What Manhattan might look like if sea levels continue to rise. Photo illustration by John Blackford; original photograph by Cameron Davidson (featured in Vanity Fair)
With our current technological and economic models? Absolutely not. No doubt about it. Petroleum is a non-renewable resource, international wars are waged over it and the environment is decimated in the process.
However, there’s no reason in the world that we can’t change our lifestyle habits.
But we have to stop looking for heroes to lead us. We have to start acknowledging the true power we have within ourselves. And that power is conscious consumerism.
Every product we buy, every service we purchase, every morsel we consume and every vehicle we travel in has a real and undeniable effect on the world. My personal goal over the next decade is to raise the bar on my own living situation as high as possible, with the end result being “total sustainability”.
The Will To Change
At the beginning of 2006, I will have started as an overweight, out of shape consumer with an average amount of credit card debt and personal property. By the end of 2016, I will be a debt-free, in-shape man who produces his own food and actually puts more into the environment than he takes away.
And I’m going to document every step of this journey so that others can figure out how to do so for themselves.
If you take a look at all of the choices I’ve made over this past year (getting rid of my car, shopping at farmer’s markets instead of grocery stores, minimizing the amount of plastic products I’ve bought), I have reduced my carbon emissions and petroleum consumption to levels that will balance out with the amount of international travel I’ll be doing this year.
But airplanes are notorious for the amount of emissions they make, and I’m more than aware of this.
Calculating Your Carbon Footprint
That’s why I’m also using “carbon offsetting” on my trip, as offered by companies such as Be Green. There are many different ways to do this, but the ways I’ve found most effective are to plant enough trees to absorb the carbon emissions my trip will put out and to invest in solar energy companies so as to help create a surplus of renewable energy.
There are companies out there that can help you calculate your carbon footprint and then facilitate necessary actions to zero it out. Buyer beware, though, as many companies are falsely hopping on the bandwagon and “greenwashing” themselves to appear more eco-friendly than they actually are.
Now, I want to emphasize that carbon offsetting is by no means a catch-all, cure-all.
Balancing out our carbon emissions doesn’t stop the pollution which is caused by the mining and refining of petroleum. Nor does it stop the international wars that are waged over it. I’d hate to see people grow complacent and think that carbon offsetting is all that they need to do in order to continue traveling long distances.
That’s why I only suggest using this method as a stepping stone in the right direction.
I think it’s so very important for all of us to personally take stock of how much of an environmental footprint we leave on the world, so that we can focus on lessening that footprint every day, week, month and year - with the goal being total sustainability.
Think of conscious consumerism as your toolbox, and carbon offsetting as your hammer. However, you can’t just build a house using only a hammer, right?
Derek C Wallace is a conscious consumer and an advocate for organic reform. In fact, he’s embarking on a world-wide trip to learn about sustainability and share it with the rest of the US. Visit his website to learn more.About the Author
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4 Comments... join the discussion!
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Wow, that is really wonderful that you are doing this. You are brave and you are making a difference. I am amazed at the amount of people who still don’t recycle, let alone go to these lengths to discover how much waste we produce. Very honorable. I will be interested to hear your journey through this! Not to mention plastic is not good for your body at all! So it is good to keep it out of your system, and I won’t even get into how I feel about this society of debt we live in! GOOD LUCK! You are awesome to do this!
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You have a very admirable plan, Derek. I congratulate you and hope you go for the best. If more people thought like you, we’d be living in a happier place. I especially like your ideas on organic farming and self-sufficiency (you (and the earth) will thank you, especially when oil is $200+ per barrel :).
Just one suggestion though, don’t get hung up on the carbon stuff.
I am all for living in a clean environment, but IMHO global warming has been hijacked by politics and is more about business $$$ than about saving the earth (ie. govt taxes and control for everything.. including breathing - as humans are a big source of C02 in the air. sounds ludicrous, but it’s already being discussed.. behind closed doors). There is also a complete other side of global warming that is stonewalled by the media, that the sun is the biggest factor. (more info - google video: “the great global warming swindle”). Check it out and make up your own mind (and don’t get discouraged!).
I will be doing something similar in sept.. Quit the job, leaving consumerism and this upside-down society, travel the world and simultaneously do volunteer work in development projects helping kids in developing countries realize their dreams. My aims are simply to explore myself and give back what I have been privileged to receive in the course of my life.
all the best.
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Hi friend,
Congrats on taking the initiative to do something about your situation. Most
people never do. That’s something to be commended for. I have a blog I think
you’d enjoy reading. It’s called “An Inside Job”, and it deals with the
changes we can all make in our lives to make ourselves, and by extension the
world, a better place:Also, as far as “The Global Warming Swindle” goes, I hate to break it to you
but that “documentary” is a propaganda piece put out by the big oil
companies. This has been proven time and time again, which is why I made my
blog entry titled “How to Help the Truth Reveal Itself”. I watched that
movie all the way through, and all the commercials they’ve made, before I
formed my opinion. And that took a couple hours! So I hope you (and anyone else who questions global warming) will spend a
few minutes reading my blog entry about it:Nowadays, I don’t take ANYONE’S word for ANY REASON until I do some research on them. I always always ALWAYS check the corporate sponsors and CEOs of companies before I trust their sites, articles, essays, videos, etc. My first action these days when I find an interesting website or online article with strong political stances (liberal or conservative) is to trace it back to its parent company. If you follow the trail of money, you find who has the most to benefit from it and usually the truth kind of reveals itself like Skull Island out of the fog (for all you “King Kong” fans).
Peace and health,
Derek
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Nice site, I have bookmarked your site yet and I will come back again ! You have a gratest site!
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