10 ways to save the planet

I was sent this link last week on Earth Day and thought it was a change of pace from the standard group of "How to go green" tips.


1. ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS
2. STABILIZE THE BOTTOM BILLION
3. CREATE A GLOBALLY TRANSPARENT SOCIETY
4. BE PREPARED, GLOBALLY
5. EMPOWER WOMEN
6. ENABLE A FUTURE FORWARD DIET
7. DOCUMENT ALL LIFE
8. NEGOTIATE AN EFFECTIVE CLIMATE TREATY
9. BUILD BRIGHT GREEN CITIES
10. BUILD NO NEW HIGHWAYS


The link goes into detail on each point. So, there aren't easy solutions to these points, but they do present something to think about.


I was a bit curious on why empowering women was a way to save the world, and it says that "by giving women equal rights we also help create a more sustainable world. Research shows that women who have access to education and rights over their own bodies choose to have fewer children, who they can give more to. Overpopulation is a serious issue, with huge implications for problems like climate change."


While there are many reasons I choose to stay away from motherhood, this is one that kind of surprises me. I think I harp enough on it without bringing "I'm saving the planet" into the mix. But it's a good point - overpopulation does exhaust the planet of its resources.

The tip about a future-forward diet is also timely. "We can greatly decrease our environmental and social footprints by eating locally, organically and mostly meat and dairy free (according to the U.N. report Livestock’s Long Shadow, livestock produce more greenhouse gases than all of the world's transport combined)." My post on vegetarianism is as yet unwritten, but one of these days it'll come around. But anyway, with all of this swine flu business going around, it again brings to the surface how animals are treated in order to get meat meant for consumption.

The list is definitely a thought-provoking one, so please check it out.

2 comments

Pete Murphy said...

The biggest obstacle we face in changing attitudes toward overpopulation is economists. Since the field of economics was branded "the dismal science" after Malthus' theory, economists have been adamant that they would never again consider the subject of overpopulation and continue to insist that man is ingenious enough to overcome any obstacle to further growth. This is why world leaders continue to ignore population growth in the face of mounting challenges like peak oil, global warming and a whole host of other environmental and resource issues. They believe we'll always find technological solutions that allow more growth.

But because they are blind to population growth, there's one obstacle they haven't considered: the finiteness of space available on earth. The very act of using space more efficiently creates a problem for which there is no solution: it inevitably begins to drive down per capita consumption and, consequently, per capita employment, leading to rising unemployment and poverty.

If you‘re interested in learning more about this important new economic theory, then I invite you to visit either of my web sites at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com or PeteMurphy.wordpress.com where you can read the preface, join in the blog discussion and, of course, buy the book if you like.

Please forgive the somewhat spammish nature of the previous paragraph, but I don't know how else to inject this new theory into the debate about overpopulation without drawing attention to the book that explains the theory.

Pete Murphy
Author, "Five Short Blasts"

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stopping by Pete! I will have to check those links out.

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