Thursday, September 14, 2006

Thirteen Things I can do To Save The World.

Thursday Thirteen is a highly motivated, intelligent and organized group of about 200 participants who could change the world by starting in their own homes and encouraging their spouses and families to self regulate their consumer habits and communicate change with each other. Remember money talks. Stop spending and the rich and powerful will listen! The action does not have to be permanent: just until the lack of shopping produces innovation in our products and a return to natural food production and cooperation.

With a dozen simple possibly temporary sacrifices...we can turn around this grave situation.

Isn't the most spiritual action we can take an act of sacrifice?

1) Demand my politicians create a $1 dollar a gallon gas tax.
2) Stop buying products made by fossil fuels. (camera film, clothes, fertilizers, some medicines, paints, cds, dvds, bedding)
3)Take public transit.
4)Buy second hand when needing to make major purchases.
5)Demand high land taxes for residences outside cities, especially secondary properties.
6)Eat organic, wild, non-grain fed animals.
7)Investigate manufacturing techniques before I buy a product. Ask large corporations and Franchises how and where their products are made and tell them I won't shop there unless they promote my manufacturing concerns(McDonalds, Walmart, Starbucks, GAP)
8)Preserve sunlight. Golf courses and paved roads are spaces that divert or waste sunlight. Encourage abandoning such wastes.
9) Buy locally made products therefore avoiding the fossil fuels used to transport products.
10)Eliminate nutrient poor, processed foods from my diet. (noodles, bread, rice, corn, cereal, like golf courses, this is a waste of sunlight)
11)Watch my garbage. Germany and Sweden have almost no actual garbage: everything is recyclable.
12) Inspire others to communicate and share a commitment to stop supporting farm foods and oil usage. Blog about it.
13)Share and protect water. Most of the worlds freshwater in rivers and lakes is already being utilized for irrigation, domestic and industiral water, and in situ uses such as boat transportation corridors, fisheries and recreation. Rivers and lakes that are already utilized are mostly far from major population centers and likely users, such as Northwestern Australia, Siberia and Iceland. Throughout the world, freshwater underground aquifers are being depleted at rates faster than they are being naturally replenished, so that they will eventually dwindle. Of course, freshwater can be made by desalination of seawater, but that costs money and energy, as does pumping the resulting desalinated water inland for use. Hence desalination, while it is useful locally, is too expensive to solve most of the worlds water shortages. The Anasazi and Maya were among past societies to be undone by water problems, while today over a billion people lack access to reliable safe drinking water. From Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond.

30 comments:

Red said...

Great T13, Miss Candy!

I think fuel prices should soar to the stage when it becomes impossible for people to drive their cars anywhere. Then, maybe the governments and the automobile industry would consider releasing cars that use natural fuels such as recycled frying oil, or even sunlight. These cars *are* available, it's just that the economic interest in petrol/oil is so high that it would be financially unviable to pull the plug off the car industry.

* (asterisk) said...

Cool list, girl. I think all of these are applicable to any developed country. There are, of course, some things that I would find more difficult to achieve than others, but very few if I were to put my mind to it. Giving up rice would be real tough, for example!

I've commented to you in the past about how little fuel we use, among other things, but the damage done by fuel we don't know we are using -- trucks transporting products to our supermarkets from other countries, for example -- cannot be underestimated. Buy local and organic is a great message.

I truly feel that Red and I do more than many in this respect, but in part that's aided by the fact that we work from home, and I appreciate that not everyone has this luxury option.

Also, families with young children will never give up what they see as the right to use huge fuel-guzzling monster, pseudo-offroad vehicles to drive their brood 300 yds to school.

We should all pull together. When this planet's gone, it's gone. There's no do-over. We've already almost killed it; the least we can do is put it on life support.

Tug said...

Good list!!

Candy Minx said...

