We're Running Out of Earth!

Exploit to survive, or as a fellow blogger Craig Biddle puts it in one of his posts, “Exploiting the Earth—using the raw materials of nature for one’s life-serving purposes—is a basic requirement of human life.” In his post Biddle states, “Environmentalism is not concerned with human health and wellbeing—neither ours nor that of generations to come.”  But what Biddle doesn't understand is this is precisely what environmentalists are concerned with. How can humankind survive in a world that has nothing left to be “exploited?” If we do not make changes to preserve the planet and all its valuable resources we will certainly not be able to survive much longer!

An environmentalist is not someone who believes in the well being of the earth over the survival of humankind. An environmentalist is someone who believes that the earth, our provider, should be treated with respect just as one would respect their parents (the ones that provide for them). It is common sense that in order for any organism to survive it needs resources, resources provided by the planet on which it lives, this is not something humans have any control over. But what we don’t need in order to survive is to overindulge or to misuse the resources that are available to us.

In a recent New York Times article I found online, “The Earth Is Full”, author Thomas L. Friedman uses information from the Global Footprint Network to make his point, “On the whole, says G.F.N., we are currently growing at a rate that is using up the Earth’s resources far faster than they can be sustainably replenished, so we are eating into the future. Right now, global growth is using about 1.5 Earths.”  If this is true than those agreeing with my fellow blogger Craig Biddle, that exploiting the earth “is a basic requirement of human life,”  won’t have much earth left for future generations to exploit. What people like Biddle need to understand is that, until everyone realizes that the way in which we are currently using earth’s resources can’t be sustained, we are going to run out of earth! There is no need to completely stop using earth’s resources but, we need to be conscious of the fact that the resources we do use are not all renewable meaning they will eventually run out.

It is my hope that sooner rather than later people start to realize what is really important here, it’s not about the car you drive or the house you own, what matters is that we are able to live happy, healthy and sustainable lives. Thomas L. Friedman uses a great quote in his article from Paul Gilding, an Australian Environmentalist, who agrees that there is a need for change, “We will realize, he predicts, that the consumer-driven growth model is broken and we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less. “How many people,” Gilding asks, “lie on their death bed and say, ‘I wish I had worked harder or built more shareholder value,’ and how many say, ‘I wish I had gone to more ballgames, read more books to my kids, taken more walks?’ To do that, you need a growth model based on giving people more time to enjoy life, but with less stuff.”

I think we could all learn a little something from Mr. Gilding, what a great way to look towards the future, we could all use the “happiness-driven growth model!”