Mother Earth as seen from outer space by the International Space Station crew.
A funny thing has happened in the way well-meaning greenies talk about the earth. Call it the Al Gore effect: Faced with so many climate skeptics who deny the reality that 99% of scientists back global warming, the greenies typically resort to more and more wonkish sorts of communication. As if proving the climate skeptics wrong were simply about showing more and more data.
The result, of course, is that the well-meaning message becomes harder and harder to comprehend. It seems to me that there’s no convincing people who’ve already made up their minds. Instead, you need to reach people who simply haven’t paid attention.
Something like this is going on in a rather nice little series of videos by the World Wildlife Fund. The first urges you to think about the connection between your plate, and the resources required to grow all that food:
How do we balance the needs of a growing population with a finite planet? By the year 2050, our planet will be home to another 2 billion people. How will we feed them all? Not only will there be more people, but everyone will have more money to spend on food. Where, on an increasingly crowded planet, will we grow all of it? Picture what would happen if we could freeze the footprint of food by doubling the productivity of farming.
We already use 1/3 of the earth’s surface to grow food. By 2050, we’ll need twice as much food.
And here’s another video, urging us to rethink our gadgets:
Do you know what goes into making your laptop? Raw materials for electronic goods are mined from tropical rainforests, but as resources dry up, recycling aluminum is key. If a laptop manufacturer only used recycled aluminum, it would take 90% less energy to make the same machine. Imagine what our world would like if more products recycled or reused existing materials.
COMMENTARY: After viewing the above videos, it becomes obvioius that we must create a sustainable planet. We should strive to recycle everything. We should strive to give back as much as we take from Mother Earth.
We obviouslhy need to grow food crops more efficiently with a whole lot less water. In a blog post dated November 12, 2011, I told you about Dyson Award winner "Airdrop" irrigation system, an ingenious device that draws water from the air.
In a blog post dated August 3, 2011, I told you about Pod Ponics, a small startup, uses hydroponic "growing pods" to produce fresh, locally-grown vegetables year-round. As fuel prices go up, the cost of shipping produce thousands of miles away rises accordingly. In the past few years, a number of companies have attempted to capitalize on the increasing hunger for locally produced food--we've seen rooftop farming startup BrightFarms and Brooklyn hydroponic farming startup Gotham Greens, just to a name a couple.
In a blog post dated June 10, 2011 I told you the history of U.S. oil imports, prices, production, consumption, world oil reserves and events affecting oil prices. In June 24, 2011, I told you where the world's oil is produced, how much of that oil the U.S. imports, and why America goes begging for oil. February 5, 2011, I warned you that the oil consuming world is at peak oil levels, a level of oil consumption where we are using more oil than is being pumped out of the ground by the world's oil producing countries.
In a blog post dated September 30, 2011, I commented on how for the first time in a quarter century, The Obama administration had successfully raised CAFE standards for light-duty vehicles, from 27.5 mpg in 2010 to 39 mpg in 2016. By 2025, cars will have to get 54.5 miles per gallon. Hybrids currently only make up about three percent of light-duty stock on the road, but sales of hybrids are growing. Consumers could save $1.7 trillion over the life of new CAFE standards by driving more fuel efficient vehicles, hybrid and all-electric automobiles.
Check all my blog posts on Renewable energy and green technology. Renewable energy and green technology from the sun, wind and oceans needs to be harnessed and we should strive to to get off our addiction to oil by gradually switching from fossil fuel driven automobiles to hybrids and all-electric vehicles.
The more advanced human kind becomes, as we develope better and more efficient technologies, from laptops to smartphones to tablets to apps, we seem to forget that there is a huge cost, to our environment and Mother Earth's resources. The aluminum in our laptops is a great example. We take too much for granted without taking account the consequences.
Courtesy of an article dated November 17, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design
I already watched the movie “2012” which also shows how the earth will end. It really scared me that there is a possibility that those things could really happened in reality. We should pay attention to our mother earth. Let’s just not ignore the calamity that happens today. If anyone doesn't watch the movie, you guys should watch it. It’s worth our time.
Posted by: Veronica Wooten | 02/11/2013 at 12:39 PM
The photo of the earth is just so amazing. This is one of those proofs that the life we have on earth is mysterious and should not taken for granted.
Posted by: Renee Taylor | 02/06/2013 at 05:15 AM