Submitted by abhattacha on Thu, 12/18/2008 - 10:12am.
Modern civilization is based upon the acquiring of the more . Man
is everlastingly asking for more and man is everlastingly striving for
more . Everlasting struggle and everlasting discontent are his lot in
life .
In looking to satisfy his endless wants , man is a menace to this
planet ; armed with the means to do so , he spells disaster . What this
course has done is to bring home the part that conscience - driven
choice must play in this cycle of craving .
" Think : perspective ! " , Anne and Peter would say . The frame
of reference cannot just be I , me , myself , mine . It must extend to
the giant and intricate wheel of action and reaction in which even an
iota of change in one part has ripple effects throughout all parts of
the whole . In which to have the power to satisfy the hankering for
more must come with the responsibility to use that power
conscientiously and compassionately .
The imperative to conserve the environment is a big problem . And
big problems need big solutions , like the successor to the Kyoto
protocol which must be hammered out by 2012 . But small efforts at the
individual level can help quicker , and snowball into larger efforts .
I read about this 27 - year old who adores his Mitsubishi
Outlander sports utility vehicle . It looks a beauty , and rides like a
dream ; and really goes with the image he'd like to project . It's cool
and his friends love it . But it's a monster of a gas guzzler . So he
only uses it on weekends . The rest of the week he takes a car pool to
work . Turning down the air-conditioner may do more to
immediately curb emissions than attempts to reduce business travel or
cut emissions per airline passenger . Recent studies have thrown up
some shocking revelations . Residential buildings spew out almost ten
per cent of greenhouse gases while air travel is responsible for two
per cent . The computer industry , in fact , produces as much
greenhouse gases as the airline industry . [ MSIG Balance , December
2008 ] The issue is not about denial ; it is about choosing responsibly
. To come back to food , which is where it all began , to be a
carnivore is not to be a cad . [ After all , even vegetarianism is not
devoid of violence . " Living takes life " , to quote Deanna Wolfe in
Prodigal Summer . ] But to cultivate cruelly for profit is .
An old Buddhist word Mottainai sums up what it's all about . Mottainai fundamentally
means " what a waste " or " it's too valuable to waste " . Its
overtone of respect and reverence for nature is what must imbue the
choices we make . Deeply impressed by the notion of Mottainai ,
the Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize activist Wangari Maathai is of the belief
that this one word and its connotations summarize the soul of the
movement to conserve the environment - reduce , re-use , recycle , and
respect the earth's finite resources .
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