In my System Change post, I explained man's impact on earth and raised a number of questions. The most important: Do you know what your ecological footprint is?
No one answered that question. No, I'm not disappointed, because I actually didn't expect it either. And the question was also not asked very directly and not very prominently in the beginning of the (long) post.
Still, ....
'Today we have used up resources for an entire year, we are now living at the expense of future generations'.
Is that it, or is there more to it?
Each of us can list some of the benefits of reducing your ecological footprint. Here's a list of what motivates me. And what motivates you?
One of the easiest ways to preserve the harvest from your garden is drying. This can be done for many types of vegetables and for quite a few fruits, as well as for herbs, teas and plants that you want to preserve for their medicinal properties.
And of course, a very important part of all preserving activities is harvesting and saving seeds for next year.
Let me tell you how and why...
Did you know that heating your food (microwave, steam, boil, bake, wok, etc.) always comes at the expense of taste, health and nutritional value of your food?
The shorter you heat it, the better.
The shortest? Raw of course!
We eat our vegetables raw as much as possible and like to add “wild” to our meal.
Let me tell you how and why...
I belong to a generation that gets to live a relatively carefree, luxurious life. That has been given to me, and for a long time I did not sufficiently appreciate it, in fact I even abused it by selfishly getting everything I could out of it...
And when you become aware of that, you just have to change your life, right?
To buy new or used can be a dilemma. We stopped buying new stuff. Well, almost. Some things are not or hardly available second hand, or are second hand so much less sustainable (in terms of environmental impact in production or in use) that you don't want them in your home.
Did you know that there is almost no product in your possession that incorporates the true costs?
Our food supply is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases in percentage terms of all sectors. Industrial farming ruins the soil and poisons water and air. And a shocking 30% of what is produced, is wasted...
Our food supply is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases in percentage terms of all sectors. Moreover, the industrial approach to producing our food exhausts the soil. To compensate that, huge amounts of fertilizers are added. In turn, this causes destruction of eco systems and poisons land and water. Same for the herbicides and pesticides...
Our food supply is the largest contributor of greenhouse gases in percentage terms of all sectors. Moreover, the industrial approach to producing our food depletes the soil. And that is compensated by using huge amounts of fertilizers. In turn, this...
Why reduce your ecological footprint. Each of us can list some of the benefits of reducing your ecological footprint. Here's a list of what motivates me. And what motivates you?
Suppose an oak tree longs to become a birch. Then that is possible only if a single, individual oak cell is able and willing to become a birch cell. Then, after that change is accepted and then copied by the surrounding cells, eventually the whole tree will change. That's what I call organic change.
Suppose a government of a country....
Regeneration ?
Sustainable, Green Growth, Circular economy, Degrowth, System Change ... And now the latest: Regeneration.
Are these just buzzwords, container terms...
Reduce your ecological footprint. Know what it is, get a grip on it and reduce it to less than what the earth can give us.
In my System Change post, I explained man's impact on earth and raised a number of questions. The most important: Do you know what your ecological footprint is?
No one answered that question in a comment. No, I'm not disappointed, because I actually didn't expect it either. And the question was also not asked very directly and not very prominently in the beginning of the (long) post. Still, ....
System Change, we need Systemic Change !
This is what you read and hear more and more often. In comments, articles and discussions about the state of the Earth's health, about the alarmingly rapid change in our climate.
And that alongside, of course, the call for Degrowth....
What is meant by this system change?
Insofar as you can and may explain a very complex system in a few simple phrases: ...
March 3, 2024 — Comments are off for this post.
Huge amounts of toxic
content drowns the lands
Dead eyes,
the earth cries
The sun colors the morning
in the hues of dead trees
on the banks of greed
How high may become
the price the future
will have to pay?
" The computing power for AI models requires immense – and increasing – amounts of natural resources. Legislation is required to prevent environmental crisis.* "
Why can companies develop products and services that are a danger to a human being or even humanity? And that even without making a proper risk assessment beforehand and submitting it for approval to a government agency that judges on objective criteria that protect humanity and its home?
And why, after the production and delivery of a product or service is no longer of interest to them, can companies turn around and walk away with pockets bulging with money, after which a government becomes responsible for the damage and you and I foot the bill?
So why do you and I accept that we are footing the bill for the second time? Didn’t we already pay heavily for the highly profitable products and services for the companies as well?
And why do you and I allow money, the ultimate driver of greed, to rule us to a degree that our children and grandchildren will end up in a world that is completely poisoned and unlivable, even in those locations where Western man has been able to build his destructive world in a comfortably mild climate for the past millennia?
Are we so addicted to consuming that we do not care at all, or that we think (hope) that inventiveness and not yet existing technology will bring the solution to problems that are already so big that we cannot comprehend the consequences? And that while technology has never yet brought an solution to a big problem without in turn creating new, often bigger problems?
So tell me, what do you think a 1.5-degree temperature rise in the next decade will mean for the earth in - let's say - 150 years if it is not also and above all accompanied by an immediate end to greenhouse gas emissions, pollution and poisoning of air, water and land, depletion of the earth, destruction of biodiversity, ...?
Do you really grant your grandchildren and/or the grandchildren of your family and friends, that world?
* Note: we are already in a huge environmental quadruple crisis. Are we longing for one more?
Link to the article the quote in the beginning of this post is referring too.
Artwork: Earth Cries (2), by me (of course...)
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'Earth Cries (2)' is a new artwork in my collection 'Drowned Earth', prints are available, contact me for a quote.
Through my artworks I ask you to reflect for a moment on the nature around you, on the beautiful feeling that nature can evoke. Thus to think about your actions to support the wellbeing of the earth and everything that lives on it. And on what humanity loses when many of us continue on the destructive path of ever more greed and consuming. And please, reflect on how you can survive in this rapidly changing world…
So do you want to know your ecological footprint?
Then visit this website: https://www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en
And do you want to reduce your ecological footprint?
Then ask me, I will help you. For free. Or simply visit my website and choose in the menu for Your Footprint.
And if you appreciate my writings and art and want to support me, you can buy me a piece of fruit here: https://ko-fi.com/jacobberghoef, thank you 🍏 !
So are you interested in more? Then read what I wrote about System Change, Man's impact on the earth, Organic Change, Regenerative Agriculture, Regeneration
Want to inquire about an art piece?
All content © 2014-2020 Jacob Berghoef