Change the World Wednesday – 18th Jan

Nope, wrong salvation! Can't trust Google

Salvation!

I woke this morning, and there it was… Change the World Wednesday.

I must admit that I did miss our weekly challenges. I even wrote a pseudo CTWW last week in a desperate attempt to regain my sanity.

I even took the time and made pickled onions and bottled beetroot as an attempt to remain ‘green’ during CTWW’s absence.

But let’s box right along and see what Small Footprints has for us first up this New Year. BTW, Happy New Year to all those who I didn’t get round to contacting.

The first CTWW for the year is a toughy. It’s one of those without a real topic that makes you think.

And by think, I mean think hard. All those who know me understand that when I think it sends danger signals around the known world. I try not to upset the proverbial ‘applecart’ but sometimes it just, sort of, happens.

This Week’s Challenge:

January is typically the time of year that we set goals, make resolutions and start anew. So, in that spirit, let’s take a look at “road blocks” to green living and find some solutions. Here you go …

This week, please share road blocks to green living. For example, perhaps you’d really like to compost but don’t. We’d like to know why. Maybe you don’t recycle … let us know why. We’re looking for all the reasons for NOT adopting a green activity. If you’re not struggling with any road blocks at this time, then please share ones which you’ve heard from others. For example, one of the most common reasons is that it’s too expensive.

Then …

Take a look at the road blocks shared and offer solutions. For example, to people who say green living is too expensive, we might share examples of how green living is actually frugal. The idea of this challenge is to help us all find solutions and “bust” all excuses for not living green.

Long ago I discovered that making resolutions was a fools game; New Years ones particularly. I don’t make resolutions, that way I never disappoint myself. But that’s not to say that I can’t enter into the spirit of things.

I guess most will be thinking along the lines of, “local bodies won’t do this,” or perhaps, “the government won’t do that,” or even “the local supermarket is not doing…”

Getting down to the roots

But I am going to tackle this at a more ‘grassroots’ level.

The ‘road blocks’ are not put up by the local bodies, government nor the supermarkets, well, they are; but they are not the primary road block.

The primary road block, as I see it, is us. Yes, me, you, them, the neighbours, the teachers, Santa Claus and the people at the bus stop, yes, everybody.

Yes, we are the primary road block, all of us.

Our attitude to life stinks. It reeks of “want and want now!”

We have become careless, selfish and egocentric. We have become soft, lazy and useless. We have become reliant, we have become greedy and we have become self-righteous.

It is US that needs to change. Society needs to STOP and take account of itself. The western governments worldwide have brought us to the brink of ruin, and we have let them. Technology has taken us, within a very short space of time, from the industrial age to high-tech with promises of ‘the more technology, the more progress, the more progress and our lives will be easier.’

That’s bullshit!

We are working harder, longer hours and for less money than before. The ‘golden years,’ the ‘American dream (or national equivalent)’ has gone. With the passing of the consumer years it has left us weak and defensless.

We need to stop ‘wanting’ and start ‘giving.’ We need to stop ‘taking’ and start ‘doing.’

Until we change our attitudes and stop buying PS3s or whatever, stop buying gas-guzzling SUVs, stop wanting that new [X] because the old one is the wrong colour or has two more megapixels, or “I have to get the kitchen remodeled because oak is out this year;” the world will continue on its course to ruin and damnation.

The world needs to focus on education. The people need to make the local bodies, governments and local supermarkets know what we want. Because without voice, nothing will change, nothing.

The few who read this blog are, in the main educated. I am really preaching to the converted, what we need to do is convert, your family, your friends, the people in power.

The people have become tainted, poisoned, engulfed by consumerism. It is this consumerism that is our downfall.

We need to change!

We need to change our mentality, our thinking and our priorities.

That is what I see as the primary ‘road block.’ I rest my case.

 

 

.