Things (pondering on consumerism and environment)
Well this is a little bit different from my previous musings in one way... It is not written while I am suffering from insomnia... though I'm dead tired so I figure the result should be pretty darn close to the same.
Well the cousins are leaving today after being here for a week and half (for a week of which they were staying at my house) . And I have to say I am actually a bit relieved. Oh, they're wonderful boys for the most part... very nice... but a week is almost too long to have four of them running around your house. Particularly because they are all at ages where patience... or understanding the need for some quiet time... or for realizing that yes, people do sleep past 7:30 and that chasing eachother about the house is not an activity appreciated by others at that time in the morning. *rolls her eyes*
But anyway Matt and Sem's parents should be hear within the next ten minutes... and then I'll get a modicum of peace... and then Sunday or Monday (not sure which at this point) the rest of the family is off on holidays (I stay here because of work). While I would like to go with them it will be nice to have some quiet, peaceful time in the house.
Well I've just looked over what I've written previously and its much to factual and coherent to fit in with my other posts so I think I'll abandon the daily rote of what is happening in my life and go on to more abstract musings....
People seem to be obsessed with things... we don't ask people "to watch our things/stuff", we say "she/he has so much", "Oh wouldn't you love to have that?" and many, many more phrases of the like. I am certainly not innocent of this myself... as I often think about what I would get if I had the money... though it invariably seems to involve computers, books, music (playing or listening), or some sort of equiptment for outdoor activities (bikes, kayaks and the like)...
But it really hit me today as something that was pervading in the air... perhaps its the presence of my aunty Beth and her son who have been here for over a week now. They are nice people and also very wealthy... and obsessed with stuff...
Gareth quite frequently will send me e-mails... or talk to me on the phone about the new such and such he has... his mother is constantly shopping... and it doesn't seem to really make either of them any more happy really.
I, personally am very hard put to understand this... oh, I am certainly not thrifty if I go out wiht my friends I tend to spend money... but usually on food or something to share between us... (or a movie and they are so expensive lately that a movie alone is enough to get rid of the money burning a hole in your pocket)...
But even that I can see in relation to the whole phenomenom of consumerism... in developed countries it seems that that is the driving theme the cogs of the wheel that drive the whole system... the need for more stuff... But its not so much a need as a burning desire... its the demand that keeps the supply coming... or perhaps it is the supply of so much that creates the demand that drives this wheel...
I really don't know and the one who can figure it out definitively will have modern economics pinned down.
It is in our blatant and rampant consumerism that everything seems to run... but it also appears to be giving us a growing sense of momentum as we hurtle down a slope that could eventually lead to our doom.... (my that was a bit fatalistic of me wasn't it?)... But it really is something to think about... the more we take out of the earth the less there is... but not only are we taking resources out of the Earth we are also putting pollutants back in. This spells disaster for many species every day and as we begin to burn holes in the food web the worry is that this will come back and hit us...
As a species we have a mentality not unlike a twenty year old guy (or girl for that matter), we seem to beleive that as a species we are untouchable... immortal and will be here forever. But like the twenty year old if we fall off the cliff the species will go... exitinct. Its happened to many species before and it can happen to us if we aren't careful... and all our concrete and iron buildings, all our designer clothes, our gas-guzzling vehicles aren't going to save us... nope, in fact if we continue the expansion of these and the other industries at the rate they are growing now... they may do the opposite.
"Progress" seems to be the watchword of the day, a country's successfullness is measured in its growth (per capita, per annum) but perhaps a different scale should be used. Scientists have done this experiment many times... students have heard it in science and done questions related to it in math many, many times over.... if there are bacteria/rabbits/[insert rapidly growing population here] doubling every day... or even every year... it doesn't take long for the space to fill, the food to run out... all the incredible little multitude of limiting factors to come into play in their lives and well then good bye population.
Now people may argue all they want that this is in a closed system, but my answer to that is that we are in a closed system. We might be able to send people up in space... but we aren't getting any life sustainging resources up there... the earth is in and of itself a closed system and we are stuck on it.
Now I don't want to sound all doom and gloom... because I'm not. I just think we need to change our attitudes... rather than more, more, more and grow, grow, grow... I think we should concentrate on balance. I truly believe we can live in a certain balance... not that it would be easy and it would take a few generations... but by cutting back on a lot of our production of goods we do not need and that don't even really add that much to our lives, by concentrating on our effect on the environment... on taking as little from the Earth as possible... by slowly changing our lifestyle we can save the Earth for generations to come.
And I think that's something everyone could agree is a worthy cause... I mean like I said at the beginning we are obssessed with stuff... we're greedy little buggers and shouldn't we want to keep the largest 'thing' we have in good condition: the Earth.
