Rising Above Global Warming
by B. J. DeFrancesco.
ISBN-13: 9780980155501
This book is a children’s book on global warming with illustrations. Oddly, it is the first of its kind. The subject of global warming when looked at through the lens of hopelessness is a dark issue, but when the topic is dealt with by creating empowerment in the next generation, the outcome keeps most readers’ attention and develops optimism for the future. The story is about a town called Terra that has to cope with the influence of the shifting climate. Through the interactions of the characters, young readers begin to understand issues surrounding global warming and climate change. The impact of the climate change has far reaching effects that will reverberate through many successive generations and will call countless people to action in an opportunity for humanity to control their own destiny. The book introduces readers to the terminology and issues of global warming; it includes a glossary of key words and games. By sharing adult concepts with young minds, leaders of tomorrow will become better prepared to face the challenges of their day.
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What is a global steward? The Global Stewards Society believes “that humanity is endowed with a sacred responsibility to preserve, protect, and sustain the Earth’s natural systems that support all life on the planet.” Their mission is to provide support through public education, civil engagement, economic initiatives, and applied scientific research and development in order to achieve these goals.
Preserve, protect, and sustain the earth’s natural systems; that does not sound very businesslike. The truth of the matter is that conservation and efficient use of resources benefits the bottom line of any business. The problem with these three concepts is that the beneficiaries of their regulatory implementation are the future generations of humanity, and people today, generally, do not have that long of an attention span. Without preserving the earth’s natural systems, not only do we run the risk of diminishing resources, but we also put society in the precarious position of runaway demand. Without protecting the natural ecosystems, the very environment that provides our bountiful harvests that we depend upon to sustain life will continue to die off from some of our dirtiest business endeavors. Without sustainability, simply, the future seems hopeless.
So, what are the age requirements for being a global steward? To tell the truth, most children are already global stewards. It seems as though we are all born in a state that is prepared to take in everything around us and to be grateful for it. Distractions that come along with maturity convince us that destroying the environment on margin is a rational decision. In order to meet all of our needs today, we are willing to compromise being able to meet the needs of people in the future. Living outside of our societal means is insanity because this decision, in the long-run, will ultimately kill off our species, or more reasonably, kill off billions of people worldwide.
So, how does a society become centered on the principle of environmental stewardship? It starts in childhood. Education can provide an excellent foundation for individuals to base their economic decisions upon. Learning about the different ecosystems and the intricacies of the relationships between plants and animals in order for the planet to continue generating life is something that is a lifelong process. The appreciation for living things is something that needs to be instilled within children as they grow up. Then, as this generation matures and takes over the reigns of adulthood, these strands of environmental stewardship are seamlessly woven into the fabric of economics and politics.
The term global steward is becoming a description of a particular type of person that is bred into a society over the course of successive generations. The Native Americans mastered this standard of education in their societies quite successfully. To become a person who is responsible for managing someone else’s affairs, is something that most people look past in their fulfillment of individual desires and short-term gains. Why should Big Oil change evolve into renewable energy when there is still so much money to be made selling petroleum? Why should they care that the unintended consequences of their product are lowering the quality of life in terms of health and survivability for virtually every living creature on earth?
To ask manufacturers to design products that can be easily disassembled, recycled, and re-entered into the supply chain is an idea, which up until the present, was unthinkable. Most manufacturing and production systems were one way only. The electric transmission grid infrastructure, as an example, was developed to be a one-way system only; make as much electricity as possible and then ship it out to customers unconcerned about how much energy is lost along the wires along the way was the business standard. Now, we are realizing that two-way communication is better; it will allow utilities to conserve energy and ultimately use less resources.
Well, two-way communication with the living world is also better. When humanity finds out that the concentration of agricultural fertilizers in their rivers are creating dead zones in deltas, this should create a feedback loop where society begins to look at the chemicals they are spreading across the globe. When billions of tons of eWaste start piling up, and the heavy metals and industrial chemicals in them begin leaking into the groundwater supply, this should create a new production and recycling process for personal computers and other technologies. When living species on earth start dying off at unprecedented rates, this should cause humanity to rethink its foundation. What is more important to our species, the natural world or our economic system?
Most people would agree that our economic system is pretty important; it just can’t change overnight. Furthermore, to burden the American consumer with the responsibility of discarding their used furniture, appliances, and electronic equipment is unreasonable…right? It is not. Most individuals are programmed to care for their world; it is the reason we have evolved this far as a species. The problem is not that individual consumers do not care. The problem is that caring, as a business strategy, is too expensive. Look at Whole Foods. In order to eat food that is not genetically engineered, sprayed with chemicals, processed, boxed, stored for months, and then shipped, customers are required to pay more. Can consumers afford to pay more? Why does healthier food cost more? Shouldn’t food that requires more fertilizers, pesticides, manufacturing equipment, and transportation fuel cost more than locally-grown organic food? The logic of paying more for natural products is backwards at best.
So, how do you become a steward of a particular product? What are some of the responsibilities that go along with being a responsible consumer in today’s globalized marketplace? The concept of product stewardship is concerned with every aspect along the production/consumption chain, and therefore, includes many individuals working together. Product stewardship requires everyone who is involved in the entire lifespan of a particular product to take on some responsibility in order to reduce its environmental impact. Manufacturers are beginning to plan recycling and disposal costs into their products, they are redesigning their products so that they use fewer toxins, and they are making products that last longer and are more reliable. For consumers, being a product steward means learning about the concept of ‘away’. When we throw something ‘away’, it only goes somewhere else. Consumers need to begin taking a more active role in product choice and the proper disposal of their waste.
