While at work today, I was stuck for motivation, so I thought I would try to write about something I was inspired to write about...it happened to be some environmental issues.
I'm currently looking into more natural and sustainable methods of making kayaks. There is a manufacturer who makes resin from 95% vegetable oil derived products, which I might end up getting a kayak made with. I'm going to write a report weighing up the advantages and disadvantages that there will be from this. While writing a draft plan, one of the questions I plan to address is 'how can these materials help the environment?' Two answers I can see are that organically produced materials are renewable, and that fossil fuel based materials will in the long term, run out.
I think one of the problems is that in some ways, humans operate like business, i.e. in the interests of personal gain and reducing costs. This is most prominent in terms of effort. In business, traditionally the environment is viewed as an externality, which means it's a cost that the affected party does not take a decision on, and will only pay it if they have to. In some ways, it is not in our interest to look after the environment in the short term as it is more effort. However, in the long term, not caring for the environment may cause more costs than investing in preserving the environment now. Which then got me asking myself, why should we care for the environment? The immediate answers that came into my head were:
- to invest in the future, for our children
- environmental stability
- respect for the environment including all the animals and plants around us
- if we run out of resources, they will get more expensive, wars will start, and it's only a matter of time. Resources will run out.
So I then thought, why should we not bother about the environment?
- we're living for now, live life as richly as possible
- who cares about the future
- we can and will adapt
- easier to do nothing
It seems to me that none of the latter are long term solutions. So I then tried to look more objectively. What are the problems?
- There are so many people, and it's only an increasing problem! The less people there are, the longer our energy will last
- Energy generation and waste are only second order problems. The are symptoms of the causes, which are that we could use less energy, and we could waste less. I think that if we have waste at all, we have done something wrong. In pre-industrial times people lived on what they had around them, and wasted much less - the only waste was probably organic, which got put back into the ground as fertiliser, or fed other animals. Instead of staying up when it's dark, with lights on, listening to music and watching TV, people maybe played simple instruments or chatted or played games or just went to sleep.
I guess it must come down to individual's decisions about how you want to live your life - I'm not here to tell anyone how to live their lives. Do you want to consume as much as possible in the conception that this is a richer life, or consume as little as possible, or somewhere inbetween? The extremes could be:
- A high earning investment banker or CEO who flies to work, has a huge office with the heating on, but windows open so it's warm but feels fresh. He relaxes at lunch time in a jacuzzi. He goes home to a huge house and huge family, walks around in a t-shirt in the winter time with the heating on, and flies away for a relaxing holiday at least 3 times per year to lovely exotic places. Is this a successful person in our current society?
- A family of 3: 2 parents, 1 child, hence reducing the net population once the parents are gone, will reduce. They live in a small cottage in the UK by the sea. They grow their own vegetables and have their own animals, and rarely have to go to the shops, but when they do, they buy local produce. When they are on holiday from work they prefer to stay at home and just read books, or go down to the shore or up the hills with their children and neighbour's children. Their house is insulated well beyond the minimum that the government recommend, so they don't have much of a heating bill, but when they do get cold, they put a fleece on. They also have lots of trees planted around the garden which their family have lived in for generations, so if they're cold, the chop some wood from their totally self sustaining forest. Life is simple but satisfying. Not much development, but they have everything they need to survive - food, fuel, and their close friends and family. The are all experts at surviving on what they have around them, being skilled hunters, farmers and craftsmen.
I know which I'd prefer, but it's not that simple. There are an infinite number of possibilities inbetween. It's not that I'm against the first example or for the latter example. But I know which way that I'd personally lean and prefer. Although I don't know eactly where I stand on it.
I'll leave you with that thought. Nothing conclusive, just food for thought. Thanks for reading and please keep looking for progress on the next SusExp trip which will be round Skye.
