Here is a
scary, shocking statistic I took from the No Impact Man book:
“of all raw
material taken from the earth to make consumer products, only 1.5% of it
actually ends up in our hands. Meanwhile 98.5% of what we stuck out of the
ground, the rivers and the forests ends up being trucked straight to the
landfill or the incinerator without it ever even being used by us… this means
that of the water and air the manufacturing sector pollutes, of the forests it
cuts down, of the natural habitats it destroys, of the greenhouse gases it
creates….98.5% results in nothing but industrial waste, producer trash that
consumers never even see”
I wanted to thank my friend Alexandria Drohobyczer for telling me about No Impact Man. After watching the
documentary and reading the book (highly recommended) I came to the conclusion
that change is within us.
I am a
simple guy, and I always like to explain things simple. Einstein once said “If
you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”. This doesn’t
mean that I understand well enough the entire environmental/food/water/moral
crisis, but I think I have a good grasp at it. So here is my attempt to explain
why one of the answers to the crisis is within us and why waiting for others to
change is not a good idea.
Companies create products. The more consumers they have the
more money they make. (Arguably) the more money they make the more taxes (generated
by these products) the governments receive and the more influence they have on
those governments. When a material like plastic comes to the market and everyone
is amazed by it, it gets more and more adepts. When a product like bottled
water capitalizes on that consumer behavior and combines it with a human need
(like the need of water), then the product is a hit and everyone buy it (or
find the right excuse of why they ABSOLUTELY NEED to buy it). So companies make
money, government makes money and consumers get what they [apparently] need and
everyone is happy (or at least it seems like). When consumers decide they don’t
want that product anymore (for whatever reason) companies (usually big
corporations) push a ton of marketing, offers, to get consumers to buy again
(or buy more).
Now bear with me. When someone throws garbage on your front
yard what happens? When you break someone else’s house’s window what happens?
Usually the owner (you, your neighbor, the house’s owner, etc) complains,
exerts his/her rights and charges you or makes you fix whatever you damaged.
Now you know where I am going.
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| from aworldfullofcrap.blogspot.com |
If you throw garbage within a forest, cut a tree, poison a river,
pollute the air, etc., who is going to complain, who is going to make you pay
for the damage you have done or make you fix it?. There is no punishment, there is no incentive to
take care of the planet, just because no one (or very few people) would stand
for the planet. I am sure many people care about the planet, but I am also sure
that many people are waiting for someone else to take action (including
myself). We are waiting for companies to go green and take care of the planet.
We are waiting for governments to create laws, enforce measures that take care
of the planet. We are waiting for others to change their consumption habits,
but not us…the others. Guess what. There is no incentive for companies because
they are making money. There is no incentive for governments because they are
also making money and are influenced by those big corporations. So who is
left?: US….you and me, the consumers.
We are the only ones with the power of reducing our
consumption habits and force those big corporations to start reducing their
production. Why are there big automakers still making gas based cars? Because
we consume them. Why are there big companies putting water in plastic bottles?
Because we consume them. Think about it!. If you start reducing (or stop) your
consumption of bottled water, gas based cars, package over package over package
over packaged products, those businesses become unprofitable. Yes, those
companies are going to push a lot of marketing to you, buy 1 get 1 free offers,
50% discounts, this-water-is-the-best-that-can-happen-in-your-life, you-are-nobody-without-this-car type of ads, etc. However at some point if we keep
reducing the consumption those big corporations will just need to find the way
to make money some other way but damaging the planet.
My tip for today: Start your own change, start your own
impact to the world, start reducing your print, start consuming sustainably. We
are the only ones that can change the course of the planet. The future
of the planet is in our hands, don't wait for others.
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity of spending a week in Toronto,
what a beautiful city. The CN tower is just amazing and the view from on Lake
Ontario is phenomenal. In talking into a local resident, she was telling me
that it was prohibited to swim at the lake. The reason: all Toronto factories
are allowed to dump their residuals and chemicals into the lake, making it
unsuitable for swimming. Lake Ontario is one of the Great Lakes of North
America with almost 400 cubic miles (1,640 Km3) of water in it….and it’s
completely contaminated. The lake is important to a wide variety of biodiversity,
hosting a wide variety of animals and plants. The fact that the lake is
contaminated now, only tells us a story for the future. When all this
biodiversity starts to get impacted by the pollution in the lake, the
consequences are going to be huge, specially thinking in the broader lake
ecosystem in the northern part of the continent. 
