Entry # 21

The reading regarding the Next Industrial Revolution made me realize how important it is to think of the bigger picture. I have always believed that one day, we will be left with nothing but the ruins of what were once the mightiest structures to have been built on earth. One day, we will have to find ways on how to survive because the sun has become too hot and our waters have dried out and the trees have been wiped out to help shade us from the harmful rays of the sun and provide us the oxygen we need in order to survive. One day, the generations after us won’t know what it’s like to swim in the sea because it has become too polluted with toxic waste or know what it’s like to breathe fresh air. It will come one day if we continue with our current thinking regarding eco-efficiency.

Eco-efficiency as first defined in the book, “aspires to make the old, destructive system less so.” The fact is, if we keep on aspiring to lessen the problem instead of actually finding ways to solve it, it will catch up with us but only in a later time. I’m amazed how much research is put into finding ways to sustainability and if only more people will be more aware about the current condition of our environment, then maybe we are not as hopeless as I perceive humankind to be.

I know that sacrifices must be made in order to achieve eco-efficiency, and I also know that a lot of companies aren’t large enough to be able to invest in R&D programs. However, if the smaller companies can start lessening the waste from operating and do the 3 R’s, Reduce Reuse Recycle, then they can help in not contributing a lot more to the problem regarding sustainability and the pollution in the environment. I truly believe that a small step can have a huge impact. If a lot of small steps are made while the plans to make a huge one are still in progress, imagine how much bigger the impact would it have? How much more if years of research actually allowed us to discover a system that will allow us to not release any more harmful substances, allow us to drink clean water everyday, to be able to use our cars without the use of fuel which is a non-renewable source of energy?

Change must start in ourselves; we can’t simply rely on the government or the companies to help us. The future generation do not deserve to be given an unsafe place to live in. They deserve to experience the comfortable warmth of the sun and have fun in the seas. By lessening the green footsteps we leave in the planet, we are able to contribute to a better life for the future.