But on a serious
note, the issue of consumerism needs to be dealt with if we really want to save
the environment, save the planet and if we are even half serious about the
“Paris Climate Change” conference and it wasn’t just for some VIPs to have a
vacation in a dream destination!
So, I will tackle
this issue not from the nations’ or governments' viewpoint, but from your and
mine and every common person’s.
Because unless we change, the world as we see it - will end by 2050.
Because unless we change, the world as we see it - will end by 2050.
I haven’t researched
numbers, I don’t have the statistics. But over the course of this blog, I will share
links and videos that have, and they will alarm you (unless you are Ebenezer Scrooge!).
Do you want to know
how you are destroying the planet (and your kids’ lives)?
The answer - Shopping.
An analogy - Let's lead our life as if it were a "Kopi C Kosong".
What’s Kopi C Kosong?
It’s the kick you
need every morning. It’s the zing in the day. It’s the Indian equivalent of
Adrak-Chai. You might remember a mention of it in “The Singapore Story”. Kopi C
Kosong is Singapore’s version of Coffee with evaporated milk and no sugar.
Kopi – coffee
C – some milk
Kosong – no sugar (*Kosong
in Malay means “Nothing”.)
Our life should have…
zing to keep you fresh, alive and active. The basics = "Kopi"
a little hint of luxury and pampering = "C"
Nothing beyond that. Nothing what’s not
needed.
Nothing that spells Greed = "Kosong"
Nothing that spells Greed = "Kosong"
Take a peek into your
life. Are you doing things you should not? Are you buying things you don’t
need? Look around the room you are sitting in right now (even if you are in the
bathroom!) and tell me how many of those things are essential to your living?
Is there anything on those shelves that is eating dust, never been used? Open
your wardrobe. How many of those clothes are lying around since the time they
were bought just to end up getting donated a year from now? Go to the kitchen.
Do you have dozens of plates and cups and forks and you use only 2 of each every
day? Do you have two dinner serving sets– fancy and fancier – for fancy and fancier
guests? Yes? Whaaaat…are you Monika from F.R.I.E.N.D.S?
Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
The following video explains quite simply what's been going on and what happens when we think of our shopping as completely harmless. It is a 21 minute video. That's a lot (?) of time from your busy schedules. But not that much if you want you and your kids (or kids you are planning) to survive in the next 35 years.
Look at this video of the Story of Stuff. (Come back when you are done!)
Now think of all
those 10yr old children working 14 hours a day in China and Vietnam and elsewhere to
make stuff available to you at cheap dollars, just so that this stuff can end
up unused in your closets. Even if you use them, do you really want to? These
kids gave up their childhood so that you can flaunt a new dress everyday and
don’t have to repeat clothes for 4 weeks. And the number of environmental resources that were
wasted - what value did they create? Nothing.
Here’s how climate
change is going to take place:
1. By 2050, there
will be 1-2 degree of global warming unless greenhouse gas emissions are
reduced over the next 10 years. If that does not happen, “The first symptoms may be minor. A person will
feel slightly nauseous, dizzy and irritable. It needn’t be an emergency: an
hour or so lying down in a cooler area, sipping water, will cure it. But in
Paris, August 2003, there were no cooler areas, especially for elderly people. 14,800 died.”
2. Between 2-3
degrees of global warming, “Preventing
mass starvation will be as easy as halting the cycles of the moon. First
millions, then billions, of people will face an increasingly tough battle to
survive.”
Think
about it.
And
think harder if you plan on having kids who will be at the age of a mere “33”
in 2050.
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