What's stopping you?

Comment from one of my best friends on my holiday reflections:

I better not ever see you putting a disposable diaper on Lily, throwing away a recyclable bottle or can, tossing a newspaper in the trash, getting plastic instead of paper bags, or even turning on a light switch during the day - you wasteful shit-talking bastard.......make sure your sorry ass is practicing what you so incessantly & repetitiously (almost offensively) cannot stop preaching.

D-Truck's response:

I know that you are half joking when you call me a wasteful shit talking bastard but I think you are missing the point. I looked up "preach" in the dictionary because you used it in a derogatory sense. I am guessing that you mean that I don't practice what I preach. It means: to advocate; especially acceptance of or compliance with something. The definition makes no mention of the persons motive or if the person is in compliance with that which he/she is advocating. Therefore I will agree with your use of the verbage. However, I get the feeling that you implied "hypocritically preach" and I take exception to that.
Perfection is an impossible state of existance (although Anna Kournakova is pretty close), so perfection should not be a required qualification for condeming human wastefulness and its effects on the planet. Have I been wasteful in the past? Yes. Are there things I can do better now? Hell yes. Am I better because I'm more conscious? That's a subjective question that would get different answers depending on who you ask. If you ask someone in the future say 100 years about whether someone who conserved was better than someone who didn't then you might get a different answer from asking someone who drives a Hummer today. Should I just say fuck it cause I can't be perfect? Hell no.

Humans consume things by virtue of our existence that is just reality. The challenge is how to minimize the harmful things we do and maximize the positive benefits for future generations of humans. Is the world better off with Polar Bears and Ice Caps. I would argue yes. Has the world always had polar bears and Ice caps? Most definitely no. The difference is that those changes took place on geological timescales that allowed adaptation to occur while preserving diversity of life. None of us are perfect and there is nobody keeping score of who has recycled more or tread the lightest on the planet. Except for the most egregious instances of wastefulness, I could care less about things I have no control over. I do have control over what I do and how I communicate my value system to others. The point is that with 6.5 billion people on the planet and 9 expected by 2030 (logarithmic growth) we (meaning all of us) have to rethink about the planet as a finite resource and not a dumping ground. By planet I mean inclusive of humans as in we are part of it. Lets not forget that mankind is a part of and depends on nature (food, water, air). Ultimately, the planet will live on and what animals are left will adapt and Earth will be like the multitude of other desolate planets known to mankind.

So what do you want Chalmers? If global warming and the peaking of global oil supplies aren't the wake up call then what will it take? I'm guessing that things just aren't bad enough yet. Don't forget that you and I have a very narrow perspective within which to view the world and "How bad it is". Most of the world lives in abject poverty through no fault of their own other then where they happened to be born. So now the ball is in your court? What is your responsibility in this? What can you do better? There are ceratinly no shortages of ideas just shortages of people willing to give them a try.

You know I love ya man its just that it is time to start waking up (no judgements or elitism) and modifying our behaviours to fit the circumstances. I'm sure you understand risk management. There is a severity part to the equation and a probability part to the equation. The more I read the higher the probability keeps going up of unprecidented changes to how we will live in the future and it ain't pretty. It is not a fun message and nobody likes to be told the party is over but maybe the party is killing us.