Tuesday 18 March 2008

What a waste

I'm slightly unnerved to learn that, purely by having a shower and flushing the loo this morning i've used up over a third of the water that an average etheopian has to survive on daily

20 litres a day is the recommended minimum water a human can survive on, yet i wasted 7 just by using the toilet.

I offset this slightly, however, by cycling the 7 miles to work - thus meaning that fewer trees in the rainforest will be cut down on my behalf. But i'm luckier than most because my work place has on site showers and safe parking for my bike. However, if i want to avoid dairy products, thus being kind to animals, then the rainforests will be cut down anyway to make way for soya plants. Hmmm...

The thing is - like most people i care about the world in a slightly bemused way. Every report tells you something different, and who do you believe? I don't own a car, because i can't afford one - but would happily add to congestion if i could because the alternative - public transport systems - aren't a realistic alternative.

Let's put it this way: It takes me 35 minutes to cycle to work, between 20-30 minutes to drive when i have a car, 1 hour 30 minutes to walk the distance and between 1 hour and 2 hours depending on connections to catch the bus. When a bus does arrive it's late, over-crowded and dirty. Given these statistics who, in our increasingly frantic get-it-done-yesterday world, is going to leave their car at home?

Our governments promise us answers, but only based on how if affects their business interests. We talk about widening the roads as if this is the solution, but history shows that human junk expands to fill the space provided.

Maybe it's time to let the ants take over!

2 comments:

A. Stageman said...

I agree with you. It seems there will never be a solution to the problem of HUMANS. Haha, I think the quote "humans are a virus", from the film The Matrix, is somewhat accurate. We get comfy, start growing, and, soon enough, destroy that which is around us. I guess the only half-solution is to care for others as much as possible...and even that isn't really going to stop the destruction. Nothing lasts forever.

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