What does it mean to be “Earth-Friendly”?
What if everyone lived a lifestyle in which they sought to contribute more to society and the planet than they consume in terms of resources? What if there were a report card on how “Earth-Friendly” we are? What would our grade be if we included all inputs and all outputs derived from the way we live our lives?
What if we concentrated on contributing more to society and to the planet than we consume? What outputs from the way we live our lives would go into the positive outputs category? Would certain professions, volunteer positions, lifestyles be considered to be in the positive category of the equation? What other specific items would be in the category to determine our positive impact on society and the planet?
What if we all lived every day being mindful of all of the resources we are consuming from the planet and from society in order to keep our particular lifestyles going? What if we were also mindful of what we are putting out in terms of waste products that come as a result of the way we live our lives?
What if we were also very mindful of what we were putting out in terms of our behavior, our emotions, our work product, our volunteer projects, our leisure activities, etc. What would the world look like if every single person on the planet were to live their lives exactly the same way we do? Would it be a better place to be? Would it be a world in which you would want to live?
What would be the net balance in our own lives if we considered all the inputs we consume and all the outputs that we create? People who lead a low impact life in terms of what they consume (“green”, sustainable, low consumption) and a high impact life in terms of their positive affect on society and the environment (healing suffering, planting trees) would be considered to be “Earth Friendly”. But what types of specific items should be considered on both sides of the equation in order to get a accurate view of how “Earth-Friendly” a person’s lifestyle is?
What would be included in the resource consumption side of the equation? What specific resources from the environment and society should be included in order to get an accurate view of how much of the Earth’s environmental and societal resources we are consuming to maintain our lifestyle? Would we include electricity, gasoline, food, public transportation, public education, etc.? What specifically should be included?
What would be included in the contribution side of the equation to determine how “Earth-Friendly” a person is? What specific items would be included as being a positive contribution to the planet? What specific societal contributions (or lack of costs) should be considered? What specific environmental contributions (or lack of costs) should be considered as part of the equation?
Please share your thoughts! Help us to come up with a list of items to consider that we all could use to determine how “Earth-Friendly” we are. Let’s think outside the box!
For example, some people are “emotional vampires” or emotional “users” in relationships and some people have anger and rage problems that “pollute” their families and the environment around them. Would this and other such considerations go into the equation of everything we are consuming (input) and everything we are contributing (output)?
What benefits would there be if everyone thought about their life this way? Do you have any ideas on how we, as a nation, could encourage more people to be “Earth-Friendly”? How do we make it “cool”? What do you think? How would you respond to these questions? Let’s start a discussion!
Share your views by posting a comment. Simply scroll down to the bottom of this page until you see the words, “Speak Your Mind”. Send us your thoughts! Please get involved in the discussion. Join in!
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——————-This is “Points to Ponder” Question————————–
These are questions that get our community thinking and, hopefully, commenting. Points to Ponder (P2P) questions are meant to generate thoughts and differing views. The purpose is to view the question from multiple angles in order to get a fuller view of the subject we are discussing by crowdsourcing the responses. Points to Ponder questions are often the starting point that leads to a “Big Idea” that the community helps to flesh out. This “Big Idea” may then become a Community Project, a Crowdsourcing Request, a Community Engagement project or any of the other projects that create something new in our community. What is your Point to Ponder (P2P)? What do you think about the P2P questions of others? Let’s use the power or crowdsourcing to get a robust discussion going!
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