Global warming and other environmental issues are debated and discussed passionately on various regional, national, and international forums. Environmental protection has become a buzzword for many political establishments and every government is pledging some audacious milestones that they claim will help our efforts to protect the environment. However, no one or very few are talking about one of the major problems that contribute to all our environment-related problems, the elephant in the room, "overconsumption." I understand why people don't want to discuss overconsumption. This is because the discussion about overconsumption will expose almost everyone involved in the conversation. Every country, its leaders, and all celebrities talk about environmental protection all the time but do nothing to minimize their consumption habits in their private lives.
How does it make sense when a person living in a mansion, having multiple homes, traveling in a private jet or a full-size plane, having an oversized wardrobe and other consumables, and living an exuberant life advise common people to scale down their consumption habits. These leaders and celebrities advise us to cut our fuel consumption, shift to electric vehicles and use solar for our electricity, recycle everything, and reduce our carbon footprint. How many people will believe that such a person is serious or sincere about environmental protection when they contribute heavily to destroying it? Will anyone take seriously this message? Look at all presidents and prime ministers, or other heads of state, see how they live and travel, calculate their carbon footprint, and compare that with common people from those countries to see who is causing the actual environmental damage. Preaching others is easy, but practicing what you preach is where the real test begins. Personally, I try my best to limit my consumption of fuel and other consumables, but I am not a minimalist, and I know that my efforts have negligible impact on the overall environmental issues but I try my best anyway because that's all I can do.
Overconsumption is a problem at every level. No recycling company or manufacturer or business is going to tell us to consume less. They are only going to tell us what to do after we consume so that their business interests remain sound and we feel less guilty. Recycling single-use plastic doesn't help as much compared to reusing it multiple times before dumping it in a recycle bin. Using solar energy or electric vehicles doesn't help as much as reducing our energy consumption or driving so that we use less fuel no matter what's the source. If these heads of state are really serious about environmental protection they should lead by example before preaching to their countrypeople. Consuming an astronomical amount of energy and resources under the name of security or a privileged position is not an excuse. And if you are doing that, then at least stop preaching to others, it sounds ridiculous and hypocritical. To all others, who really care about the environment and want to do something about it, please check your consumption habits and make necessary changes. Each individual can make a difference. It is easy to preach, but what we do is what really matters. Let's be doers and not hypocritical preachers.
Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic.
©Vinay Thakur, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com
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