For hundreds of generations, the focus of the “global” western world has been on progress for the sake of progress and the world – the Earth, the atmosphere, the people, the flora, the fauna – has suffered severely because of it. I say “global” western world because it isn’t just the Western world – Europe, the Americas – that is guilty of this. It may have taken longer for the Eastern world to catch up to our level of destruction, but they too have become part of the problem. And it must be said that the impact of what is going on the east – China, India – is going to have a far greater impact due to the massive population. This is a global phenomenon in which every country is to blame.

Stop pointing fingers and start doing something about it!

It has only been in the last few generations that we have started to realize the impact that we are having and how close we are to total destruction. Incredible advancements are taking place every day that have the potential to stop the destruction – if we are in time.

We are at a critical point in our history. I think it is extremely important to give our children the knowledge of what is happening and what can be done to fix it before we are gone. If they continue the negative trend, they are doomed. Some may say that this is a lot to put on the mind of a child. I say the minds of children are more powerful they those of adults and only by giving them the gift of knowledge of the reality of their world, will their imagination save them.

This isn’t about taking away their childhood and putting them to work solving the world’s problems. It is about exposing them to things that will have a lasting impact and spark them to do something good for the world.

Last week we watched the movie Home on YouTube.com. A non-profit film, it shows the devastation that we have caused in the world and gives a positive message of hope.

“The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.”

Also, I am currently reading the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to my boys and we just heard the story of the Golgafrichans (the useless third of the population of another planet) and how they crash landed on the Earth some 2 millions years ago. They set to work developing the things they knew on their native planet. The most striking example is that of currency. They immediately adopted the “leaf” as their currency because it made everyone exceedingly rich. Of course, the U.S. dollar – I mean the “leaf” – is so plentiful and is created so rapidly, that they quickly came to realize that it would take forests worth of leaves just to buy a peanut. Their solution? Set the forests on fire so that the value of the remaining leaves would increase. Problem solved! The trillion dollar infusion – I mean the fire – would have effects that last generations.

Our kids also understand that getting gifts on birthdays, while fun, is really not necessary, and it is more important to spend the time with family and friends. They do have toys – too many – but these days, they pay for the them out of their allowance. They have to plan and save. They have to make the right choices.

There are many things we can do to help our child leave less of a mark on the world and be inspired to make a positive difference. It is a necessity!

Consider this…

Researchers believe that within the next generation, if the trend continues, everything could come to an end.

In Danial Quinn’s book, the ‘Story of B’, he describes the growth of the human population like this (taken from Wikipedia):

“…World population began to double, first taking 2000 years; then taking 1600 years; and eventually only taking 200 years between 1700-1900 AD; then again between 1900-1960 AD [60 years]; and yet again between 1960-1996 AD [36 years].”

Only 15 years later, in 2011, we will hit 7 Billion people. 7 BILLION!! In the time it took me to write this post, the population of the world climbed by over 7,000 (see the World Clock) and the rate just continues to climb. The devastation of this population will be unstoppable if something isn’t done.

Imagine now…

Researchers believe that within the next generation, the trend could be reversed, putting the world onto a path of lasting respect and enjoyment of our world.

I think it is possible. Even if it does take a Mind of Steel and a Heart of Gold* to make it happen.

* For those who have not read the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (I highly recommend it and it is so much better the second time around) the Heart of Gold is the ship that the main characters travel in and it is responsible for some incredibly “improbable” events. “Nothing is impossible, just very improbable.”

In piecing together these ethereal concepts I have been called to read a few other books recommended by the writer on his website, Ishmael.org. The first book I found is Radical Simplicity by Dan Price. It is the story of how the author lives his life in as simple a way as he can while still interacting with the modern world. He is not a full hermit, completely sheltered away from the outside world in a Grizzly Adams  style cabin. In fact, he produces a monthly magazine that he puts out to thousands of people, has a copier, propane heaters and even a telephone and electrical service. The simplicity shows up more in what he doesn’t have.

• He doesn’t have tons of space in which to collect a bunch of unused and under-appreciated stuff.
• He doesn’t have tons of clothes competing for show time.
• He doesn’t have a typical, oversized house which consumes a ton of energy and resources.
• He doesn’t have a mortgage.
• He doesn’t have a commute.
• He doesn’t have a full dining room with twelve intricately detailed place settings.

I could go on, of course, but you see the picture. He has simplified his life so that the outside pressures of the world do not have an impact on him, unless he chooses to allow them in. For instance, he spent many years traveling the world with a contract for a writing gig. While he did that though, he took his tent wherever he went. He avoided hotels at all costs. He maintained his simplicity wherever he went.

