Is global sustainability in conflict with having fun?

Question

Is global sustainability in conflict with having fun?

Answer 1

All Liberal ideas are in conflict with having fun.  Unless you are having their kind of fun you aren't worth living, unless of course, you are needed to pay for their programs.

I plan on having fun regardless of sustainability.  By the way, where did I leave my Fuzzy Navel?

Answer 2

Not at all.

Take a look at various attempts to measure "happiness" or contentment with life in developed nations - despite massive increases in energy consumption, disposable income, GDP per capita, etc, etc, enjoyment in life (i.e. 'fun') has stayed the same!

The lesson is obviously that increased consumption does not lead to increased fun.

The corollary would be, then, that decreased consumption (a.k.a. global sustainability) does not, in itself, affect - positively or negatively - 'fun'.

Others (above) have mentioned ways in which global sustainability might be used to increase fun; I agree with them!

Answer 3

It is often in conflict with "direct immediate short term fun". Just to give you some examples:

- going to prostitutes or sleeping around (getting aids is not sustainable)

- taking drugs (body and mental damage)

- living dangerously for fun (risk of death/injuries/punishment/retaliations).

Sustainability is more about LONG TERM happiness.

Answer 4

No, we can all live in the woods and eat nuts and sleep outside and it would not be so bad.

Answer 5

Yes.  The greenies idea of fun is sitting around a flashlight in the woods singing Kumbayah all night.

Answer 6

no it is an idiotic idea that will never come to fruition...

Answer 7

Depends on what you call fun.   I think driving around on a 4 wheeler eating dust and fumes really sucks.   I prefer flying around in a paraglider or kayaking along the coast.

Answer 8

Yes, if you b*gger up the planet for fun, I'll freakin kill you!

Answer 9

no we have fun...

Let me start off by saying we (my family and I) live completely, 100% “off of the grid and are completely self sufficient”

The house is built utilizing natures natural elements, in the shape of an octagon with 8ft wide arch doors on every wall to catch every angle of wind (typical 4 sided homes have half the chance as one with 8 sides. A circle being the most efficient design). Woodburning stoves, solar chimney, solar AC, solar heating, solar water heating (pool and home), solar stove, solar power, wind power, hydrogen powered back up generator, hydrogen back up water heater, hydrogen stove, 2 hydrogen powered trucks, 1 EV (electric vehicle) and satellite internet.

We also built many green small cabins on the ranch that we offer to family, friends and our on-site off-grid workshop guests, including one straw bale, one papercrete, earth bag and adobe, one cob and cordwood, one underground and rammed earth, one log and post and beam and one rock. Each one actually started as a test for what the main house would be and were later finished and turned into guest cabins. I later wrote a guide on how to build with alternative materials using alternative methods for next to nothing.

We raise meat and milk goats, chickens for meat and eggs, ducks for meat and eggs, trap havilina (wild boar pig), rabbit, quail. brew our own beer from home grown products, preserve our fruits, vegetables, etc. smoke and jerky the meat, make our own soap, cheese.

There are no utility lines, no water lines, no roads, tv, cell service, etc. on our ranch. EVERYTHING needed is produced here. All electricity comes from 27 solar panels, 2 main wind gens and a back hydrogen generator if needed (typically we can last 9 days with all luxuries of sunless windless weather, hasn't happened yet). Water is caught and storaged from the rain. Hot water is made with solar batch water heaters with an on-demand hydrogen hot water heater as backup. Even our vehicles use alternative energy (2 hydrogen trucks, 1 EV electric vehicle converted). Because of this we have no bills, no debt and no mortgage.

Anyone interested can check it out at..

www agua-luna com

I believe this is the first step anyone can make “help the environment”. Once you convert your own life style to a greener more eco friendly route, you can start helping others.

my home has all the comforts listed above plus some. we live very comfortable without effecting the environment. just saying that tol et you know it's possible. you may not want to go as extreme as me and my family but anywhere in between is something.

