Sustainability again. It seems to be the most difficult task for humans to achieve — maybe it’s because there are too many of us, maybe it is because we are egocentric. Whether it is harvesting timber, fruit or mining, the Amazon is constantly being deforested. But how do you tell almost a majority of its inhabitants of the land who are living below the poverty line to stop their way of life and to cease their modes of survival. What jobs do we give them? Where do they go to make a living? What will they eat and drink? What will they tell their children who are already forced to grow up at an earlier age than most Americans?
The United States — while it is in a similar situation but largely downsized — it is by choice because of a green and environmentally friendly conscious developed countries have the wedge room to make. A swing from fossil fuel production to biofuel, for example, is underway because the U.S. government, particularly since the end of the Bush Administration in November 2008, has realized that the resources we rely on to use and for jobs are being depleted. The Obama Administration has made clear a shift that is necessary to make. While it is not a smooth shift and people are losing their homes and feeling the backlash of our years of dependence on limited resources and exploited sustainable resources, in the long run it will be an improved and updated America to fit our global and environmental circumstances.
America doesn’t help, however. In fact, we are a huge contributor to the problems areas like the Amazon face. We are the consumers — an import-driven country. Would we stop producing huge blockbuster Hollywood movies if someone told us that for whatever reason it was hurting their balance between the environment and their daily health? No, the films make too much money for those who are in control. We don’t have to face those imbalances in our cushy lives so why should we care?
The United States — while it is in a similar situation but largely downsized — it is by choice because of a green and environmentally friendly conscious developed countries have the wedge room to make. A swing from fossil fuel production to biofuel, for example, is underway because the U.S. government, particularly since the end of the Bush Administration in November 2008, has realized that the resources we rely on to use and for jobs are being depleted. The Obama Administration has made clear a shift that is necessary to make. While it is not a smooth shift and people are losing their homes and feeling the backlash of our years of dependence on limited resources and exploited sustainable resources, in the long run it will be an improved and updated America to fit our global and environmental circumstances.
America doesn’t help, however. In fact, we are a huge contributor to the problems areas like the Amazon face. We are the consumers — an import-driven country. Would we stop producing huge blockbuster Hollywood movies if someone told us that for whatever reason it was hurting their balance between the environment and their daily health? No, the films make too much money for those who are in control. We don’t have to face those imbalances in our cushy lives so why should we care?
While we are pushing everyone to be environmentally friendly we continue to consume, we’re just outsourcing what we are consuming, so it doesn’t look like it’s so bad here. Countries like Brasil then become exploited because they need the money — they have what we want, and we have what they want — it seems like such a simple exchange. But then, all of a sudden, the land is unusable, so they must find other land where soon after, the cycle repeats and more land is needed. And more. And more.
And we continue to pay them off for their exotic goods, for their unknowing silence, their soil and dreams.
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