Things People Can Do to Save Earth
1. Plant trees; lots and lots of trees; loads and piles and forests of trees (make sure to plant indigenous trees, check with state DNR for help making selections)
2. Stop using money.
I think that about does it.
A Bit of ExplanationMaybe I should explain #2 a bit ( Read more... )
2. Stop using money.
I think that about does it.
A Bit of ExplanationMaybe I should explain #2 a bit ( Read more... )
1. Any use of global money drives the economic system.
2. The economic system is destroying Earth.
3. Therefore, any use of global money is destroying Earth. It's not a happy thought, but it is the way it is.
Premises 1 and 2 are the great truths that are hidden by our global culture. They are not happy truths. I'm certainly not happy about them. I'd like to believe they aren't true, but it doesn't matter whether I believe them or not, they are true none-the-less.
The question then becomes, what is one's goal in life, one's purpose, one's mission. Mine is to "do no harm" and to "help restore Earth to a more pristine state". Given the truths above, my conclusion based on my life goal is that I have to find a way to stop using the current economic system, and further, to help others to do the same.
The global economic system is probably not going to break down overnight. That allows some time for people to make the transition, and to develop the new local systems. My personal plan is to transition off the current economic system within the next five years.
You are certainly right that we are not going to be manufacturing more laptops and phones after a certain point, but we have plenty of those at the moment, and if we take care of them, they will last a long time.
One thing to keep in mind is that the global economic system, as it currently exists, is nearing collapse due to peak oil and other limits. Peak oil, the limits of liquid fuels, we are already experiencing. As liquid fuels (primarily oil) become less and less available, the system will slow or perhaps crash, probably sections crashing here and there at first.
Making a transition away from the global economic system not only meets my personal life mission, but it meets my goal of taking care of my family and "being prepared" for the challenges in the world ahead.
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P.S. I've written much more about all of these concepts in my journal; the more recent posts being the more relevant ones.
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If you trade your neighbor some potatoes, what's to stop them trading it for something that is unethical? Gasoline, beef, a gun? Or does it only matter to you if it is done with money?
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A friend puts in some effort in our garden, and in return, gets a share of the produce during the harvest time.
The friend then takes that food, and tells a parent with some starving children, that they can have the food, once they kill me.
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My mistake was trading with my friend, since he ended up "paying" for my murder.
I think this is illustrative of our current global economy. We trade/buy/sell things from people we don't know. We only look at what we are getting.
In this case, I should have gotten to know my friend very well before trading with him. And, I should have only traded with people I knew well. In a very small economy, or in ones with strong common values, this works well.
In Jared Diamond's book Collapse, he talks about how the island culture of Tikopia managed to become sustainable, and the key to that was that everyone could see what everyone else was doing. No one would support behavior that was violent, or damaging to their environment.
On the other hand, on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), the island was so big that they couldn't see the destruction they were causing, or it was too slow too notice, and in the end, they destroyed the island, and their population collapsed. This is the same as what we are doing with our global economy.
So, what's to stop them?
It is the cultural values that "stop them".
What stops person from putting one of those big disks in their lips, and wearing to work, school, the store, etc. Our culture would ostracize them.
What stops an U.S. citizen person from saying to friends and coworkers that "the U.S. is evil and deserved what it got". Our culture would ostracize them as well.
If people would only trade with others that they trusted absolutely to do the right thing, and those people had the same high standards, then those who would do unethical things would have no means with which to do them.
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