Climate change and consumption Essay
People have always been taking nature for granted. Although nature supplies all the necessary resources for people to survive, up until recently there has been little respect towards nature. However, even nowadays, a phenomenon known as consumption still makes the relationships between people and nature complicated.
Because of high rates of consumption in the state of Indiana, the local natural resources are threatened (Ostrom); in addition, the safety of the environment is in peril due to the increased consumption rates, since the latter presupposes careless use of the natural resources and, thus, lack of care concerning the waste and other hazardous aftereffects of the natural resources use.
According to the existing evidence, peoples activities, especially concerning the industrial field, shape environment greatly and, unfortunately, in a negative way. As the report provided by the Purdue Climate Change Research Center says, the climate in the state has been changed greatly, which, in its turn, affects the organic life in the state in the most deplorable way possible.
Starting from the increase in the mean patch area and the reduction of the forest areas (High value hardwoods are potentially threatened in Indiana, the Purdue Climate Change Research Center (1) explains) to the rapid and in weather conditions (The occurrence of conditions that spawn severe thunderstorms is likely to increase in Indiana, the Purdue Climate Change Research Center (1) says), the effects of irrational consumption of natural resources and the incorrect waste disposal are bound to be tremendous. According to the existing evidence, the CO2 emissions pose the greatest threat to the Indiana environment.
To peoples credit, it must be mentioned that there is no possible alternative for the Indiana dwellers, or, for that matter, for any citizen of the USA, to use other technological advances. Even though the CO2 car emissions, which are considered the greatest threat to nature in general and the Indiana environment in particular, can be reduced by using either Hybrid cars or the vehicles that do not produce CO2, the solution will be either very costly, or extremely uncomfortable.
The solution, however, can be found when considering the option of using vehicles more responsibly; for instance, regular maintenance of the vehicle combined with a less frequent use of the latter. However, not only cars that pollute the environment; household appliances also do their dirty job on a regular basis.
Most of them, however, pass unnoticed, since they are considered an integral part of comfortable life. Therefore, such suggestions as turning down the thermostat by several degrees to make its impact on the nature less sever are a reasonable solution. As it can be seen from the examples above, following the principles of sustainability is an efficient compromise for the .
In fact, sustainable consumption is possible; while people can hardly offer anything in return for the natural resources, they can still use the resources reasonably, so that the effects of various industries and the use of modern technologies could be as little as possible.
The given effect can be achieved with the help of adequate use of technological advances and with a responsible attitude towards nature and its resources. Since demand shapes the existing market, it can be suggested that the demand for sustainability-oriented products can reinvent peoples perception of consumption:
If so-called green consumers choose products and services based on a rational evaluation of their environmental impact, then the market system can be expected to provide such products and services and a transformation toward greater sustainability can be expected to happen through market forces. (Schaefer and Crane 82)
On the one hand, the given solution seems rather reasonable. Shaping the existing market will mean that there will be no way to buy the products that harm environment. On the other hand, though, the given solution means extremely large-scale changes and, therefore, can take too long.
It seems that the key to more environmentally friendly attitude is not in the current market policies, but in peoples personal vision of nature. Once changing peoples attitude towards nature as the source of continuous comfort to the idea of a more delicate treatment of natural resources, one will be able to prevent the effects of climate change from taking drastic turn.
Judging by what the provided data says, there are serious reasons to be concerned about the rates of consumption in Indiana, as well as the effects that consumption has on the Indiana environment. Even though the environmental issues have not yet reached the level of a nationwide or even statewide catastrophe, it is still clear that the increasing rates of thoughtless consumption are bound to lead to the drastic effects.
Therefore, it is crucial that the principles of sustainability should be adopted in Indiana. Once people start treating nature with due respect and stop consuming its resources thoughtlessly, it can be expected that the solutions to the current environmental problems will be found.