Thanks guys. I feel i am always negative sounding...but really, I think some few changes don't have to be huge sacrifices. Especially parents who drive their kids to school...they should all walk!! Especially when I see all the SUVs like you mentioned Asterisk. It's very frustrating.

We believe in teaching our kids manners, but aren't manners ultimatly about safety and consideration for others? The ultimate good manners are simple and not harmful to environment.

Yes, Red, if we put into action a gas tax,...absolutely innovation would bounce through the sky!!!

I don't think we have to give up all ideas of vehicles but more useful types of vehicles...shared transport and bikes for starters.

Thanks Tug!!!

Anonymous said...

I do agree with buying locally made products. I believe that we as community members should always be seeking those out first before resorting to bigger franchises to acquire our needs. I also like the idea concernign garbage. It's amazing to think that we could possibly have none if we all worked together.

I wish public transit were an option for me, but my job requires lengthy drive time. However, I am excited about the development of ethanol, and I am looking forward to seeing what types of alternative clean fuels we can create in the future.

Terrific list, candy minx! Thanks for allowing me to think this morning! Thanks also for visiting my list!

Zeus said...

I had posted a really long response to this list, but unfortunately, the Dread Pirate Blogger decided it didn't want me to post my comment after all!

I did like this list, and though I didn't agree completely with everything mentioned, I do agree with the strong sentiments behind these actions. We can all do something to help our world. Thank you for making us think about our global effect, Candy Minx!

Happy Thursday, and thank you for stopping by this morning!

Anonymous said...

What a grand idea. You've just given me another platform: tax anything that's non local or available in a more environmentally friendly way a bit higher...

Buttercup said...

Candyminx - Damn Girl, you rock!! Awesome post, and I am with you on this. Check out http://idealbite.com/ They have great tips about how to implement a more eco-conscious way of living.

What's your source for the Sweden info? I would be interested to read more.

p.s. Thanks for your comment on my blog!

kaye said...

great list!thanks for stopping by at my TT

Frances D said...

Wow there's a list that made me sit straight up.
Impressed to say the least.
Honored that you stopped by my TT.
See you next week,
Frances

Anonymous said...

We do make way too much trash. Almost everything is disposable, and too few things are recyclable.

Soap comes in a cardboard box wrapped in plastic - really bugs me. I think I blogged about it, but can't remember where it is. Early in the archives, I think.

Thanks for stopping by for TT.

K said...

A great list! I do wish that more people would recycle! I try to recycle alot of our paper around here, but I know I could do a whole lot more too.

Thanks for sharing!!

Kukka-Maria said...

Amen! Frequent your local farmer's markets and consignment shops! Keep the money in your communities and out of Wal-Mart's freakin' pockets!

Great thinkin' TT!

Carmen said...

i just started eating organic. it's expensive! :)

Anonymous said...

This is a great and thought provoking list!

You know, I was very impressed when I was over in the UK with how environmentally-conscious they are compared to the States. My friend was griping about the trash nazis and how you can only put out so much trash each week, etc., but it certainly makes you much more aware. Plus, they live in much smaller spaces and have had to learn to deal with space-saving techniques and conservation a lot sooner than we even started thinking about it.

Since I moved from New Orleans to Maine, I had become aware that Maine was much more of a "green" State than Louisiana. It's certainly cleaner and it's much more interested in recycling, but it doesn't have a good public transit system like you mentioned.

So, while Maine encourages recycling and land conservation and buying from local farmers and manufacturers, it still has some ways to go.

Darla said...

# 11 is very true. For a family of 4, our 40-liter regular trash is collected only every 2 weeks. Everything else gets recycled or composted.

By contrast, when we were in Texas, we had virtually unlimited trash collection twice a week.

Darla said...

# 11 is very true. For a family of 4, our 40-liter regular trash is collected only every 2 weeks. Everything else gets recycled or composted.

By contrast, when we were in Texas, we had virtually unlimited trash collection twice a week.

Anonymous said...

