Ten steps to environmental nirvana...

 

like everybody for me it would be extremely difficult to adopt all  the steps, but -

 

step1, only for the music

step 2 -i can cycle to work easily, will do it this summer as i'm not on shifts.

step 3 - will have to stop using the car someday, but others less active rely on me!

step 4 - i only shop in supermarkets for others less active, i would rather go to the local shop or market, but buy British produce if it is there (no Cox's!) .

step 5 - haven't flown since 1989, never intend to again.

step 6/7 - i grow tomatoes, planning on other foods - i refuse to use any insecticides, which cause ecological devastation, these should be banned by law. there are other ways to deter bugs.

step 8 - big project - seriously considering for the future

step 9 - where i live recycling is almost a religion already by law, but not by all.

step 10 - i wouldn't dream of dumping my cat - would have to get permission from the council for chickens.

 

 

My "suggestions" were deliberately put in a way to sound utterly ludicrous, but quite often today's ludicrous suggestion is tomorrow's accepted way -  for most of us today it would be impossible to adopt most or hardly any of these environment-saving suggestions,  as we are conditioned to using the the infrastucure we have found ourselves with, most of these "steps" are of course unthinkable for us now,  but 100 years ago people were doing all these things quite happily (the recyclers of the late 1940's and 1950's would put us to shame, but their situation was forced upon them by wartime conditions and shortages) - supermarkets didn't exist, hardly anybody had a car except the Doctor, domestic animals were their pets, most grew vegetables and flowers in their garden without pesticides, a holiday was a day trip to the seaside in a motorbus, they shopped at the local market, and most people did go to Church!  - the point is, we find ourselves  trapped by progress,  enjoying a luxury lifestyle our great-grandparents would have hardly dreamed of,  nothing wrong with that of course, we've worked hard for it, but 100 years into the future our descendants may  have to adopt a leaner lifestyle when resources become scarce, maybe even having to follow the "suggestions" above by law .

 

I agree with the pet issue, perhaps it sounds a bit harsh but there are no passengers on the environmental journey, everything has to be useful - cats were traditionally used to keep the mouse/rat population down, how many these days work for their keep?   - most wouldn't dream of getting rid of their cat of course, but even i remember in the 1950's my neighbours keeping chickens and growing some of their own food, meeting each other at the local shops across the road, my dad cycled 8 miles into London every day to work, we walked everywhere (i walked to school) and occasionally used the bus, nothing was thrown away, i even wore all my big brother's old clothes. One down side was that we used coal fires which did cause pollution, gas central heating soon solved that problem.

 

I should have also included only building your own furniture with wood from your own country's replenished forests, but 10 steps is enough to be going on with! Also if you sell your car(s) you can afford to buy those solar panels - your carbon footprint is getting much smaller - it's practically disappeared!

Step One - don't waste valuable resources going to "Environmental" pop concerts -  AGREE... "environmental concerts" are money-making concerts anyway.. do you really think the band donate their money to enviromental causes? I don't know... I wouldn't hold my breath though...

 

Step Two - Work from home - AGREE IF POSSIBLE... really, until I have a degree, I have to work hourly jobs.. I don't see how my employer (a big retail chain) will allow me to work from home..

 

Step Three -   get rid of  the car - AGREE... IF YOU LIVE ANYWHERE BUT IN FLORIDA...Here you are just NOBODY without a car.. sad but true..

 

Step Four - stop using  Supermarkets - NOT AGREE... might agree if there were local shops everywhere like in my country.. but even those stores don't have high quality products... and here in Florida, well, I'd have to drive miles to find a local shop, so I'd end using more gas...

 

Step Five - stop flying in Aeroplanes - ... OK! I'll start fying in helicopters or friednly hawks then...Really, if you have to go to China, is it realistic to say "take a ship"....NOT AGREE.

 

Step Six - Supplement with your own food - AGREE

 

Step Seven - Grow your own flowers - AGREE... but please, don't confuse with "grow your own plants, if you know what I mean...

 

Step Eight - Install your own solar panels in the roof of your house - AGREE.. if you give me the money to buy them, I'll do it. If not, let me work OUTSIDE using MY CAR to go to my job to earn money to buy them.  

 

Step Nine - Adopt recycling like it was a Religion - I COULDN'T AGREE MORE if by that we get rid of all the Pat Robertsons and fanatic christians and muslims....But as idiot an animal as the human is, there would be jihads or "holy wars" based on the environment...

 

Step Ten - Get rid of the pets - SHUT THE ......  (my two cats were adopted from a shelter, by the way).

 

1. put a couch and a stereo in the middle of your backyard, wearing a hippie t-shirt, fuchsia sunglasses, no shoes, big pants, bandana, smoking green stuff....

 

2. put a copy of NEVERMIND into the stereo... there you go...

 

Step 10 could be changed to: "stop getting pets from the wild". The number of birds, marmosets, monkeys, lizards, snakes, bugs, etc taken from their native places is astonishing and this illegal trade must end now!