EARTH our Home -
Earth is an amazing planet. Brilliant sunrises, colourful song birds, majestic mountains, cooling rains, shade trees and juicy fruits are just a few of the incredible things we love about Earth. People are the most highly developed citizens of Earth and we now realize that we humans hold the cards in the game of life on Earth. Earth, as we know it, is at risk due to a now sizeable human population combined with the unrestrained use of resource-depleting technologies and products. This website will help you learn the facts about Earth, man’s influence and what we, individually and collectively, can do to minimize harm to people-friendly ecosystems.
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WASTE NOT WANT NOT
Earth’s natural resources are limited - see chart below. [EoH-1]
Yet, man has knowingly and/or unknowingly treated them as infinite. The human population is now at a size that we are consume many natural resources faster than Earth can regenerate them. This is particularly so with energy and water resources.
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Hence, wasting these resources is unsuppor-table. Moreover, creating unmanaged resource depleting toxic waste is intolerable. Wastefulness and waste management is a big challenge.
The opportunity is here to conserve resources and to minimize waste creation. We can each chose to be part of the solution, or, through inaction, contribute to perpetuating the problem, with the risk that failure of individuals to act will hasten the tipping point beyond which no recovery is possible.
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Let's be clear, in everyday life we use devices, wear clothing, and enjoy comfortable homes with little thought about how different our lives might be if those things were not available to us. And, the reality is, our overuse of and in some cases devastation of certain Earth resources will eliminate some of the things we now accept as given or that we "can't live without".
Simply stated, combatting wastefulness is what Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is all about. I would add to those: Rethink. Not to use something altogether may be a better option, or to use an alternative may be a better decision. Perhaps rethinking our daily routines , redesigning our living/work spaces, and consciously living with less will produce less waste. Part of rethinking can be asking why we do what we do.
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The effort to produce less waste can be an effort to preserve the things and parts of life worth cherishing.
Figure 1 - for source see EoH-1
Values
As I write this, Ukraine is under siege by president Putin and we're near the 3rd anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns. Both of these events are opportunities for everyone to reflect on personal values and how we relate to humankind individually as well as globally. Mike Berners-Lee has suggested 3 values that, if adopted in general, might expedite solutions to global crisis. But first, he explains two categories of values: extrinsic and intrinsic. "There is extensive research to show that this categorization works across many different cultures, however huge their other differences."
"Extrinsic values include money, power, status, image and material possessions. Intrinsic values include self-acceptance, awareness, connection to others, appreciaton of and care for the world and everything in it, and the enjoyment of activies for their own sake. ... Intrinsic values are associated with higher levels of personal wellbeing, lower levels of distress, depression and anxiety, acting in pro-social ways, sharing more, higher empathy, being less manipulative, and more positive ecological attitudes and behaviours. As well as the opposite of these, extrinsic values are also associated with narcissism, substance abuse, behaviours that harm others, higher inequality and a general state of unhappiness and stress." Obviously, we want to adopt intrinsic values to protect our planet. "We need values that will help us avoid drowning in a confused sea of information and
disinformation."[EoH-2] The 3 key values that Berners-Lee underscores are:
1. All people are inherently equal in their humanity -
enabled to live their lives in whatever way they find meaningful, provided that this is negotiated alongside the equal rights of others to do likewise.
2. Respect and care for the world; its beauty, life supporting complexity, and all its life forms.
3. Respect for truth -- for its own sake. The honouring of facts, as far as they can be discerned. Allowing others to have the clearest view of whatever you or they may deem to be evidence. Transparency over, reasons, methods, and personal interests.[EoH-2]
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In concert with these key values, Mark Carney outlines several values which he describes necessary for Reclaiming the Values to Create Value for All. For example, of sustainability, he writes "Sustainable development meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Plundering Ukraine fails on all counts. Sustainability's "... pillars are eonomic, environmental and social. It is an understatement to say that we have been eroding them all. The burdens -- from mounting government debts, underfunded pensions, inadequate health and social care to environment calamity -- that we are pushing on to the next generation are unfair, inequitable, and irresponsible.'
'Sustainability requires thinking beyond the here and now, further than the news cycle, past the political cycle."[EoH-3]
Let's work together to build a better home on Earth.
Footnotes
[EoH-1] Chart found at https://ourworldindata.org/land-use
[EoH-2] Berners-Lee, Mike, (2021).There is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years, Cambridge University Press,
[EoH-3] Carney, Mark. (2021).Value(s): Building a Better World for All. Penguin Random House Canada Limited.