Ouch! Why do I feel so guilty right now? LOL You're right though! Good points!

Anonymous said...

We are avid recyclers here!

Raggedy said...

Great list!
That was packed full of useful information.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
Thanks for stopping in at my place.
Have a wonderful evening!

FRIDAY'S CHILD said...

That would be wonderful if someone could change the world to a better place to live in. Would it be amazing if you could do this!
Thanks for stopping by.

Gardenia said...

Maybe if we all start with this one step at a time - those that are practical for us - in Wyoming we have no public transit without vehicles, and these huge, vast spaces between towns. I believe they even stopped bus service between towns. I have noticed instead of the tight, clustered "villages" we once had, "spread" in the two towns that are building is vast. Thank you for being so far sighted as to think of our children and grandchildren - too few are!

I am checking into Freecyle.com - have you heard it it?

Anonymous said...

good list- of course, now I feel guilty...

Candy Minx said...

Well, my intention with this list wasn't to inspire guilt...because really, no one is guilty. We are all living the same lifestyle with the same belief systems. Throughout school, over and over again we were taught the term "agricultural revolution" like it was a good thing. We were taught that how we live is the greatest society of humans ever.

Well, who made up that stature? And it's probabably...or at the very least, likely not true. Humans have lived just fine, without imminent disaster and war around the corner for more than thousands of years...but closer to half a million years.

We had art, pre-literatuate narratives, which eventually found their ways into Ovid, Plato, Shakespeare. We knew the earth was round and followed the sun, most people could memorize and predict astronomical events and navigate.

Almost no one in our culture reads Shakespeare, Homer or could navigate without some computer system. We are a much inferior human compared to the hunter gatherers before us.

Even birds and turtles can travel the earth without a computer or an aircraft.

Maybe we just to question what our schools taught us, and then we don't need to feel guilty.

Just a small papadigm adjustment.

Anonymous said...

Hi Candy Minx,

What a great list of things we can all do and should do everyday!

I would much rather buy from a local small business than from anyone else not only because of the fuel but to support my community.

I cannot agree more about recycling we can all do more. A lot of recyclable items never make it to its proper destination. Just a little more effort on our part would make a huge difference.

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks for supporting my new site, BlogDumps!

Wolfbernz

rauf said...

Difficult to implement Candy, it has to be slow and gradual. Reversing the so called 'progress' should come as an evolutionary process. It takes time unless something very drastic happens. We can't do anything to save or damage the planet, we are too small. What we can do is to save ourselves from extinction by implementing your list of things.
And it will take time and wisdom which is an evolutionary process.

Deb @ Sugarfused said...

Thoughtful list and makes me realize that I need to be doing more!
Thanks for visiting my TT :))

kaye said...

i really admire you for what you do.for sharing your thoughts.although i think most of them are hard.like the giving up of rice coz for some peole,like in Asia,it is their staple food(and that includes me)and if we are to give it a real deep thought,everything that we do really contributes towards hurting our mother nature.

stop buying clothes...i dont think so...clothing is a necessity...especially in a four season country/state.

take public transit...not if you are in a city where there is no public transit..

We can work towards number 1 & 5.

I gotta work on eating organic foods.it's good for the health anyway.

Number 7 is kinda hard.I can investigate but further than that...

What's with the golf courses?

I agree with buying locally made products.For a lot of other reasons,we should all be doing this whereever we are.

eliminating processed foods is good too.But again,we need carbs too.

We should all be watching our garbages...sad to say not many of us are doing that and to be honest,ive got to work harder on that too.

Same with water,we should not only share and protect it but use it wisely as well.

Thanks for blogging about it.I admire people like you.I know of someone who is an enviromentalist.He is very active in the Philippines.If people like you wont get tired of promoting how to save our nature,then sooner than we expected,we might all live a happy and healthy life.

Candy Minx said...

Kaye, hi and thanks for reading this post and dropping by.

