又一個最好不要生小孩的原因? @ 奶油咪咪的喵言貓語

(Excerpts from The courier;pictures from WWF or BBC unless otherwise stated) 這是我從上上禮拜的一份社區報紙節錄下來的令人憂心的文章:

The UBC scientist who developed the notion of ”ecological footprint” warns humanity must cut down its wasteful consumption of resources soon-or face the consequences. Prof. W Rees remarked, “This is what you must do. Explore the human relationship to the rest of nature.” We should stop viewing humankind as somehow separate, above and in control of nature.

奶油:

這個教授跟我多年來的感想一樣，人類總是傲慢的以為我們不是食物鏈的一環，但是如果我們繼續這樣下去，就會像成語說的一樣，「驕者自斃」。環保的觀念啟蒙於國中讀衛理女中時。那時我們每一班都有廢紙回收箱，同學們都會確定紙的兩面都寫滿，甚至還會用不一樣顏色重複寫滿整張紙，才甘願把紙丟掉。

it bothered Prof. Rees that traditional measurements of human development, such as gross domestic product(GDP), take no account of man’s impact on nature. Rather, as natural resources are depleted, GDP(國內生產毛額) continued to go up in the opposite direction. Traditionally, carrying capacity is defined as the number of organisms of any species that can be continuously supported in a given habitat without those organism destroying the habitat. (So if people in Vancouver were enclosed in a massive bell jar, how long the city would last? The answer is 2 days!)

奶油:

還記得以前在生物課本唸過的如果讓細菌在有限的供應下生長剛開始倍數增加的它們最終會滅亡因為所有的養份會因為競爭而被用光現在想像我們就是那樣的在用地球有限的資源

For example, if everybody in the world were to live like we do in developed country, we would need four Earths to sustain us. The only reason we are able to sustain Earth right now is because extremely low consumption on the poorest nations reduces the overall eco-footprint of humanity on our finite planet, but our species as whole is using up nature’s productive capacity faster than it can replenish it. “We are using the planet as if it were 20% bigger than it is.”

奶油:

我以前有問過老媽為什麼全球經濟會一起成長常理上應該是有人賺錢應該就有人賠錢啊我還記得她跟我說因為所有的東西都是由地球生產出來的可憐的地球不會開口討債只能默不作聲的承受我們不停的剝削基本上研究顯示我們現在使用資源的速度就好像我們有四個地球一樣但是任何一個幼兒都可以告訴我們，我們就只有一個地球

The ecological damage is out of sight of the biggest consumers in wealthy cities such as Vancouver, because we trade. “We don’t live here. We happen to have our bodies here. But the stuff that keeps us going is all over the rest of the planet,” says Rees. “We’re exploiting two things in Asia cheap labor and the environment.” A recent movie, “Manufactured landscapes” which won the award at 2006 TIFF offers distressing look at mass production in China. Following the endless human development, he documents the ways in which its people were reconfiguring, reshaping and even poisoning their homeland. The litany of ecological disasters in the daily news, depleted fisheries, disappearing forests, species extinction, are clear signals that levels of consumption are leading toward a global ecological crash.

奶油:

因為貿易的進步，所以已開發國家在享受生活而不用面對自己國家的環境破壞之餘還可以大唱高調。例如前一陣子那些U2的明星說希望要消除全球貧窮，我個人認為問題應該不是在那裡。他們這些不事生產(唱歌不算真正的對人類有益)的家伙賺盡暴利、生活奢侈出入都有禮車載少少人的家庭卻住在可以塞入非洲一整個村落的人口的豪宅，這樣的奢華正是建立在其他人或動物身上的。所以相反的，我們應該要減少奢侈的享受(例如:買這些明星的周邊商品。那都是污染、浪費堆積出來的)，回歸簡單的生活，而不是讓全球用力的浪費，加速消耗地球。

“Here ‘s how to get sustainable on this planet. Reduce. That’s all it takes. If what we are actually doing isn’t reducing the amount of energy and material consumption, we are not getting sustainable…” It will require us to change our lifestyles or behavior. All we can do is start making changes, be as aggressive as we can within the limits of our political system.” –Vancouver Mayor Mr. Sullivan.

奶油:

我們可以做到的就是隨手做環保，例如走幾步路、花個幾秒鐘做資源回收並不是很難，或者在血拼換季大拍賣或換電腦時，想一下沒有買這過的話會生活不下去、會餓死嗎?我自己常常也是想要享受一下，但是在這種時候，如果我們能想到這些精美、便宜的商品，是河流裡因為製造這些產品而排放出毒水的工廠而被毒死的魚付出的昂貴代價，也許我們掏腰包的速度會遲疑一點。減少浪費是我們舉手就可以做到的。譬如可以在工作或家裡養成隨手關燈的習慣。在西班牙的公廁電燈都是有時間操作的，過了10分鐘就會自己熄滅，可以在沒人用的時候節約能源。也許有人會悲觀的覺得靠一個人能改變什麼，但是積少能成多啊，而且也就是因為我們自己能做到，這樣可以慢慢的影響周遭的人而帶來大環境的改變。

(台灣台南二仁溪因為廢五金和電纜不當拋棄造成河有臭死魚圖by Sally)

Most people’s mindset is “ if these issues were important, we’d know about them. Since we don’t know about them, they cannot be important.” Prof. Rees is keenly aware of the problems posed by ideology and mindsets. He has written extensively about the dangers posed by the developed world’s comforting but ”dysfunctional myth” that sustainable economic growth is possible. He sees this as a convenient invention used to paper over the reality of the planet’s inequitable distribution of global resources and disappearing nature capital.

奶油

也許有人會覺得如果地球已經生了這麼嚴重的病，我們應該會常聽到這些問題，但是想要賺更多錢的商人那會讓大眾知道呢。想想看因為溫室效應而讓冰山溶解的越來越快，越來越無家可歸的北極熊(第一張照片幾乎都沒有冰了)還有海獺等等，是多麼無辜的受害者又不能為它們自己說話，這些是在加拿大北邊迫在眉睫的真實問題。我們只要在日常生活的一些小動作加起來，就可以慢慢改善它們的窘困，何樂而不為呢。

Finally, “when people face that stark decision-which (human)generation do I want to doom to extinction?-maybe that will help us make the decision that we need to make.”

奶油

也許地球沒法變回以前那樣，但是也許在大家的努力下，我們可以讓它不會毀滅。希望我們不會像科學小說寫的異形再毀滅了地球後需要去找另一個星球去佔領，因為我們的科技並沒有發達到那種程度。但是如果我們自己都沒辦法開始去改善這種病態的話，還是不要做孽把小孩帶到世界上來受苦了。讓我們一起努力吧。