It's Saturday Night. I should be out at the bars I suppose, but instead I'm spending the evening in. I just finished Jim Merkel's book Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth.
Its similar to another book I read a few years ago called Your Money or Your Life that teaches people ways to manage their money so they don't live paycheck to paycheck no matter how little the take home pay. Its actually another book I'd highly recommend for anyone who wants to not be married to a job and have a life outside of just earning one.
So Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth is somewhat based of these same principles of conserving what you have and still living well. Think of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth like a 12 step programs for the average consumer.
Merkel starts with the basics, so this book is good for someone who has no knowledge of conservation or their impact on this earth. He explains the carbon footprint and the impacts we have in everyday living and how its things you usually read about, hear about on the news, from global warming to electrical shortages and water problems that are the domino affect of those choices we each make. He also sites examples of people who are living sustainably in the US right now (farms from Georgia to Wisconsin).
The bottom line is "there are 28.2 billion acres of productive land on Earth - when divided between six billion people, each person gets a 4.7 acres" Although this is assuming that humans use all of the earth for ourselves (which as 98% of all species are currently extinct, that isn't such a radical notion). I think a better question for him to pose would be instead, "how much of my acres share do I want to share with other animals or even my grandchildren?"
People are selfish by nature and will not change unless they see a benefit in the change for themselves.
I was disappointed that he didn't talk more about population control (too many children) or what a major affect veganism could have, in a positive way, if it was embraced in the mainstream population (for example 20% of greenhouse gas is a product of livestock slaughtering houses or if America alone stopped eating meat it would essentially solve world hunger as there would then be enough land for crops to grow and feed starving nations). I also hoped he would talk more about consumerism and its effect on animal extension and mass starvation. However, there is much much more to be covered then can be covered in 288 pages.
The truth is, coming to terms with your own demise (or your children's or your children's children) isn't all rainbows and sunshine but there are some simple things we can do to make the world a little bit nicer in the mean time.
