monoculture practices. This method of farming has become necessary to feed all the hungry mouths across our nation but at what cost? These practices lead to our dependence on pesticides to create successful yields. These practices have caused the massive losses in biodiversity around the globe. These practices are slowly poisoning us yet we choose to do nothing to stop this.
Below is a video which briefly explains the great potato famine that struck Ireland. This famine was the result of monoculture potato farming practices and was responsible for the death of over 1,000,000 people. The video is part two of a three part series and goes on to explain the dangers of our obsession with McDonalds fries and how the mass production of Russet potatoes has destroyed potato biodiversity. Its pretty interesting and will definitely make you feel guilty the next time you say yes to “would you like fries with that!”
The ultimate cost of inaction will be the loss of our planet. Everything we love about Earth will change and the loss of species as well as life will be cataclysmic. If we don’t start planning our societies to function in a more sustainable manner and begin to make positive sustainable choices in how we buy, live and eat we are doing nothing more than digging our own grave. As a society, we are too dependant on so much and have control of so little. This deeply concerns me and I want change now but I am only one man and we are only one environmental student body. I can’t help but sometimes feel as if the world has no hope and that its impending destruction becomes more evident with the passing of each fiscal year…