You are correct that making some changes might be hard. When we believe that something is our staple, it could be challenging to let go of that food item. I realize too that for many people on earth...not only is rice a staple, it might be the only food they have, and they may already be starving.

For the sake of this post...it is really important for North Americans and industrialized societies to challenge themselves about what is a staple. Many people are accustomed to the texture and chewing and consuming of rice and bread. they can not imagine meals without these items. But we will not die if we don't eat them.

In fact, our metabolisms will kick start if we avoid them. We can still have normal meals including a stir fry...without rice. Rice adds no nutritive value to a meal. It is filler. so is bread. The meat, or protein say, tofu, and the vegetables are the main source of nutrition in a stirfry. Just leave out the rice.

The large scale benefits of avoiding processed foods for ourselves and ehalth will be huge and reason enough to avoid these fillers.

As for land use, it is a more logical and practical use of land to grwo brocoli, red peppers, cauliflower, onions and garlic. those foods provide anti-oxidants and some trace protein, combined with either a bean or a meat or a fish they provide complete protein.

Yes, we may like bread and rice...but that is not a good enough reason to eat them. children like chocolate and candies, but we curb their consumption. surely as adults we could curb our consumption of something that doesn't provide nourishment?

Clothes are a necessity, of course. but what about buying second hand? Vintage clothes are way cooler than new clothes :) And also, if I walked into anybody's closet...most people s closets, they usually have more clothes than they could ever use. Most of us own enough clothes right now to not need to shop for at least a year. Use your imagination and pick minimalist styles in your closet...and maybe even alter them a tiny bit...for one year. One year. Fashion vanguards exist not because they buy new clothes but because they know how to combine clothes and emulate a new idea or look.

One year, don't buy new clothes...save some money...and pressure stores to provide you with locally made clothes and products in the meantime!

Chances are, if you live in any city...you don't need a car.

golf courses are an example of land that is wasting sunlight. sunlight is a resource. It grows our food and provides life for all animals. Golf courses are wasting sunlight. They are not providing food. Same as pavement. Pavement is a waste of sunlight. My point is we are at a place in history where we can not afford to waste resources.

Yes, we need carbs. Carbs are in all foods. they are in salad, brocoli, meat, squash, onions ,peppers, and all vegetables. They are the easiest thing to find in food. We never have to worry about not getting enough carbs...unless perhaps you are an elite athelete. Everyone else, from joggers to children to pregnant women to laborours get all the carbs they ever need from vegetables. We don't need them from bread, rice or cereal.

I don't consider myself an environmentalist or an activist. i consider myself someone who appreciates logic and practical common sense. But thank you for your kind words.

I believe in discussing our challenges and perhaps as a group we can avert what environmentalists say is coming down hard and fast on us as I type these words...

kaye said...

oic.i see what you mean now.Makes more sense.It is really absolutely true and more practical to use our land more wisely as you stated.Than for golf courses.I dont appreciate golf anyway.

With the clothing,that is so true.I dont actually buy second hand clothing but i do accept hand-me down clothing from relatives coz i remember that the first year when i just got here,my aunt handed me down some of her clothes so I could save money and buy more important stuff for myself.In my country,it is a comon practice to hand-down clothings to family members.Like saving your first child'stuff for the next one.I didnt do that but I gave away my daughter's stuff to my cousin who was gonna give birth the following year.I also remember my sister who is 8 yrs younger than me but was able to use my stroller coz my parents saved it.It made me smile coz somehow you reminded me of these kinds of stuff that we do back home.And I am so sorry,ive thought of you as an environmentalist.Ive got to say sorry even if you didnt mind.

And yes,most of these things are hard to do i believe but i also believe that these things are not impossible at all.It may take time but you are doing a great job coz somehow you've given us all a deep thought and im sure will somehow change some of our ways be it the slightest change.

thanks!!and happy blogging.

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