In all other respects politicians are to blame. "But humanity warned," creators of films about the consequences of irrational nature management waved their finger ediously. But even the apocalyptic pictures of frozen in the ice of New York or sliding into the ocean of Los Angeles will not force viewers who came to the cinema to refuse a disposable glass of popcorn or a plastic bottle of soda. Just like the picture of a light smoker on a pack of cigarettes, no one has been inspired by the feat of quitting. Although the mood spoiled. But in fact, originally the word "ecology" was the science of the relationship of living organisms among themselves and with their habitat. Including your personal body with your personal environment. It is not necessary to throw oneself on the barricades of ecologically irresponsible industrialists or politicians. Your breast is still useful for more constructive actions. For example, it can bring a couple of babies. There are many ideas that do not require superhuman efforts, but are quite capable of making the lives of the above-mentioned babies and yours at the same time more comfortable. Read, choose, act.
Think globally, act locally
"Everything could be much better, but everything could be much worse." So everything is fine. " This law of Parkinson describes how things are with us with environmental achievements. The rating of such achievements was made by Yale and Columbia universities. In this list, 150 countries. We are seventy-fifth. The top ten includes: Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Costa Rica, Austria, New Zealand, Latvia, Colombia and France. In Stockholm, for example, 500 buses run on biofuel, which does not produce exhaust. The heating systems of the country work on geothermal energy. And in the UK, Belu Mineral Water is bottled in biotar. I drank a bottle - safely throw it on the lawn, because in a hundred days it will turn into compost, and this will have a bad effect on the environment and the environment. "All this is good," you say, "but what can I personally do in our country, seventy-fifth on the list?" Start with the simplest: give up plastic bags in supermarkets. Carry a canvas bag-package for a duty trip to the store. And if it is with a stylish designer print, then in general you can use it as a trend accessory.
Welcome to Utopia
Every year in summer, an international ecological camp "Ecotopia" is located in one of the countries of Europe, where all indifferent to green ideas can come. The age of the participants is not limited. Therefore, in the tents of ecotopes, it is possible to find babies and venerable elders. Life in the Ecotopia proceeds in complete merging with nature. All day in the open air. The food is exclusively vegetarian. Every day there are numerous workshops and master classes. Themes are not limited. Everyone who has something to tell the world, can hold his master class - there is an audience. Among the inhabitants of Ecotopia there are many artists and every evening there are concerts. In Ecotopia adhere to the principle of social equality, so there, in the course of its monetary unit - "eco". The eco course is tied to the exchange rate of the national currency of each of the inhabitants.
Green sleeves
In December 2009, the Fashion Summit, organized by the Nordic Fashion Association, was held in Copenhagen. At it representatives of leading world brands agreed that eco-management in fashion will be the most actual trend of the next decade. For the most part, this applies not so much to the design as to the composition of the fabrics that are used in sewing clothes. For example, 11% of all chemicals consumed by the world's light industry are used for painting jeans and other cotton products. Aniline dyes, chloride compounds and other "chemistry" do not just poison those who work in enterprises and live around, they still have an unpleasant feature to penetrate the skin of their carrier and get straight into the body. Therefore, Levi's and other famous manufacturers of the world's most popular pants produce a line of eco-jeans, which produce only natural dyes. But buttons, labels and other baubles are made from coconut copra and recycled cardboard.
Fifth Element
Diluting is very harmful to the environment. Scientists from the University of Michigan found that the total energy consumption of the couple who divorced, increases by 61%. This is because to live with one family is more economical. You can take a bath or shower together. Cooking one dinner for two. And in the evenings to have sex with candles. And any stress, alas, stimulates consumption. Divorced women, trying to compensate for depression, buy completely unnecessary things. Men go into parallel reality created by television and video games. By the way, with the help of sex, you can not only save electricity, but also solve environmental problems more radically. Norwegians Tommy Hol Ellingsen and Leon Johansson withdrew their erotic games on video and placed them on a paid website. The money they receive is transferred to various environmental organizations. And more about sex. When buying a bed, see if there is a FSC sign on it. So mark wood obtained by ecology. Consider this your contribution to the cause of sustainable development (the term denoting the correct interaction of man with nature).
Flexitarians
This term refers to people who do not completely abandon the use of meat for food, but reduced it to a minimum. In the list of flexitarians, almost all Hollywood actresses who are not included in the category of vegetarians. David Cervan Schreiber, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, author of "Antirak," says the simplest and most useful thing we can do for the planet and our health is to reduce meat consumption. 30% of arable land on the planet is sown with fodder crops for cows - corn and soy. For this, forests are destroyed. Methane, which is formed as a result of cow's digestion, affects climate warming more than the entire transport industry in the world. "If all Americans," writes The New York Times, "started eating meat only 20% less, that would be equivalent to replacing all cars on the continent with hybrid models." Immediately throw your sausage on the compost!
Office of young grass color
We consider office property and resources lightly as a draw. Paper can not save, computers do not turn off, because it will be much better for the environment and environmental protection. So, for reference: do you leave the computer in working mode for a day? During the year, you alone released 600 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere. Make it all office - consider, have kindled an iceberg. And vice versa: the whole year printed documents on both sides of the sheet and even on an energy-efficient printer? Well done! 50 trees were left to live. The idea of a "green office" started in the UK and very quickly became popular all over the world. It's not even a matter of high environmental awareness, but that the principles of the "green office" allow you to save a very, very lot of money (60 percent). And nothing much you do not need to do. Do not leave electrical appliances in stand-by mode. Pull the cord out of the socket. Before you print the document, think carefully. Maybe it's better to read it from the screen?
