The World Without Us - Blog Action Day

As you, Dear Constant Reader, may have noticed of late I've undergone a little bit of a regression back to my former nature loving ways; this fits neatly with my disillusion with modern "life".

And the book I've just finished, The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, has really made me think.

Our oceans are full of plastic, our soil and water filled with chemicals, such as dioxin, and we are desperately trying to work out what to do with our nuclear waste. If our species survives for dozens of generations the nuclear waste from today will still be with them. Doesn't that upset anyone?

Sure climate change is a major issue but sadly it's one of many and the current populism that environmentalism is undergoing is kind of making a lot of people forget that.

I really do think it's time our species thought about our quality of lives, our legacy to the future and our responsibilities as the dominant species on Earth. We live crowded stressful lives of consumption, and then profess to "love children and animals". How can you love children if you leave the next generation a polluted legacy? How can you love animals if you allow the destruction on an epic scale of habitats around the world?

I have to say I believe serious consideration should be given to not only immediate environmental improvements but to a long term population reduction strategy. I mean less people would = less stress, less consumption and would make preserving our world in a reasonable state far easier. Sure there are moral issues on population control (infringements on personal liberty, the cultural bias to male children causing disadvantage to females etc).

I think it's quite disgusting that our Government continues to pile responsibility for environmental action on the individual... recycling shouldn't need to occur as the need to recycle shouldn't present itself. Companies must not be allowed to spew out hideous amounts of plastic rubbish and excessive packaging. It's time the people of the world stood up and took their lives, and their planet, back.