Why did Dan Price do this? He did this so that he could experience freedom. Freedom is a very powerful thing, yet so many people think that it only comes after working hard and long for many years to get to a financial position where your money opens the doors of freedom. Dan Price has shown that that is not necessary. He shows how he gained freedom by simplifying his life, by taking away all the pressures that society has artificially placed on our lives.

While I don’t believe that everyone would agree with Dan Price’s version of freedom or the path he took, I do believe that everyone can gain something by going through a process of simplification. A few years ago, we simplified our lives greatly by selling off about 80% of our belongings. It was very liberating for me during that time. I felt a huge relief. I had never been one who likes trinkets and “stuff” so it felt good to eliminate much of the “stuff” we had accumulated over the years. It was tough for Amelia at first, but she is a veteran nowadays.

Dan Price’s book has gotten me thinking of new ways to simplify again. For nearly three years, we have had a bunch of our remaining “stuff” packed away in boxes. Outta sight. Outta mind. Outta there?

Granted, somethings we are keeping because they will be useful later and too costly to replace. Like Tupperware for food storage when we live in our own place again. Especially in Costa Rica where we will have to keep the bugs at bay. But there are other things that we could get rid of here and replace when we get to our destination. Under this category would be things like cups, plates and cutlery. This type of thing is very cheap in almost every location in the world. There is another category that is hardest to figure out. We have a bunch of artwork that we have collected over the years. I have heard horror stories about art taken to the tropics and it gets destroyed by the humidity. I couldn’t forgive myself for letting that happen. And if I took them to Costa Rica, would they really look good in that setting.

So, while I love to be surrounded by artwork, it may be more realistic to replace what we currently have with something more suited to the locale. Besides, the kids are constantly creating artwork for us with their extremely creative minds.

We do have a prize piece that we got specifically because we had the perfect spot for it in our house in Ottawa. I can’t be certain that we would be able to find a place for it in Costa Rica. That piece is a pewter and lucite sculpture my world renowned marine artisit Wyland called Dolphin Tribe. If you or someone you know is interested in purchasing this piece, let me know.

What will you do to help make a difference?

What this story is about is the lies, deception and treachery that these three entities have created while creating the illusion that it is is all for the best for everyone involved. In fact, the benefits are significant in the economies where it takes place. Unfortunately, those benefits are very short lived and are designed to be that way. Their design is actually meant to bring these economies to their knees. Designed to put these economies under the control of these three big bullies. Once they are under the control of the bullies, these struggling economies can do nothing except what they are guided to do by the bullies.

What do these bullies want? Oh, nothing much. Just control of their land and resources, their votes at international arenas, the stage to grow their global empire. But it’s okay because there are those is those struggling economies that do really benefit. They just happen to the small group of people who knowingly align themselves with the bullies and the few richest groups at the top of the countries food chain. What about all the others? “Oh, they’ll be okay. It’s all for the best.”

The shortsightedness of the whole system is visible in The Story of Stuff by The Story of Stuff Project. This work is also available in a new book (The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health-and a Vision for Change). Our world is failing all around us. We may not see if directly while driving in our new cars or watch our huge TVs in our bigger houses while drinking bottled water, but there are people who live it every single day of their lives. We have had a part in creating this failing system. We may not have dreamed it up, but we are contributors to it. It all hinges on our ability to stand up and do something about it.

John Perkins was a huge part of the design of this system. You could say he was one of its founding fathers. Thankfully, he could see the errors and atrocities that he was committing. While it was too late, he did finally step up to start making a difference.

What will you do to help make a difference?

In this book Goleman introduces a concept he calls Radical Transparency. Essentially, this concept would see our corporations give us complete visibility into the products that we buy. This transparency would cover not only the specific components or ingredients in a product, but also the environmental and social impacts of those components as they progress all the way from the extraction process to the final manufacturing stage. By having this radical transparency, we will be able to make more informed decisions about the products we buy. If we lean heavily towards a specific environmental issue, we might chosen a product that has a lower impact in that area. Alternatively, or addition, we may want to shy away from a company that has known child labour in their supply chain.

With access to this information, consumers will be able to speak to the issues that are important to them using their wallets. Companies that have better products from all angles will ultimately get a greater share of the revenue. As the money shifts towards the better companies, more and more average or poor companies will be forced to improve their products or their environmental and social impact. In time, this will lead to better products overall. There may be companies that chose not to improve or that simply cannot compete. As far as I see it, hopefully, these companies will slowly disappear. There is no reason that we should accept products that are unhealthy for us or the environment or that take advantage of the people in the factories or communities where the products are made. Radical transparency will work to improve the world for everyone.

