Do you feel it's pointless?

Question

I recently discovered this new book called "The Green Book" which is endorses by celebrities and has a bunch of little tips that we can do to be more environmentally friendly and protect the planet like turning the water off when brushing teeth and getting better light bulbs ..etc. Am I the only one that feels that these action are pointless? In order to make a large impact every driver would have to change to a fuel efficient vehicle. We would have to reduce planes, buses, trains, ships and other automobiles. And not to mention huge manufacturing companies that pollute so much just to make the products we use everyday...including "The green book". So what are your opinions. Has anyone read the book, and what could be more effective solutions?

Answer 1

I would guess you are young and have no kids yet... as you get older and propagate, your opinions and feelings about life change. You become more concerned about he future and the well being of your family... I too was once younger and felt more invincible than I do now, but my conciseness has also grown and become stronger.

We are all related, we are not disconnected from the planet. I have been an environmentalist for over 40 years now, and although we have made progress, we are still on a path to worst case scenarios.

We can make neccessary changes now, that won't be that painful, or we can take the pointless self defeating path you speak of here and suffer.

We can all do our part, in little changes everyday, not so much for ourselves but for those that follow us.

Will we leave the world better or worse than we found it?

Is it OK for those of us alive today to consume more than our fair share of natural resources and leave less for those that aren't here yet?

Green is turning into gold and the status quo has become evil.

WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE HARDER, JUST SMARTER!

I am a straw bale home builder, while the regular builders in my market are going down I have sustainable off grid home contracts booking into 2009 now. I started my green building business this past fall.

Believe what you want, do nothing or do something. Your the one that has to live with your choices...

Answer 2

Well, doing little things are better than nothing at all.

Answer 3

you only got one life enjoy it. don't go running around all day making sure your doing the greenest thing possible. if al gore fallowed that philosophy he'd sell his energy wasting over sized mansion and move into a high rise low impact apartment. if he ain't worried about cutting back on his lifestyle of big houses and long flights in his private jet, and huge energy hogging concerts then don't worry about these little things.

Answer 4

To paraphrase what the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius says, in "The Meditations".

There are those things you can do something about, those things you can control and affect...and then there is everything else.

I think that until certain facts change, we must all do what we can.

Answer 5

Every little thing each person does - turn off the water while brushing teeth or changing light bulbs, recycling aluminum cans, helps the environment

Answer 6

What could be more effective solutions? This is a difficult question to ask when it's about going green, one which is on the minds of many around the world; almost unanswerable in many ways. A lot of humans think themselves to be the dominating life force on planet earth with an unrivaled intelligence... if that is so, then the ignorant should have been smart enough to see that our journey into the future was one of destruction, power and greed. When it comes down to it, humanity has become all about money, an unnatural way to live. Instead of living with the planet, we began working against it. It pleases me to say that that is not so for everyone. There are two majority splits in human thinking on this subject; there is ignorance and greed, and there is genuine awareness and care. My answer is that we need to take many steps back and live the way that we use to, which is living off the land independently, with a lower world population, and abolish world currency and dictatorship. This battle goes on as I am write this now, but what it comes down to at the moment is we must all be in on it, and is this really possible? Very much so. Would the dictation and ignorance we live in today allow it? Definitely not sadly! We are stuck in a rut, I can't even go into this as deeply as I want to, this just isn't the right website to go into such a discussion I'm afraid.

Answer 7

Yes, it is pointless.

Answer 8

Not at all.  WE will become pointless if we DON'T change.  Every little act toward a greener environment will help.  One person can't change the world, but millions of people making  small changes can help our earth, and all of humanity, along.  If you've ever watched "An Inconvenient Truth" you would see just how much harm humankind is doing to the earth.  The world WILL survive...it's US (all living creatures) we're killing  with our greenhouse gasses, emissions, and our constant non-renewable energy consumption.  

I'm preaching, I know. But I believe strongly in doing whatever we can to help create a healthier world for every living thing.

Answer 9

Yes, everyone has an impact on the earth today. But my thinking is that these things are SO much of everyday life, it would be very difficult to cut down on using vehicles, using more efficient ones,less manufacturing. People these days have become so lazy that they depend on all of these earth-harming things to do their job that they could do manually. Sadly it's true. If everyone actually did stop to think about these things, we could be in a much, much better place today. Unfortunately, this wont happen quickly and it'll be too late to do something. But at least there are some people out there doing the right thing!! :D

Answer 10

If you cut back a little in your life, then of course you're going to have an impact.  That impact might not be measurable, but your mere existence alters how the planet "acts."  Like you said, if people REALLY want to impact the environment, then don't buy a car or use electronics.  If the Amish people can live without them, you can too.  Just think of what the reader of this web page is doing right now, using a computer.  If that reader was really truly concerned about the environment, they wouldn't even use a computer.  Yes, I do feel that cutting back "A Little" is ridiculously pointless if you're trying to alter the climate.