The question is the same all across the world, what do my consumer choices have to do with the health of the planet? Of course, one person’s effect will be absorbed into the mainstream of the natural world, but we are approaching 7 billion people and this means ever-increasing demands for more energy and virtual, runaway resource consumption.
Our fossil fuel consumption, as a species, is aiding in the change of the climate on the planet. Our demand for consumer products, as a species, is causing tropical deforestation and ecosystems to begin to fail all across the globe. If population continues to expand and natural resources continue to diminish, humanity is in for a narrowing funnel of sorts in the future. We are not talking about theoretical concerns here; this is reality. As we continue to lose more and more of the biological diversity on earth, new threats to human health and security will continue to be unearthed. Following the consumer model as it currently is set up will result in societal failure in the future.
Let’s look at the concept of ‘away’ a little more. The first step to becoming a global steward requires that an individual begin to see the concept of ‘away’ as a mental construct created by an irresponsible consumer society. We all do it. Most of us throw something ‘away’ after we are done using it. In fact, we are told that it is the responsible thing to do. Have you ever thought, though, about all of the products that you have consumed in your life? Depending on your age, this would be a considerably large arrangement of objects if it were to be put on display in a big field. All of the old refrigerators, old furniture, broken fans, malfunctioning computers, used carpet, old tires, motor oil, diapers, bread…now multiply that by the expanding global population and the problem begins to become apparent. The planet will not support consumerism in its current form.
Native American concepts of stewardship were taught as part of the learning cycle. Utilizing the natural world in a way that allows for it to regenerate has been the key to countless societies succeeding over the course of human history. Likewise, environmental abuse has also resulted in numerous civilizations collapsing. In the Native American belief system, protecting the ‘source of life’ is the most important responsibility human beings were given.
According to a Cherokee legend, “the first people came to the Earth from holes in the ground and they had nothing. They were starving, sick, cold, and suffering. The Earth, the plants, and the animals all saw the people suffering and took pity on them. The generous and compassionate earth and living things decided to sacrifice themselves to provide all that the people needed and end their sufferings. So it was that the first people and the Earth trusted in each other, as a mother and child throughout the phases of life. A perpetual trust that the Earth will always provide for the people, and that the people will always respect, conserve, and protect the soil, water, air, trees, plants, and animals in their service was established. The people and the planet are forever dependent upon each other and intertwined as one.”
This story shows the paradigm shift that is necessary in our global society, and more specifically, in American business. While the Cherokee choose to convey their most important lessons through the oral tradition of telling stories, the concept of dependent relationships has serious economic implications. The less respect we show the earth, the more limited resources will become; and the more limited resources become, the more the economy in general spirals out of control; the more the economy spirals out of control, the closer we come to societal collapse. Having respect for the natural world means knowing the limits of our consumer economy and adjusting our energy needs to account for increases in population. Viewing our species as a part of a living system is the key to humanity’s survival.
This call for global stewards is a generational challenge. Changing consumer impulses that have been established over a long period will take a considerable amount of time. Today, there is a growing awareness of the tremendous environmental problems facing our society, and people are beginning to awaken to dangers of our present course of action and the potential of some of the options we have for changing this course. However, as a whole, the effort has been a less than stellar performance. Most of the trends in environmentalism over the past 15 years have been short-sighted or full of arguments and lawsuits. People seem to get caught up in the thinking that we can either have jobs and a healthy economy or we can care for and protect the environment. This kind of reasoning does not connect reality to its analysis. With a minimal investment, the United States can create millions of jobs in the renewable energy sector and contribute substantially to creating a more sustainable global economic system.
Globalization has created a reality where the ideals of an interconnected planet finally have a stage to play themselves out upon. Before globalization, words like interdependence, environmental and social costs, stakeholders, or diminishing resources were just terms that fundamentally tried to describe altruistic concepts that really had no place in a modern society driven by powerful economic forces. With the advent of the digital age, people now have the ability to process information in ‘real time’ and look past their own selfish prisms. People now have the ability to organize and make measurable impacts locally, but this is just the beginning. Human beings are beginning the process of evolving back to the condition in which they were born, that is, as global stewards.
______________________web recommendation
Product Stewardship Institute
www.productstewardship.us
Product stewardship brings together all of the participants involved in the life cycle of a product. Global stewards are interested in the impacts to human health and the natural environment that result from the production, use, and end-of-life management of a given product. People involved in product stewardship cycles include manufacturers, retailers, consumers, and government officials. The product stewardship approach provides incentives to manufacturers to consider the entire life-cycle impacts of a product and its packaging, energy and materials consumption, air and water emissions, the amount of toxics in the product, worker safety, and waste disposal. Not only are manufacturers being asked to clean up their production processes but also to take increasing responsibility for the end-of-life management of the products they produce. Essentially, the objective of product stewardship is to encourage manufacturers to redesign products with fewer toxins, and to make them more durable, reusable, and recyclable, and with recycled materials.
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