Why Don't People Care About Taking Care of the Planet?

If your body was acting up and you knew that things weren't right, most of us would do something about it.  Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case when it comes to taking care of the thing that takes care of us-The Planet, Earth, The Blue Marble.

It seems that most people are living in denial that anything is wrong with the environment and/or that if there is something wrong that "they" (whoever "they" are) will take care of the problem.  Guess what, we are all "they".   We all need to pitch in.

While there are some really passionate groups, like 5 Gyres, Surfrider and Greenpeace, in the world trying very hard, there is relatively little being done to really solve the problems.  It's not for lack of effort, but rather lack of caring by the greater population.  Until we can change the mindset of the masses, and governments get serious about of pollution, over consumption, energy entitlement, and educating the public on the enormity of the situation, we will continue a downward spiral of destroying the very thing that gives us life.

Unfortunately we have set up our society to value money and possessions over happiness and the true prosperity of living in a beautiful, healthy world.  We can't take the money or belongings with us, but we can leave the world in a sustainable environment, so that the world can continue to prosper.  I often worry that in 200 years the world will look back on this time as the most destructive time in the history of the earth.  It is destruction in the name of greed.

As we continue putting more people on earth, we will be demanding more resources-but where will these resources come from?  The planet is only so big and we are taking the resources at alarming rates.

Quick Thought
Think about a 1500 sq. ft. house.
Now think about filling that home with oil.
Now think about the enormity of 14 million of those homes filled with oil.
That is how much oil the world is pulling from the earth each year.
We are creating a HUGE hole in the earth and it gets bigger every year.

How long can that possibly continue?

We need to change and we all need to be involved.

Making better, more informed purchases, being active in getting laws changed and empowering the world's citizens on how they can help is essential to sustaining the world's resources.

Read labels.  Know where your products are coming from and what is in them.

Buy local.  Products that don't need to travel far, save transportation resources.  You might be surprised what you can find at thrift shops and your local farmers market are great places to start.

Reduce.  Reduce your needs.  Think about every purchase.  Not only will you save money, but you will also be slowing down the need for the earth's resources.

Reuse.  So many things can be reused that we just throw away.  Don't use plastic grocery bags, bring your own.  It sickens me that we use these things for minutes, then send them off to the dump forever.

Before recycling my 8.5" x 11" paper, I turn it into scrap paper.  I fold it in quarters, tear it into 4 equal parts and use it to write notes on.

Recycle.  Hopefully you don't use plastic bottles, but if you do, please recycle.  There are also places to recycle just about everything else.  Check out a great app iRecycle, on the app store.  They make finding a place to recycle almost any item, a little easier.

Plastic.  It's hard to get away from, but there are some alternatives.  Bring a reusable water bottle with you, buy whole foods-not packaged, don't drink bottle soda, look for alternatives to plastic whenever possible.  Also you may want to check out My Plastic Free Life.

Driving.  Maybe you could walk or bike instead of drive.  It's good exercise and you will be saving the planet.  If you do drive, be conscience about combining trips and your driving habits can make a world of difference too.  Keep you vehicle in good shape and hopefully you are driving a vehicle with great gas mileage.

Spread the Word.  Let people you know what they can do to help.  Remember you are trying to educate, not judge people.  Many are conscious about the situation, but don't know where to turn, or think it will be so difficult.  By educating yourself, you will be able to help others and build this movement from a trend to a lifestyle of an entire planet.

The earth is sick and needs our help.  Are you willing to do your part?

Why Be Green? Oil Supplies

Welcome to Why Be Green.  I hope to shed some light on the importance of being green, also known as being eco friendly.

Let's start with oil.

Since discovering oil, the world has gone into a frenzy.  We currently use approx 93.25 million barrels of oil each and everyday (that is approx 4 Billion US Gallons).  That is 1.5 Trillion gallons/year.  You could fill up approx 15,000,000 US homes (1500 sq. ft.) with the amount of oil we are pulling out of the ground each year.  Can you imagine 15 million homes filled with oil?  That's a lot of oil.

So let's face it, oil is finite.  It takes millions of years to create the oil-at least the natural way, yet we are consuming it at an incredible rate and nobody in the know is willing to tell us just how much is left.  In fact some countries may be hiding the true numbers of reserves.  Time magazine (Feb. 2011) reported that Saudi Arabia may have overstated by 40% how much oil they actually have left in the ground.

Why do you think we are now producing oil from the tar sands in Canada and building the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada to Texas through the Ogallala Water Aquifer (largest aquifer in the US)?  Because it is easy?  Guess again.  It is some of the most difficult and expensive oil to produce, yet we are doing it anyway.  Perhaps it is because it is all that's left out there to quench our incredible thirst.

We have created a society based on oil.  Whether it is watching TV, going to the movies, buying  food, clothing, shelter etc.  Everything is based on oil, yet we will run out of oil at some point in time.  It is inevitable.  What then?

It's a scary thought that nobody wants to address, but we need to and we need to address it now.

Please join me in my journey to educate society on not just Why Be Green, but also how to be green.