consumption

World Environment Day (unep.org/wed/)

World Environment Day–Save The Planet!

Seven billion dreams. One Planet. Consume with care. Those are the messages of today, which is World Environment Day everywhere. It’s the biggest day for positive environmental action! The United Nations declares this day every year to energize worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Stakeholders in over 100 countries celebrate through public outreach every June 5. This

Need 2 Earths by 2030 If We Don't Change, Study Finds

  The world is living far beyond its resources according to a new report by the conservation group WWF. So much so that at current levels of consumption the earth would need to be 50 percent larger, and by projected levels of consumption in 2030, two times the size it is now. Biodiversity has declined

Why Tom Shadyac Left His 17,000 sq ft Mansion to Move into a 1000 sq ft Mobile Home

On yesterday’s Oprah show, Tom explained how he was no happier standing in his 17,000 sq ft mansion than when he was paid $1000/week to write jokes for Bob Hope. He explained that North American culture has a very narrow acceptance of what success is, which is heavily dependent on your wealth, job and status. That our whole lives are trapped in this inauthentic competitive nature against each other. And how we should instead be following our natural human nature and cooperating with each other. 

Want to Eat Less? Just Imagine Eating More

Imagine a big slice of your favorite pie. Imagine eating all of it. Your mouth automatically begins salivating, your taste buds begin firing up. Now, imagine eating more pie until you are full…A short while later, you find yourself confronted with the real pie. You might think that this is going to be a problem,

Groundwater Disappearing at Accelerating Rate

Over the past fifty years the amount of water that has been pumped out of the subterranean reservoirs that sustain many billions of people has more than doubled, according to a new global assessment of groundwater use. People are drawing so much water from underground that they are adding enough of it to the oceans

European Energy Growing Greener

Europe’s total electricity consumption in 2009 saw almost 20 percent come from renewable energy sources. The Renewable Energy Snapshots report published Monday by the European Commission’s Join Research Centre showed that about 19.9% of Europe’s total electricity consumption came from renewable sources, which equals some 608 TWh out of a total of 3042 TWh required

Is Private Property Anti-Environment?

Has it ever occurred to you that the whole concept of private property might be innately harmful to the natural environment? While I’ve always recognized that indigenous cultures viewed the land as a blessing to all, not as something belonging to individuals, I never really made that concept personal until now. Now, in the context

Is Recession Good for the Environment?

Whether or not we’re actually in a recession (it feels like one from where I’m standing), there’s been a lot of discussion about if that could be a good thing for the environment. The pro side’s argument goes like this: Yes, because people spend less during a recession. That means fewer miles driven and flown,

It’s the Economy, Stupid! Not Entirely

90% of the world’s goods are carried by sea and world trade is increasing all the time. Photograph: Macduff Everton/Corbis

“We must restore confidence to the economy, to consumers and to the markets,” declared The House Democratic Leadership on Friday.

Their solution? Tax rebates and relief, echoing George Bush and probably every other economic analyst. The Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates for the past six months to achieve the same goal; to entice people to Buy! Buy! Buy!

Not only will this take money away from important public services, but increasing consumption has dire negative impacts. The process of extracting resources, manufacturing products, consuming them, and disposing of them is the very culprit of environmental degradation. And guess what? This consumption will ultimately take us down as well.

In an article entitled 10 Ways Recession Can Help the Environment the author writes:

85 Year Old "War" Over Colorado River Water Ends

It’s been going on since 1922, seven western states staking their claims on Colorado River Water. For years, a sometimes divisive battle has raged as Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona, Wyoming, Nevada and New Mexico all said they weren’t getting their share of the precious liquid. It came to an end in Las Vegas, when representatives

If You Love the Earth, Stay Married

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes a new study that finds yet one more way in which we humans can screw up the environment: get divorced. Actually, as weird as it might sound at first, the discovery — published in this week’s online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy

Scroll to Top