Over and out.
Well the cousins are leaving today after being here for a week and half (for a week of which they were staying at my house) . And I have to say I am actually a bit relieved. Oh, they're wonderful boys for the most part... very nice... but a week is almost too long to have four of them running around your house. Particularly because they are all at ages where patience... or understanding the need for some quiet time... or for realizing that yes, people do sleep past 7:30 and that chasing eachother about the house is not an activity appreciated by others at that time in the morning. *rolls her eyes*
But anyway Matt and Sem's parents should be hear within the next ten minutes... and then I'll get a modicum of peace... and then Sunday or Monday (not sure which at this point) the rest of the family is off on holidays (I stay here because of work). While I would like to go with them it will be nice to have some quiet, peaceful time in the house.
Well I've just looked over what I've written previously and its much to factual and coherent to fit in with my other posts so I think I'll abandon the daily rote of what is happening in my life and go on to more abstract musings....
People seem to be obsessed with things... we don't ask people "to watch our things/stuff", we say "she/he has so much", "Oh wouldn't you love to have that?" and many, many more phrases of the like. I am certainly not innocent of this myself... as I often think about what I would get if I had the money... though it invariably seems to involve computers, books, music (playing or listening), or some sort of equiptment for outdoor activities (bikes, kayaks and the like)...
But it really hit me today as something that was pervading in the air... perhaps its the presence of my aunty Beth and her son who have been here for over a week now. They are nice people and also very wealthy... and obsessed with stuff...
Gareth quite frequently will send me e-mails... or talk to me on the phone about the new such and such he has... his mother is constantly shopping... and it doesn't seem to really make either of them any more happy really.
I, personally am very hard put to understand this... oh, I am certainly not thrifty if I go out wiht my friends I tend to spend money... but usually on food or something to share between us... (or a movie and they are so expensive lately that a movie alone is enough to get rid of the money burning a hole in your pocket)...
But even that I can see in relation to the whole phenomenom of consumerism... in developed countries it seems that that is the driving theme the cogs of the wheel that drive the whole system... the need for more stuff... But its not so much a need as a burning desire... its the demand that keeps the supply coming... or perhaps it is the supply of so much that creates the demand that drives this wheel...
I really don't know and the one who can figure it out definitively will have modern economics pinned down.
It is in our blatant and rampant consumerism that everything seems to run... but it also appears to be giving us a growing sense of momentum as we hurtle down a slope that could eventually lead to our doom.... (my that was a bit fatalistic of me wasn't it?)... But it really is something to think about... the more we take out of the earth the less there is... but not only are we taking resources out of the Earth we are also putting pollutants back in. This spells disaster for many species every day and as we begin to burn holes in the food web the worry is that this will come back and hit us...
As a species we have a mentality not unlike a twenty year old guy (or girl for that matter), we seem to beleive that as a species we are untouchable... immortal and will be here forever. But like the twenty year old if we fall off the cliff the species will go... exitinct. Its happened to many species before and it can happen to us if we aren't careful... and all our concrete and iron buildings, all our designer clothes, our gas-guzzling vehicles aren't going to save us... nope, in fact if we continue the expansion of these and the other industries at the rate they are growing now... they may do the opposite.
"Progress" seems to be the watchword of the day, a country's successfullness is measured in its growth (per capita, per annum) but perhaps a different scale should be used. Scientists have done this experiment many times... students have heard it in science and done questions related to it in math many, many times over.... if there are bacteria/rabbits/[insert rapidly growing population here] doubling every day... or even every year... it doesn't take long for the space to fill, the food to run out... all the incredible little multitude of limiting factors to come into play in their lives and well then good bye population.
Now people may argue all they want that this is in a closed system, but my answer to that is that we are in a closed system. We might be able to send people up in space... but we aren't getting any life sustainging resources up there... the earth is in and of itself a closed system and we are stuck on it.
Now I don't want to sound all doom and gloom... because I'm not. I just think we need to change our attitudes... rather than more, more, more and grow, grow, grow... I think we should concentrate on balance. I truly believe we can live in a certain balance... not that it would be easy and it would take a few generations... but by cutting back on a lot of our production of goods we do not need and that don't even really add that much to our lives, by concentrating on our effect on the environment... on taking as little from the Earth as possible... by slowly changing our lifestyle we can save the Earth for generations to come.
And I think that's something everyone could agree is a worthy cause... I mean like I said at the beginning we are obssessed with stuff... we're greedy little buggers and shouldn't we want to keep the largest 'thing' we have in good condition: the Earth.
Over and out.
posted by Old Earth Accretionist | 5:57 p.m.
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