Radical transparency is already happening and having an effect worldwide. Companies that once thought only of the bottom line as a fiscal concept are now thinking of environmental and social bottom lines as well. Several organizations have been created to create databases that provide ratings of individual products or companies and many allow the user to customize the ratings for the issues that are important to them. Combine this information with technology like the iPhone, Twitter or Facebook and consumers can disperse the information faster and farther than ever before, creating a much faster feedback loop for the companies that produce the products.

There is so much “green washing” our there today (companies marketing one good feature while ignoring the many negatives of a product) that it is about time that the information gap was closed and the consumer was given what their truly deserve – a real choice.

Check out these sites:

GoodGuide.com
Find safe, healthy and green products.

Earthster.org
Online collaboration where companies share LCA (life cycle assessment) data so that it is possible to gain greater visibility down the supply chain.

EnvironmentalHealthNews.org
Advancing the public’s understanding of environmental health issues.

CosmeticsDatabase.com
Cosmetic safety database.

+++++++

Costa Rica sets a standard for sustainable growth

Sailing down Costa Rica’s Tempisque River on an eco-tour, I watched a crocodile devour a brown bass with one gulp. It took only a few seconds. The croc’s head emerged from the muddy waters near the bank with the foot-long fish writhing in its jaws. He crunched it a couple of times with razor-sharp teeth and then, with just the slightest flip of his snout, swallowed the fish whole. Never saw that before.

These days, visitors can still see amazing biodiversity all over Costa Rica — more than 25 percent of the country is protected area — thanks to a unique system it set up to preserve its cornucopia of plants and animals. Many countries could learn a lot from this system.

Costa Rica is insisting that economic growth and environmentalism work together. It has created a holistic strategy to think about growth, one that demands that everything gets counted. So if a chemical factory sells tons of fertilizer but pollutes a river — or a farm sells bananas but destroys a forest — this is not honest growth. You have to pay for using nature — nobody gets to treat climate, water, coral, fish and forests as free anymore.

Combining Key Jobs

The process began in the 1990s when Costa Rica, which sits at the intersection of two continents and two oceans, came to fully appreciate its incredible bounty of biodiversity — and that its economic future lay in protecting it. So it did something no country has ever done:

“In Costa Rica, the minister of environment sets the policy for energy, mines, water and natural resources,” explained Carlos M. Rodriguez, who served in that post from 2002 to 2006. In most countries, he noted, “ministers of environment are marginalized.” They are viewed as people who try to lock things away, not as people who create value. Their job is to fight energy ministers who just want to drill for cheap oil.

But when Costa Rica put one minister in charge of energy and environment, “it created a very different way of thinking about how to solve problems,” said Rodriguez, now a regional vice president for Conservation International. “The environment sector was able to influence the energy choices by saying: ‘Look, if you want cheap energy, the cheapest energy in the long run is renewable energy. So let’s not think just about the next six months; let’s think out 25 years.’ ”

As a result, Costa Rica hugely invested in hydroelectric, wind and geothermal power, and today it gets more than 95 percent of its energy from these renewables. In 1985, it was 50 percent hydro, 50 percent oil. More interesting, Costa Rica discovered its own oil five years ago but decided to ban drilling — so as not to pollute its politics or environment.

Rodriguez also helped to pioneer the idea that in a country like Costa Rica, dependent on tourism and agriculture, the services provided by ecosystems were important drivers of growth and had to be paid for. Most countries fail to account for the “externalities” of various economic activities. So when a factory, farmer or power plant pollutes the air or the river, destroys a wetland, depletes a fish stock or silts a river, the cost is never added to your electric bill or to the price of your shoes.

Costa Rica took the view that landowners who keep forests intact and rivers clean should be paid, because doing so benefits dam owners, fishermen, farmers and eco-tour companies downstream. The forests also absorbed carbon.

To pay for these environmental services, in 1997 Costa Rica imposed a tax on carbon emissions — 3.5 percent of the market value of fossil fuels — which goes into a national forest fund to pay indigenous communities for protecting the forests around them. And the country imposed a water tax whereby major water users — hydroelectric dams, farmers and drinking water providers — pay villagers upstream to keep their rivers pristine. “We now have 7,000 beneficiaries of water and carbon taxes,” said Rodriguez. “It has become a major source of income for poor people. It has also enabled Costa Rica to actually reverse deforestation. We now have twice the amount of forest as 20 years ago.”

Nature’s value

As we debate a new energy future, we need to remember that nature provides this incredible range of economic services — from carbon fixation to water filtration to natural beauty for tourism. If government policies don’t recognize those services and pay the people who sustain nature’s ability to provide them, things go haywire. We end up impoverishing both nature and people. Worse, we start racking up a bill in the form of climate-changing greenhouse gases, petro-dictatorships and biodiversity loss that gets charged on our kids’ Visa cards to be paid by them later. Well, later is over. Later is when it will be too late.