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Category: Ecological sustainability articles

Human Beings... masters of this planet?   Are we humans beings really the masters of this planet? Do we have the authority to self-righteously assume global dominance? The following article is my view to the questions. It is certainly not definitive. It is just an expression of my own thoughts and opinions. In my view,  we should not assume that our human kind is central to the world and the planet at large. A human economic system should ideally also take into account the well being of the entire ecosystem, which is body of Mother Earth. I will tend to regard the Mother Earth as a living consciousness with her various elements (water, air, wildlife, etc) constantly seeking to remain in harmonious equilibrium. Come to think of it, isn’t this quite like the way the body of a living being functions?
Perhaps, economy should not be about humans for humans only. We tend to see ‘less-than-holistically’ and believe that money-making has little or nothing to do with the welfare of our Mother Earth and the ecosystem. But the fact is we humans do take sustenance from the atmosphere, animal and plant kingdoms; therefore we are dependent upon other species and resources on Earth. As such, human activities should be accounted for within a equation that does not place the human species upon a pedestal (which is being treated as superior); but rather assigns the ’so-called intelligent biped’ objectively with other species and elements of this diverse planet. In my opinion, the current human activities are simply too self-absorbed within our own kind. The truth of things is that everything, ‘however insignificant it may appear to be, is in actual fact, unique. “Feeling special” and “above others” are simply beliefs concocted by the human psyche, and have relevance only in a human society. Holistic & equitable replenishment & redistribution amongst all elements and species on Earth should be the a central theme for sustainable living, instead of the human biased “competitive” model. I feel that perhaps recycling of used materials may not be enough. Humans, being the so-called intelligent life form on Earth should actively develop sciences that deal with replenishment of plants, animal kingdoms and elements, keeping resources in equilibrium. To achieve all that, perhaps the very mindset that first sets competition in motion has to be re-evaluated. Well, this ideal is certainly easier said than done.
For your necessary ponderance. Thank you for reading. Must We Be Happy At The Cost Of The Earth? By Soei Tan The British think-tank, New Economics Foundations introduced the Happy Planet Index, a new measure of human well being and environmental impact in July 2006, partly in response of the inadequacies of GDP (gross domestic product) and HDI (human development index) to take environmental factors into account. The results were surprising, to say the least, if not shocking. The new index, Happy Planet Index (HPI) has 3 important factors, life satisfaction, life expectancy, and ecological footprint, and the magic formula is a simple relation: HPI = (Life satisfaction x Life expectancy)/ Ecological Footprint Life satisfaction is obtained from surveys with questions such as: ‘If you consider your life overall, how satisfied would you say you are nowadays?’. It seems rather subjective, but this single question performs surprisingly well, showing good validity when compared with other national-level statistics. Life expectancy is the expectancy at birth, obtained statistically from a population. Some experts believed that the product of Life satisfaction and Life expectancy is a measure which correlates well variables such as affluence, education, political freedom and gender equality, and hence is a good measure of well being. The third factor, Ecological Footprint, is the most neglected factor in previous studies, and is the main reason for the surprising results of the report. One would think that countries like the US, UK, Germany, France, Japan would do well, but in fact they don't, and the reason is the Ecological Footprint. What is the Ecological Footprint? It is a measure of a country's consumption and its environmental impact. A country which needs a lot of resources from other countries to sustain its own well being has certainly a bigger big foot print than a self-sufficient country. A summary of the results: As already mentioned, G8 countries fare very badly. The UK comes a disappointing 108 th (out of a total of 178 countries) – with the remainder of the G8 faring little, if at all, better. Italy is 66 th, Germany 81 st, Japan 95 th, Canada 111 th, France 129 th, United States 150 th and Russia 172 nd. Central America is the region with the highest average score in the Index Island nations score well above average in the Index These are the top 10 offenders of ecology: 1. United Arab Emirates 9.9 2. United States of America 9.5 3. Kuwait 9.5 4. Qatar 9.5 5. Australia 7.7 6. Sweden 7 7. Finland 7 8. Estonia 6.9 9. Bahrain 6.6 10. Denmark 6.4 Conclusions: The above results should make us think, or rather rethink what happiness is. We are all connected together, we are in the same boat, called the Earth. It is not possible for someone to say "I have money, I can do what I want, it is none of your business, and you have to respect my freedom to do what I like". At what cost are we willing to pay for our well-being? How can we devise schemes so that usage of resources are fair to all, regardless whether they are small or large countries. The US government has refused to sign the Kyoto and the biodiversity conventions, instead they have waged wars, with a very thin moral foundation, and which have devastated large areas for a long time, apart from the brutal killings. Consciousness about the Ecological Footprint must be stepped up. A quote from the report reads: "For example, in the United States and Germany people’s sense of life satisfaction is almost identical and life expectancy is broadly similar. Yet Germany’s Ecological Ecological footprint is only about half that of the USA. This means that Germany is around twice as efficient as the USA at generating happy long lives based on the resources that they consume." In economics, we have often stressed the meaning of productivity, a farmer in Denmark can produce single-handedly much more than a Chinese farmer. It is true, but we must also include the Ecological Footprint factor here, by considering how much machinery is being used, which in turn uses up resources of the earth, and causes pollution. We need to improve the HPI formula to give a more accurate result. The individual measures of Life satisfaction, Life expectancy, and Ecological Footprint need to be perfected. References: * New Economics Foundation web site * Happy Planet Index * Download report * How HPI is calculated * Country rankings Personal Blog: http://10outof10.blogspot.com Search this website