Go Green? or Going Going Gone..

In first video, with the speaker Michael Pawlyn I especially liked his focus on bio mimicry as an initiative to handle the world’s sustainability and energy issues. I think his attention to how animals and all of nature’s creatures manage to live and coexist peacefully with the world around them, in symbiosis and not jeopardize the world’s well being is something worth recognizing. I like the way Pawlyn speaks so passionately about his sustainability and energy proposals, with architecturally advantageous structures to spur not only society’s attention to the issue but with an element of practicality. But I do think that all of these grand schemes to construct these massive greenhouses in the middle of the desert in Africa and in a round about in London, does not seem like a complete waste of money because I am sure the repercussions of these actions would yield tremendous results for mother earth, but does seem like a fast effort to throw a lot of money at a hypothetical solution to a problem that a vast portion of the worlds population could care less about.  These funds could be used for other areas of the government and impact the world in more readily appropriate ways. I also like his closed loop aspect. In a society where everything’s value is short lived and then discarded somewhere in a floating barge, is discouraging. But a system that allows us to look at “trash” in a different light can reduce the amount of waste being dumped into ecosystems that will ultimately creating bigger problems later down the line.

In the second video, with speaker Alex Steffan, I really did like how a lot of the ideas and proposals for sustainability seemed to address more pressing issues like overpopulation, hunger, and lack of clean water in addition to our economic footprints. The idea of the straw that allows dirty water to be filtered while drinking was simply ingenious to me and seemed like a better use of tax-payers dollars than a green house. I am in no way down playing the importance of these strategically placed greenhouses across the earth but I think a sense of urgency should be taken into account when addressing the worlds needs and mankind’s aspirations for mother earth. I would much rather fund an organization that could immediately feed and clothe the hungry and the poor than I would to an organization dedicated to putting up a few glass green houses.

Consumerism is directly tied to Sustainability because I think consumers buy the idea or concept of “going green” rather than actually walking the walk. In theory sustainably is a just and noble cause but receives a lot of flack because the price of going green upfront is much more expensive than the return later down the line.

If I could invent something to enhance the world’s sustainability efforts it would most definitely be a dam placed in large bodies of water in developing countries. When the water from the un-clean bodies of water ran over the dam it would be filtered for contaminants and bacteria allowing that portion of the lake or pond or stream to be used for consumption by those in search of clean water. I think in stage 4 countries like the North America and most of Europe we take the smallest simplest thing like drinking water for granted and to go without, seems unimaginable for me.