We are consuming too much !!!
As the world population increased, people also began consuming more. Apart from basic food, we started making more products for consumption and use -tools, machines, clothes, vehicles, appliances, computers and so on. We also added services like entertainment, tourism, and newspapers. A whole set of industries and companies came into being.
More the people ,even more the consumption !!!
It was flat for a very long time,then started spiking, and is now almost vertical. That is obvious, you would say. More the people, more will be the consumption. However, the consumption curve is steeper than the population curve. That is, many of us consume more and more with time! Last year,you had only one telephone at home. This year, you have an additional mobile phone. Your family bought their first scooter some time ago. Now there are two and perhaps also a car! As a person makes more money,he begins buying things he never had before. The steeply increasing consumption means that we are rapidly using up the natural resources. Almost any resources you can think of trees, topsoil, fossil fuel, groundwater, minerals is being over exploited. Nature cannot regenerate them fast enough. We saw how we are over exploiting fossil fuels like oil. science and technology have played major roles in increasing consumption. The tremendous amounts of new products were made possible by the invention of new chemicals and synthetic materials like plastics, detergents, paints, and refrigerants.
The story of bicycles and cars in China !!!
China was always known as the land of bicycles. The streets were always full of bicycles. Millions of bicycles were in use, to carrying people and goods. Millions of Chinese take loans and wait for months to own cars. The government is happy because the automobile explosion creates many new jobs. Then these new workers buy more goods and the economy grows further. China already suffers from environmental problems. All the cars will only worsen the air pollution and create traffic jams on the congested roads.
Early humans did not affect nature much !!!
The earth has existed for about five billion years. Humans appeared on earth about three to five million years ago. For a very long time, people lived as hunter-gatherers.Hunter -gatherers lived in small groups and got their food by hunting,fishing and collecting edible parts of plants.They also moved from place to place. They had a very good knowledge of nature. They did not affect the environment much.Their small population did not cause much damage to the natural resources. Even if they did, their nomadic life enabled nature to repair the damage easily.
What we have learn from this !!!
The global consumption of goods and services is increasing rapidly. There is a consumption population of about 1.7 billion people in the world. India and China together have about 360 million and this number will go up sharply in the near future. People in the industrialized countries have been consuming more and more, causing damage to the environment. Now that many people in the developing countries have money to spend, they want to buy more things too. Is it fair to deny them this pleasure in the name of saving the environment , at the same time if everyone consumes like the average citizen, what will happen to our natural resources in any case, does huge consumption brings happiness to all we have to consider our future generation in our mind.
What can we do !!!
We can conduct Eco-club activities like observe the International Buy Nothing Day, a day when people around the world pledge to themselves to buy absolutely nothing for 24 hours. Normally , the day is observed on the Saturday following the US Thanksgiving Day. There are activities, celebrations and demonstrations of various kinds against over-consumption and you can also organize a Buy Nothing Day campaign just before any major Indian festival ( like Diwali or Dusserah) when shopping is at its peak.
Conclusion !!!
If an individual reduces their luxurious life and take serious steps towards climate change and we have-to be united as one then we will able to sustain any type of challenges and retain our normal day to day life. We raise our hands for climate change rather negotiating by a reason of nationality ,religion and caste we all be united in the name of humanity.