I’m going to reminisce about two environmental movies I saw . The “Story of stuff” & “No impact man”. I didn’t learn as much from “No impact man” as in previous movies, but the movie did manage to keep me somewhat interested since “No impact man” is at its heart a rather nice personal story. It wasn’t only about environmentalism, but also about relationships and the way people live. The “story of stuff” meanwhile did highlight inefficiencies with production and issues concerning social rights such as environmental justice, worker rights and the exploitation of developing countries.

One point that interested me in particular was the role consumption plays.  Or more precisely, excess consumption. It has become a way of life, such that the “system” would collapse without it.  Planned obsolescence has become the norm, and you’re encouraged to have reckless and useless expenditures. I probably already said this, but environmentalism isn’t about choosing “nature” over the “economy”, but choosing long term sustainable development over short term gain.

It’s laudable to live a life with little to no negative impact on the environment. If everyone just tried to reach that standard in most developed countries, a great many problems would be solved. I’m not saying all of them, because as we’ve seen in past movies most pollution and waste is created by industry, so change has to happen in the higher echelons as well. Small scale and Large Scale change has to occur. Funding for renewable energies, more efficient farming practices and better regulation is required, otherwise it’s all for naught. I’m not excusing the waste that regularly happens in western countries, though particularly in the United States. A small percentage of the world consumes most of its resources and that has to change. Sustainability not only entails finding solutions for problems, but also adapting to a changing world.

I hear a lot of different ways to be environmentally friendly. Not all of them are right. Some companies just stick green on their products and hope it sells. I don’t see the direct relevance for others. For example; how does being a vegetarian help the environment? If anything it’s most efficient to eats some insects. They’re high in protein and take very little to rise, and they produce a biomass much higher than any livestock. It’s nice to be a vegetarian and it’s probably a healthier life style, but I can’t help but feel that some “environmental measures” have little to no effect and only exist to ease the conscience and ignore pressing problems.

That’s enough of my prattling though.  I suppose I should list what should be done to make a person’s way of living more sustainable and what I’m trying to do to help. Buying energy efficient appliances, properly disposing batteries, using insulation and finally, conserving water and energy are good ways to save resources and prevent some pollution. Walking or using mass transit is also good a way to avoid waste, although I understand that in some areas, the infrastructure doesn’t allow that option. Other measures include avoiding products with excess packaging, sorting out your garbage and recycling helps to deal with waste. Smaller measures such as using a re-usable mug and using bio-degradable products are always good. Although governments can try to properly dispose a waste to avoid the leaking of leachade (liquid collection of waste that accumulates in the bottom of landfills), preventing waste is one of the few problems that can be directly dealt at its source.