Change the culture, save the environment

We’ve already seen the disastrous effects Climate Change has brought into our planet. We cannot afford to turn a blind eye into these terrible things anymore. We need to make a stand. I believe the solution to put an end into the degredation of our biosphere and facilitate its regeneration is not to halt economic growth, as others suggest, but to overhaul the entire economic system from an economy that promotes carboniferous capitalism (Mumford, 1934) to an economy that promotes environment-friendly way of living. So it's not a “stop all your economic activities and go back to the stone age” type of solution. Rather, it's a solution where we ask ourselves “How can we protect our environment while at the same time still sustain our economic productivity?” This is where the “alternatives” come into the picture. Much of our economic activities can be explained by the culture that is present in our society. So it follows that redefining our culture changes our economic activities. And if our economic activities change, the economic system will also change. For example, if we change from a culture where fuel-powered cars are the norm to a culture where water-powered cars are the norm, that will alter how the entire automobile industry do business. Instead of manufacturing fuel-powered cars, they will begin to manufacture water-powered cars.

Personally, I changed my own “personal culture “ from throwing off plastics to keeping plastics and recycling them. The documentary 11th hour (which we watched in class), I like how they've suggested alternative ways of living. The media has a major role in promoting this kind of eco-friendly culture. They are the ones who set the “norms.” They are the ones who tell what's “cool” and “in.” In order to push for an eco-friendly culture, the message that the media conveys to the public should be “being eco-friendly is cool” and “eco-friendly stuff are the stuff of the new generation.”

Change the culture, save the environment.