An article in the Malaysian Times claims that humans are worse than any of the natural disasters that occured in 2005, in terms of the amount of destruction, extinction, death and decay that we bring upon the world.
“In general, the impact of the tsunami is a lot less than the human impact,†said Clive Wilkinson, of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, who is preparing a report on the tsunami-hit reefs.
One quarter of all mangroves in Asia have been destroyed by human activity, while dynamite fishing has decimated many coral reefs. Now the fear is that illegal logging and overfishing, long the bane of the region’s environment, will intensify. Timber and coral for reconstruction, while the UN says fish stocks could face collapse because donors are promising many more boats than existed before the disaster and are offering to industrialise what was mostly a subsidence business.
While the Guardian reports that well-meaning citizens who are trying to practice “carbon offsetting” may actually be inadvertently creating other problems:
Tree-planting has always been a controversial method of soaking up CO2 because it is little more than a short term fix. Once the trees die they rot, releasing the carbon back into the atmosphere. “We are buying a few decades to transform our economies,” says Dr Jackson.
Chris Field, an ecologist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington in Stanford, California, agrees. “It is not a slam dunk in terms of providing the kind of carbon benefit we would like to have,” he says, “In the long run, solving the carbon problem is going to be more about reducing emissions rather than storage.”
So where does this leave the eco-minded citizen who wants to tread a lighter carbon footprint? “Start by doing what you can yourself,” says Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, a government funded company that is charged with helping UK businesses reduce their carbon emissions. “Most of the actions you can take will save you money as well as have a climate benefit.” So installing energy saving light bulbs, insulating the loft or using the car less is a good start.
So that’s where it’s at. The bottom line is that what we are doing to the environment is not something that will “just go away”. The earth is a medley of delicate eco-systems which have been the brunt of abuse for a long time, especially since the industrial “revolution” and the beginnings of mass usage of fossil fuels, including for use in cars.
On the brighter side, there are movements that you can be part of that are developing ideas and products that work to reduce the harmful effects of human civilization.
David Suzuki has set up an excellent venture called the Nature Challenge:
1. Reduce home energy use by 10%
2. Choose an energy-efficient home & appliances
3. Don’t use pesticides
4. Eat meat-free meals one day a week
5. Buy locally grown and produced food
6. Choose a fuel-efficient vehicle
7. Walk, bike, carpool or take transit
8. Choose a home close to work or school
9. Support alternative transportation
10. Learn more and share with others
The Challenge is to pick at least three steps and sign up.
CarFree.com is an excellent site with all kinds of discussions and information about communities built around people, not cars, like what most of urban and all of suburban areas are built.
Transition Culture is a very informative blog with various interesting items about the present and future of energy decline.
These and many other resources are available to us…. the hard part is learning to quit our addictive ways of using and over using energy, whether it be through using less petrol, buying a fuel-efficient car instead of a Hummer or SUV, turning off the lights when we don’t need them, using products not made by torturing animals, or helping the people around us understand the scope of the problem and empowering them with knowledge and resources.
May the sun bring you new energy by day may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life.
~ Apache Blessing