Fighting Global Warming through Rainforest Protection
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How many earths are we using now?

by Patrick

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1.3. That’s right - we’re using nearly a third more of earth’s resources than it can replace. It’s like using your credit card every month to support your lifestyle. We all know that it’s not sustainable for long. Eventually you’ll have a big bill to repay - and one that may take a really long time to pay off. That’s what is happening with our little earth. Until now, the earth’s resources have been plentiful enough to support us, but now we’re liquidating them at an increasing rate.

 
By 2050, the world’s population is estimated to surpass 9 billion, increasing demand for these resources. If we continue living as we are - and do not find new ways to meet our lifestyle demands we’ll need two Earth’s to support us. Sir Nicholas Stern of the well-known Stern Report, states that we have 10 years to fix the problem before irreversible change hits us at home. 
  

So what are the biggest resource hogs and what’s being done now?  

 
The top three are housing, transportation and food, which use 72% of the world’s materials, produce 65% of total carbon dioxide and make up 63% of the global ecological footprint. Our impact on the planet has more than tripled since 1961. Changing this will require big changes in how we think and act in our homes, lives and in business.   

This is tough stuff - and can be a bit scary, but The World Wildlife Federation has developed a framework to help. It’s called One Planet Business® and is a guide for making big changes in how businesses think and operate. The goal is to not live on credit - we’ve got to find ways to live within our means. We in the US produce most of the pollution, but China is catching up - and will surpass us 2010. In fact, right now, 50% of China’s rivers are so polluted that they’re unusable for any purpose.   

One Planet Living - WWF 

lighten the load on earth

The WWF has produced a report for us on living within our means. It’s One Planet Living. Check out the full report here. In the meantime, here’s their take on what you can do now:  

At Home

  1. Turn lights and appliances off when not in use 
  2. Install cavity wall and loft insulation 
  3. Fit energy efficient lights and appliances 
  4. Switch to a green tariff 
  5. Insulate the hot water tank and lag hot water pipes 
  6. Turn down the thermostat by 1 degree 
  7. Draughtproof your home and draw the curtains at night 
  8. Fit a water meter and a flush saver in your cistern 
  9. Don’t water the lawn and use rainwater to water plants 
  10. Leave a wild area in your garden

Food

  1. Buy food that is in season
  2. Cut down on meat and dairy produce
  3. Waste less food
  4. Compost organic waste
  5. Buy fairly traded goods
  6. Buy local food
  7. Try growing your own fruit and veg
  8. Avoid heavily processed products
  9. Drink tapwater, not bottled water
  10. Buy MSC certified sustainable fish and fish products

Travel

  1. Reduce car use, especially for short journeys (less than 2 miles)
  2. Walk and cycle more
  3. Avoid unnecessary travel
  4. Use public transport instead of the car
  5. Car share if driving is unavoidable
  6. Buy the smallest car that fits your needs
  7. Switch off your engine whilst stationary
  8. Take holidays closer to home
  9. Fly less, avoiding short haul flights (less than 500km) wherever possible
  10. Offset your flight emissions if air travel is unavoidable

And a few other things…

  1. Avoid over-packaged goods
  2. Use local shops
  3. Run the washing machine at 30 degrees where possible
  4. Use kerbside recycling schemes and recycling centres
  5. Run the fridge at between 3-5 degrees
  6. Don’t buy patio heaters, peat compost or pesticides for your garden
  7. Donate unwanted goods and buy recycled and second hand products
  8. Reuse envelopes and jiffy bags
  9. Use rechargeable batteries rather than disposable ones
  10. Boycott unethical products

Also join Thinkfrog’s Million Faces Project to preserve rainforests - our most important tool for absorbing all the carbon we produce. It’s just $10 plus your favorite self portrait! The problem is real. It’s now. And we can do something about it and perhaps have a little fun in the process - this will be one of the largest photo albums in the country. 

     

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April 5, 2008   No Comments

Earth - limited-edition!

by admin

Most of us receive offers for limited edition products.  Sometimes we even get really excited about them! They’re usually special and always scarce - hence the limited-edition. We cannot get an edition more limited than Earth - if ruined, it would be really tough to restore.

Unlike most types of art, we cannot make reproductions of this original (as far as I know). It’s also rather impossible to purchase and bring home.
The one thing we all can do - and in fact we do this every day - is add our personal signature. How we sign it depends on how we treat it. Do we treat it like the fine art it should be? How would you treat a prized Picasso or Renoir if you could bring one home? When you think about it, earth is quite a magical thing that’s easy to take for granted. How much are you willing to pay to preserve your art - last time I checked, even getting a simple picture frame was rarely less than $10 http://pictureframes.com. Imagine the cost to frame the  earth, if we even could. As the earth has a diameter of 7,926.41 miles (12,756.32 kilometers), the frame would need to roughly 31,705.64 miles (51,025.28 kilometers) of material - and that’s without a nice beveled mat! I realize this may be a silly comparison because one does not usually live on a piece of art (or do you?). But the fact remains that earth is a limited edition - there’s only one. We should do what we can to take care of it - and restore it so future generations have the chance to enjoy all that it provides. Sign it gently and enjoy!

 

If you’ve not done so, please join the Million Faces Project - it’s easy!

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March 31, 2008   No Comments