The world is heating up and we are running out of resources. Why wait for technology to save us? There is a solution. It doesn’t cost any money and that scares people.

 

MoneyEarth is heating up. So is Mars. Did we cause Mars’ warming? Not likely, baring some quantum explanation. Did we cause Earth’s climate change? Not likely. Are we contributing to it? Yes - by spending money.

 

You go to a store to indulge in a craving. You buy a pack of gum for a dollar. With that dollar, you have just contributed to everything associated to that gum and more. You have just paid for the processing, the advertising, the delivery, and the packaging. You also have hidden costs such as gasoline consumption and you pay people to haul your trash. All this creates heat. Plain and simple. You created heat when you drove to the store; not only in the combustion process of the engine, but in friction, sounds and breaking. This heat has to go somewhere and that is called the average global temperature. The heat has a hard time leaving our planet because of the greenhouse effect of CO2 gas. Now imagine that every human lived like you, all 6.7 billion of them. Scary, right?

 

It only cost a dollar. Now the store merchant has the dollar and they will repeat the process by spending it. Money is called currency, and it represents energy. Electricity has current and is also energy. When electricity flows it heats up the medium that carries it and so does money. Every time that dollar changes hands, the temperature of the world goes up just a little bit.

 

pollutionNow lets jump briefly to the obvious. The environmental factors are bad as well. Think of all the chemicals that were sprayed on the trees the gum base came from. The electricity consumed at the plant may not be green. The delivery method is certainly not green. This wastes resources. We do not have unlimited resources. But we have gum! Digest this one point - we are an Easter Island. Every dollar spent is inversely proportional to the amount of resources we have and need, as a species, to survive.

 

So why wait for technology to save you when you have had the power all along? You don’t really need your things. Happiness is just now being studying on scientific terms. It has been shown that you are no happier than someone who gets their daily calories requirements, is not suffering from disease, and has a roof over their head. Buddhist monks have been tested and are apparently the happiness of all.

 

There you have it. We are growing too fast as a population and we need to accept this. Our problems are only going to grow exponentially if we do not change our values. When a crisis comes, the overreaction will be deadly. Make small steps to reduce spending and don’t worry about how much money you make. You are a survivor!

 

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4 Responses to “You can save the world. But will you?”
 

Revolutionary idea, one I’ve never heard from the government types that hype the warming problem; we just consume way too much as a people. I’ve never heard it because it’d crush the economy, and that’d look bad at the polls.

Look forward to reading more of your work!

Jeremy Hobbs wrote on June 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm

 

Thank you Jeremy. Congradulations on being my first comment ever. I’m looking forward to having you around.

I don’t think the government types are going to like me.

Hagerman wrote on June 3rd, 2007 at 4:59 pm

 

Saying that to Americans is like trying to tell an ant not to work. I agree though, we should rethink our spending and flow our currents into more lucrative venues.

Walker wrote on June 3rd, 2007 at 6:37 pm

 

very interesting ideas presented, spoken like a true minimalist.

But you are wrong the answer to saving the earth is spending money.

think about it if you go out and buy incandescent light bulbs (14 bux for 3) you will help save the ozone layer and electricity. then you can go and get energy star make over for your house (special windows, water heaters, ceiling fans…). then you can install solar panels on your house and then pay extra to get your house to run on the solar energy. lets not stop there now we have new cars that can run on hydrogen (safe for the environment right because the emission is only water thats safe is it? its not like it wont kill the deserts ecosystem).

nate wrote on July 4th, 2007 at 12:06 am

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