Change for a better future

I always bring my own lunch during school days from my nursery days until now.  I always pack my lunch and bring utensils thinking that in this way not only did I save money; I also helped the environment by not using plastic utensils and styrofoam. When I learned about the Eco foot print I suddenly realized that even if I am not contributing too much in the world’s destruction I still do. It is unfortunate that it is our fault that our environment is in this bad condition so we should act and do something about it. From now on, I will help in my simple way in saving our nature. While I always bring my own utensils and lunch box to school, I still place my spoon and fork in a small clear plastic. I now realized how much plastic I have used if I have been doing this since nursery. So now, I started to use a non-disposable container for my utensils. In this way I would totally stop using disposable materials for my lunch. This might sound very light but thinking about the years that I have used the clear plastic this will be a great start if can continue this for the rest of the time.

from this...

...to this

And if possible i will also minimize the use of other plastic materials  like plastic bags and start using  Eco friendly bags . lessening the use of paper and recycling some will also be a great way to save our environment. 

Transforming culture: Consumerism vs Sustainability

Everyone wishes to live in a perfect world where everything is abundant and we can always get what we want. Unfortunately, this world where we are living is far from perfect and even more unfortunate is that we, humans, think that it is. Consumerism is now a trend in the society: Weekend sale in the malls and supermarkets, new fashion style for clothes, shoes and gadgets.  People consume stuff like mad without realizing its long term effect in the planet and on ourselves. 

 It is said that consumerism is beneficial for the economy on the long run, but will it be beneficial if in the end all we have is money while our natural resources are already gone? Too much consumption leads only to destruction.  Consuming more means extracting more raw materials from our natural resources. By that, we can pretty much predict what will happen if this trend continues. Subtracting too much from a number will result in a negative answer and we don’t want to be in that negative’s place. 

The only solution in that problem is to change our view as a society from consumerism to sustainability. Sustainability means configuring civilization and human activity so that society, its members and its economies are able to meet their needs and express their greatest potential in the present, while preserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems, planning and acting for the ability to maintain these ideals for future generations. By changing our views and actions we can preserve what is left while sustaining ourselves. What will you choose: Consumerism or sustainability, Environment or Ecosystem? I think that there will surely come a time that our society will be forced to accept that sustainability is required for us humans to keep on living but I fear that when that time comes, it will be too late for all of us. Why wait till everything is gone if we can still preserve what we have now?

The Story of Stuff

 Extraction to production to distribution to consumption to disposal, all things that we buy, all that we use and every product we acquire has undergone this process. Our society today demands us to practice the concept of consumerism. This means that people should just purchase things even if it’s not necessary just to help the world’s economy. In a way, we can say that consumerism really do help the economy of the country where these products are being sold. What about our natural environment? Yes the economy is progressing but our nature is the one suffering. Everything in excess is bad and especially for extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. Each step in that process causes enough harm in our environment for us to rethink our way of life.

Our society has set a standard on the way we are living. We need to buy, wear, and eat like everyone else if we want to fit in the society. And that standard changes every now and then that people should constantly obtain what the standards are. Sometimes purchasing something really unnecessary without pausing to reflect what will happen to that stuff after they are through with it.

Our nature is dying, and these days, it is all our duty to save and protect it. All of can do something to improve the situation and a better way to start is by being a responsible consumer. By simply rejecting to use plastic bags and Styrofoam we can change the state a little better. Remember that it’s either you’re part of the solution or you’re one of the problem. Pause and reflect the effects of your actions to our nature. Know the story of stuff.

The 11th Hour

Turn mankind’s darkest hour into its finest. The 11^th Hour is a documentary film about the situation of the natural environment and how our actions affect the condition of our planet. This documentary shows us the serious problems that should be addressed immediately if we want to continue living in this world.

Global warming, water and air pollutions, deforestations, melting ice caps, the 11^th hour shows us the current state of the environment we are living and how we can make things better or worse through our actions. We can’t deny the fact that we ourselves are the reason that these problems are here. Lacks of discipline, poor implementation of the law or just plain carelessness are some of the reasons these problems have gone from bad to worse. The complications look overwhelming based on the figures analysis shown by the scientists but it is not too late for us to do something. There’s a saying: “a bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.” The time to make that turn is now and everyone is obligated to do something to fix these problems. With the advancements in technology and the cooperation of everyone it should not be that hard to reverse what is going on around us. We should understand that change should start from one’s self if we want to change the world around us. All of us should persevere and preserve what is left in the nature.

 We should remember that it is not the world that we are saving by fixing these problems but ourselves. The Earth will continue to live and will adopt just like what it is doing for the past millions of years but humans cannot easily cope with such changes. We should learn to live together with the nature and think what is best for both. We should act, time is running out.