So much has happened since I last wrote here. I had an incredible time in Switzerland and met some incredible people. Wow, what a month. I am doing a course in art and design at college, which i love. I make a mess everyday and its constructive! :) I am the happiest I have been for a long long time.
The reason I wanted to write here today is based on a movie I watched the other day, "No Impact Man". The man involved decides to try to reduce his carbon footprint as close as he can to zero during the period of a year. Him and his family take on this challenge and he writes about it in his blog http://noimpactman.typepad.com/
Most people who watch this, I think, will be people who are already aware of the impact they have on their environment and are interested in the conservation of our beautiful planet but I could be wrong. I feel that a lot of the time, there is a generalisation about these kinds of movies and blogs etc and its some "damn hippy environmentalists" who are trying to preach the general public about how to be green and happy and love the earth but this is not necessarily so. It is not at all "preaching", it is teaching. I find that in most cases, people do not fully understand (myself included) the impact that we are having on our planet and what we have to do to try to reduce that, even just a little. You don't have to be a hippy or an environmentalist to give a bit of time to help the earth, and it shouldn't be seen as just another fashionable thing to do to gain a bit of self respect or even an ego boost. The fact of the matter is that we are slowly but surely killing our planet and raping it of what it offers us. I don't see a lot of evidence to say that we give much back to the world we live in in return for the precious resources that it offers. Yes, there are some who respect this and try their hardest to live in a give and take and borrow mentallity but even things as simple as recycling are sometimes overlooked because "it takes too much effort".
The film "No Impact Man" fascinated me because instead of a one sided viewpoint, there were two throughout the whole screening. The wife in the family seemed against a lot of the project from the start and opposed to her involvment from the start as her husband, no impact man himself, threw himself straight into the project, perhaps a little naively, and became almost obsessed. At the end of the study they were both very much more aware of how they were treating the world they live in and what they could carry on doing in their lives to reduce the negative impact they have on the planet. They realised that they do not necessarily need to live without electricity or use cloth instead of toilet paper for ever, but do small things like shopping locally, using a bike or walking instead of a car, and recycling more to reduce their household waste each week. These kinds of things are easy to do, and yes they may cost a little more in some (few) cases but generally it doesn't require any more effort than anything else.
What annoys me slightly is that generalisation of people who try to take care of their planet a little more. I think its really important that people, everyone, every single person on the planet, do their best to reduce their negative impact on the earth. No matter what that is. I see so many people that just don't CARE and its so sad. We NEED to reduce our carbon output and we need to pay more attention to what we buy, use and throw away. How many of us know where it all comes from and more importantly, where it all GOES TO? We can't keep filling up every nook and cranny until the earth is full. We pollute or land, water and skies with our rubbish and it isn't going t carry on like this forever... One day, when the planet has had enough it will all cave in and if it isn't us that will suffer it will be our children, and our grandchildren to come. I think its selfish to think that it doesn't matter because "we won't be here anyway".
I am not perfect, and never will be but I am merely writing down my opinions in this blog. I don't want to offend anyone, I just want people to think a bit more about how they live and what they are doing to the world that provides so so much for them. We can at least all try a little harder and change at least one thing in our lives that reduces our negative footprint on planet earth.
If you read this, thanks for taking the time :)
A x
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