Without getting to in depth here, Using alternative fuels in your vehicles and harnessing your own electricity from the sun, water, earth and wind are the 2 are key elements in making a green transition and erasing your carbon footprint.

here's a calculator to find out how much of a green impact your making (carbon footprint)

http://www.conservation.org/act/live_gre...

if you'd like to make your next step feel free to contact me personally at www agua-luna com

I've been installing home made Solar panels. Solar stoves, Solar batch and inline hot water heaters. Solar radiant heating. Solar home heating and AC, along with home made wind gens and other alternative energy items for the last 3 years.

You can even make the above projects on site with simple parts from the local hardware stores or auto stores or junk yards. For more info check out some guides I wrote / compiled on how to DIY www agua-luna com

Again these projects can be accomplished anywhere by anyone.

if you absolutely can't do anything in your home at least you can put alternative fuels in your car. most major automotive manufacturers (Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, etc) recommend the use of bio fuels, and nearly every car manufacturer in the world approves ethanol blends in their warranty coverage.

In fact your probably even driving an ethanol car and didn't even know it.

The trick is finding fuel.

I've been producing biofuel for about 3 years now, it's not extremely difficult. Basically you need general household ingredients, a processor (or still for ethanol) and some used oil. Blend it, let separate, screen and use. I complied a guide a while back to help walk you threw the process step by step, just email me or check out..

www agua-luna com

as for recyling the best way i've found without taking money from your won pocket is to join a free freecycle group in your area or visit the habitat for humanity.

If you’d like help in making your self sufficient steps, feel free to contact me directly. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at www agua-luna com

on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others “help the environment”.

Hope this helped, feel free to contact me personally if you have any questions if you’d like assistance in making your first self sufficient steps, I’m willing to walk you step by step threw the process. I’ve written several how-to DIY guides available at  www agua-luna com on the subject. I also offer online and on-site workshops, seminars and internships to help others help the environment.

Dan Martin

Alterative Energy / Sustainable Consultant, Living 100% on Alternative & Author of How One Simple Yet Incredibly Powerful Resource Is Transforming The Lives of Regular People From All Over The World... Instantly Elevating Their Income & Lowering Their Debt, While Saving The Environment by Using FREE ENERGY... All With Just One Click of A Mouse...For more info Visit:  

www AGUA-LUNA com

Stop Global Warming!!!

Answer 10

Much of it depends on how you define sustainability, which everyone does differently.  If you mean the Utopian definition, then fun would be very difficult, since all petroleum use would be eliminated as jsut the beginning.

If you mean the goal to be as sustainable as possible, then fun can be a part of that.  People had fun, long before i-Pods and HDTV, so cutting back on consumerism is not so hard to do.  But any cutting back must make sense and not just be in the name of punishing people living their lives.

Answer 11

No, not at all.  One example that I can offer is the situation insofar as automobile racing and development of new technologies.  One might argue that racing is a waste of finite resources and an excessive source of pollution and that it should be halted, but on the other hand, there are a lot of people out there who are having fun by developing automobiles that pollute less while performing better-look at the advances in the auto industry in the last 40 years to see a lot of people behind the scenes having fun.

Now, I'm no mechanic or engineer, but I associate with them on a day to day basis and am investing in the research in my own way by buying old cars and modifying them in various ways to get better gas mileage while emitting fewer emissions.  In the course of it, I get to test drive them and put older cars on the road as more efficient daily drivers than they were previously.  Plus I am investing in the education of at least one engineer who is interested in automotive technology.

The question is, is what I am doing contributing to global sustainability?  I think so, because I have to get around to take care of business anyway, so trying to get better mileage and lower emissions out of the vehicles I drive may have a lower net effect on the environment long term.  A less direct effect is recycling the old materials and putting them back on the road rather than just buying new cars and sending the old ones to the crusher where energy is expended in recycling them, and that may offset the fact that driving old cars that get 24+ mpg isn't quite as efficient as driving a new one that gets 30.  I'm not sure on that one, but if I build 20 higher mileage old cars and sell 19 of them it may have a cumulative positive effect.

Regardless-for me at least-the attempt is a WHOLE lot of fun.