The cycle of things in nature
In London and Berlin, a wonderful Visa Swap project is regularly working. At a previously announced time and place (the schedule is on www.visaswap.com) you bring your unnecessary clothes. The volunteers of the action evaluate the brought things and give this or that number of points for each. The points received are something like an internal currency. On them you can "buy" any object you like. In the same way, someone buys clothes brought by you. All the remaining after the end of the trading week is sent to a special charity stores, and profits from the sale of balances are sent to charitable foundations. The face of the Visa Swap project is Lindsay Lohan. That's how gracefully they solve in Europe two eternal girls' problems: "there is nothing to wear" and "where to store things." While such actions have not reached us, just refer clothes that you do not need to charities. And before you buy a hundredth T-shirt, remember that its production was conditionally worth your planet one day of life. Can not do?
Organic life
Ukraine ranks second among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe in the territories designated for organizing organic farming. More than 260 thousand hectares of land. Organic is the method of growing plants, which does not use chemicals, and the land is not subjected to violent processing. With such a scale of organic farming, like ours, the shelves in stores theoretically must burst with products labeled bio and organic. But until this happens, look for at least shelves in supermarkets, where there are packages with the appropriate marking. The term "organic" means that no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, antioxidants and thickeners were used in the production. And the production emissions were completely neutralized. In organic-animal husbandry, the use of growth stimulants is prohibited, and the use of antibiotics is limited. In a word, such food can be eaten without fear of a gradual mutation in a hybrid scorpion with fodder beets. Organic foods are more expensive than conventional chemical products. But in recalculation on a long-term prospect it all the same appears favorably. Because illness is not a cheap pleasure. And on sale there is organic cosmetics.
Forest Brothers
People who are tired of life on the principle of "working harder to buy more", as a rule, change not only work, but also residence. Let's say they leave for Goa. And the most determined create their own small states, which are called "eco-communes" or "eco-settlements". The basic principle of life in eco-settlements is very "selfish" - 95% of the time a person must work for himself. And only 5% - on the system. For your information: in corporations, about 85% of hired personnel work for "uncle". Anthropologists and sociologists say that for a stable and harmonious coexistence in the commune there are enough 100-150 people. Eco-settlers often produce their own clothes, shoes and household utensils. Everything is made from pure raw materials and is disposed of immediately after the end of the service life. The oldest eco-settlement Findhorn in Scotland is already 43 years old. And the youngest in Europe, probably, we. Several families of environmentalists live near Kiev in the village of Romashki. Three eco-settlements are organized in the Carpathians and Transcarpathia. One more thing is in the Vinnitsa region.
There is life after the bin
The thesis put forward in the title belongs to Damian Hirst. Since the first "scavengers" created their masterpieces, the relationship between the artist and household waste has changed a lot. They do not just create collages from objects like wooden boxes for fruit. These are functional and truly beautiful things, in which you will never guess the source material. In addition, they are always stylish and look like a million dollars. Cameron Diaz produces handbags from old posters and lighthouse locks. Designer Stuart Heigart creates chandeliers from plastic bottles. But Thai monks built a temple complex out of empty beer bottles. It turned out a whole emerald city. And what do you throw into the garbage?
Build a house, raise a son
The third point of this popular program is to plant a tree. The custom of planting trees in honor of various important events is very ancient. The Druids generally considered trees their closest relatives. And not without reason. People who volunteer to help and plant trees are called "arborists." Arbor is translated from Latin - "tree." Since it is most logical to plant trees in April, it is in this green month that the world day of the arborist is celebrated. And newlyweds in Kiev on the wedding day can plant their tree on a special alley of newlyweds. It is located on the territory of the Kiev Zoo. In general, we can plant trees in our latitudes almost all year round, except for the hottest summer month and the coldest winter. Do not want to bother with seedlings? Pick up the cut branch, put it in water and, when it releases the roots, plant it in the ground. City trees are unpretentious - they will get accustomed.
In 2009, at the congress of the American Psychological Association in Toronto, a report was read, where psychologists finally explained why we know what to do, and still do not. First, experts often give conflicting assessments of the situation. They say that all the Arctic ice melts in four years, because we nemereno consume everything. Then suddenly declare global warming a natural process in which we are not very much to blame.
Secondly, we tend to underestimate the risk. Nature is great and boundless. And even if we still have a little bit of foul play, in our century there will be enough air, trees, and flower petals. But there is a "critical point" theory, after which irreversible changes in the environment will begin to grow in an avalanche and swift manner. So that that mammoth, which has frozen in the permafrost layer, without having had time to chew its bunch of bamboo, may well be a symbol of the coming changes.
The third reason is called "learned helplessness" inaction as a result of the belief that your individual efforts are too insignificant against the background of grandiose cataclysms. It seems to us that all our efforts are the same as attempts of an ant to strengthen a collapsing dam with a pine needle.
And finally, stereotypes of behavior. This is the hardest way to get rid of, because we have to work daily and purposefully to change ourselves for the better. But we can, can not we?