How much of an environmentalist are you and why?
I’m not enough of an environmentalist.I recycle, but then it’s pretty much mandatory to do so in both the UK and France where I have houses. I don’t drive, but I get around in an electric car in France which someone else drives, and I rarely fly, and in London I use public transport most of the time and mini-cabs when I have to.I am acutely aware of and very worried about climate change and I suspect we have already reached more than one tipping point and we are at the stage of damage limitation rather than repair. I occasionally write on subjects connected to climate change, although I’m by no means an expert, I share and reference what I consider to be important contributions and findings concerning climate change, but I’m not allied to any particular campaign and should certainly look to being more of an environmental activist given what is at stake. Maybe I’ve already succumbed to despair which is not a good place to be.Thank you for the question: it may galvanise me in to doing more!
Environmentalism: What's worse, wasting your time or wasting natural resources?
You're asking about the Tragedy of the Commons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tra...) issue where because there is no explicit cost to a shared resource such as the environment, many people will prioritize their more immediate tangible benefit over the shared goods, which of course leads to the destruction of the common shared good.While it may be politically correct to say that we should prioritize long-term natural resources over our own more immediate needs, it is difficult for someone to make the decision - in this case driving or taking public transport - if you can't quantify the tradeoffs in dollars and cents.I know my time is worth X dollars.What cost am I imposing to the environment by driving Y miles in my own car vs. taking a bus?Please note that there is no consensus what so ever on 'pollution rights' such as this for individuals which would allow us to assign a hard dollar cost to that person for driving their own car. We have limited Cap and Trade schemes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emi...) but nothing at this micro-level. Failure to have a clear cost/benefit tradeoff means that we leave the decision such as this on imperfect mechanisms such as people's own conscience or more likely, things like laws around car pool lane usage which are designed more easing traffic congestion than for the environment.Given that, I suspect that most people will choose to drive their own car if they can as there is no hard cost that they have to bear for air pollution. Their individual decions are in themselves not 'bad'. They are perfectly rational given the choices they face. It it is cumulative impact of those rational decisions across the populace which leads to the destruction of the common shared good.
Is it hypocritical for an environmentalist to eat meat?
In most ways, yes.For starters, I was oblivious to many facts that I’m now aware of. But I’m getting a touch ahead of myself. For starters, let’s dive into the modern-day reality of environmental ills, their causes, and how/why we struggle to face them, and/or deal with them.Animal agriculture is the single largest cause of all environmental ills. These include, but aren’t necessarily limited to:Forest depletionSpecies extinctionOcean dead zonesOceans losing fish and all other aquatic lifeCO2 emissionsGreenhouse gasesPollutionWaste in cities/animal excretionsYou most likely eat a meal three times a day, if not more often. Every meal you consume is a chance to be vegan with your dollars and your eating utensils.You probably refuel your car a maximum of once a week, perhaps less, and zero if you’re using an electric car.I use a pretty fuel efficient car at the moment, Honda CRV, which averages 25 miles per gallon. Pretty good for still running on fossil fuels. But all of this “efficiency” pales in comparison to the environmental preservation created by a vegan diet.There are better cars than mine such as certain models by Nissan and Tesla, which are fully electric, but all transportation emissions still fall short of animal agriculture which is the single largest force of degradation across the whole Earth.Here are some handy charts and diagrams on the topic:
What is the importance of environmental awareness?
We live in Earth planet. And we know that without trees, plants, water,etc we can't make it.We all know how a life would look if there aren't trees, plants animals etc . They are the ones that the planet a living place.Environment includes all living and non-living objects. We live in the environment and use the environmental resources like air, land and water to meet our needs. Development also means meeting the needs of the people. While meeting the ever-growing needs, we put pressure on the environment. When the pressure exceeds the carrying capacity of the environment to repair or replace itself, it creates a serious problem of environmental degradation. If we use any environmental resource such as ground water beyond its limit of replacement, we may lose it forever. Therefore, there is a need to create ‘awareness’ about Environmental protection. While efforts are being made at the national and international level to protect our environment, it is also the responsibility of every citizen to use our environmental resources with care and protect them from degradation.
What are some arguments against Environmentalism?
Most of the arguments against environmentalism stem from the social and political arenas because air, water, land, living things, and ecological relationships do not obey political or social boundaries created by humans. Sometimes species may conflict with human interests: "Species X is a vector for rabies". "Species Y might eat my livestock". "Species Z poops all over my windshield". Sometimes the management of a given species infringes upon economics or "rights". "I can't hunt species A because it's listed as endangered". "I don't want my tax dollars spent on species B". "I can't harvest the timber on my property because species C is on my property".