Are We Doomed? Doing Our Part.

During a recent commentary, liberal talk show host Bill Maher stated that if every person on the planet lived as we live in the United States, we would need five planet Earths to provide all of the resources.

While researching this comment, I found an article written by Jason Jeffrey Semon in 2012. According to this article, Americans make up for roughly 5% of the world's population, but we consume 20% of the world's energy, eat 15% of the world's meat, and create 40% of the garbage on Earth. Mr. Semons concludes that we would need well over four planet Earths to support the world if everyone lived the American lifestyle.

However, it is clear that most of the world’s population does not live as well as we do. According to the World Health Organization (http://www.who.int/ ) and UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/) report titled Progress on drinking water and sanitation - Joint Monitoring Programme update 2014, approximately 748 million people worldwide still lack access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion people worldwide lack improved sanitation facilities. Imagine for a moment if nobody in the United States had access to safe drinking water and DOUBLE IT! Then assume that nobody in the United States had access to a flush toilet and MULTIPLY BY 7!

If these figures do not scare you enough, consider that the world population has more than doubled between 1960 and 2000. Most population studies indicate that the population is still rising and will likely continue to rise, especially in the areas where access to water, sanitation, and other humane support are still difficult.

Clearly trying to gain control of the world’s population is a major challenge to achieving a sustainable future. Hopefully the world’s governments, NGO’s, and religious organizations can work together to develop solutions to what has been called our Human Population Crisis. This crisis has been the subject of numerous scientific, demographic, and statistical studies as well as the focus of fiction, including Dan Brown’s latest Robert Langdon adventure, Inferno.

However, a sustainable future does not have to begin with killing the first born of every family (for which I am eternally grateful). Nor should we throw up our hands in exasperation, completely overwhelmed at the scope and magnitude of the problem. It also doesn’t begin with dismantling every coal plant in America. It begins with each and every citizen in America and eventually around the world.

We may not be able to control the world’s population, but we can control how much of this ONE planet’s resources we consume. The first thing we need to change in this country is we all must CONSERVE our natural resources. Each and every citizen must play an active part in this effort.

I have done this before and I will do it again: I challenge everyone who reads this to develop a list of just 5 new things you CAN and WILL do to reduce your consumption of natural resources. For those readers who don’t believe conservation is important, DO IT ANYWAY! Just think about all of the money you’ll save! Here are a few inexpensive or money saving examples:

·         Take the bus or walk to work if possible.

·         Reuse the plastic bags from the grocery store or, better yet, use canvas or other reusable bags and avoid plastic altogether.

·         Take shorter showers. Use an egg timer if necessary.

·         Reduce your consumption of processed foods. One food-processing factory I worked for uses approximately 3 million gallons of water per day to produce frozen, processed potatoes.

·         Choose one day a week to eliminate meat and dairy from your diet. It takes 1,000 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of milk and 1,850 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef (source: www.waterfootprint.org). Furthermore, according to several sources, the meat and dairy industry accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than energy production worldwide.

·         Use energy efficient lighting.

·         Unplug or use a switched outlet/surge protector to turn off appliances and chargers when not in use. Many appliances have digital clocks which are not necessary and chargers have transformers that ALWAYS use power when plugged in, even if the device they charge is not connected.

·         Plant a garden and/or trees. Although it may be bit late to plant a garden, it is the perfect time to plant a tree, depending on the species.

·         Keep you vehicles tuned and proper air pressure in the tires, which saves gas when you do drive.

·         Brew your own beer and wine (I have a lot of friends who encourage me to continue my brewing activities, though I doubt conservation is their primary focus).

·         Join and become involved in local environmental groups.

·         Use the internet to find other ways you can help conserve our natural resources.

This list is hardly all-inclusive, and I have left off items such as insulating your home or purchasing more efficient appliances or vehicles that cost more than a few dollars to accomplish.

Once you have begun your conservation efforts post your results on social networks and encourage your friends to do the same.

We can all make a positive difference on the environment and the future by researching these issues and voting wisely. Our political system may not be perfect, but it is the only positive opportunity we have to influence the government. Use your intelligence and the vast sources of information that are available to most Americans and make informed decisions on all federal, state, and local candidates and issues.

I am aware that many of you may consider what I am asking to be a sacrifice or an inconvenience, but that is exactly what it will take if we are to make positive changes for our future.