There are three fundamental attitudes that are leading to the destruction of our planet: greed, apathy (mainly a problem of the wealthy nations) and desperation (mainly a problem of the developing nations).
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Greed affects everyone. It is most obvious in those with power, such as governments or the leaders of multinational corporations. A little bit of greed in them can lead to major devastation. But it could not flourish without either apathy from wealthy consumers or desperation from the starving and powerless. Greed in the powerful could basically be defeated by us wealthy consumers (that’s basically all of us here in the UK) starting to care about how we use our financial power. If we make the effort to buy only ethical products, those making fortunes from plundering the planet will go out of business. Hopefully, Ecoboom can help to make it easy to identify bad products and buy or invest in good ones.
Greed in the general public is also a major problem. It is only small in most individual people, but multiplied many million times is a considerable force. We in the UK are all guilty of it, especially when combined with a bit of apathy: who can resist a bargain, especially when we don’t absolutely, definitely know it’s from an unsustainable or illegal source? There is also the problem of our lifestyles, which are very greedy. 85% of the world’s resources are used by 25% of its population, which is totally unsustainable. The third world is developing and lifestyles there are improving. At the moment the rich live on the backs of the poor, but even so we are consuming more resources than can be replaced. As the life of the poor becomes more bearable, the rich will have to curb their excessive consumption or a crisis point will be reached very soon. We are the rich – it is up to all of us to change. If we do not do so voluntarily, we will run out of things like oil at some point in the not-too-distant future and change will be thrust upon us quite dramatically.
Unfortunately for us wealthy types, the desperation problem is also up to us to solve. If we give just a little bit of our hard-earned but rather excessive cash (on a global perspective) to those without enough to feed and cloth themselves, we could prevent the necessity of habitat destruction in poor communities. Who is going to worry about taking only the big fish when their family is malnourished? If we solved that problem, it would just leave greed to cope with.
Where are we going wrong? republished with permission from Ecoboom.
Angus
Angus Middleton grew up in a small village in Kent, where his parents lived a semi self-sufficient lifestyle. With a degree in Geophysics and a Master’s at LEEDS, he spent time working as an environmental consultant before founding Ecoboom in 2009. Angus started Ecoboom to help people in the UK improve their lifestyles through becoming more eco. Ecoboom aims to bring together all the disparate eco resources on the web, empowering both the providers and users of these resources. Angus believes that unity is vital to achieve a smooth transition to a low carbon world: united we stand, divided we fall! Connect with Angus on Twitter and LinkedIn.
