Tag Archives: eco green living

Raising Awareness Without Preaching

The human condition is constantly evolving, which may be news to those who believe it to be shallow and self-obsessed. As time goes on, the way we look at things is influenced both by the past and by the needs of the present. So while the 80s were considered to be a cynical time, and the 90s were about activism, the last decade became something in between the two – keen to do right, but terrified of appearing earnest and preachy. This can be seen in a […]

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It’s Not A Competition!

Doing the right things to protect the environment is something that is not unlike charity. It is often a compromise on our behalf, and something that calls on us to go above and beyond what is naturally required of us. And like charity, environmental concern can sometimes become something that it should never be – competitive. No-one should ever be made to feel guilty because their efforts do not amount to as much actual achievement as someone else’s. The fact that people have gone to the extent […]

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Turn Off The Light

When we are asked what we, ourselves, do to protect the environment, it is easy to become embarrassed under questioning and feel that what we are actually doing is nothing much. Compared to the size of the problems we can come to the conclusion that our contribution is either to small to really be worthwhile and quit altogether, or potentially that we are being lazy and should be ashamed of our pitiful contribution. It is usually not true that either of these is the case, but we […]

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Climate vs. Economy – A Battle That Cannot Be Won?

Many supporters of environmentalist causes will have winced when the extent of the global economic crisis of recent years was revealed. Just as environmental causes were gaining the attention and the purpose of the people in control of the levers of power, something came along that presented a very real problem – where environmental causes needed investment, could they hope to compete for a decreasing pot of money with other issues, the life-or-death matters like health and security? As time has gone on there have been numerous […]

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Are The Skeptics Right?

There is a clear and obvious difference of opinion in society with regard to the importance of the issues facing our environment, and in some cases there is a difference of opinion as to the existence of some of these issues. It is only natural that – as questioning, naturally curious beings – we might start to wonder whether the skeptical people are the ones who have got it right. Have we been working on environmental issues for nothing? Are we the fools for believing propaganda? It […]

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Environmental Education – Acceptable Brainwashing?

As time goes on, we see more examples of environmental issues being raised in the classroom, and younger children being exposed to environmental subjects. Most schools now will have a policy of getting children involved in environmental projects, and this has led to accusations of brainwashing from some sources. While brainwashing is something that we have come to associate with totalitarian states, is it something we should be prepared to accept when it is for a cause we believe in? Arguably, it can be said that education […]

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It’s Easy To Be Cynical

When we see celebrities getting behind a cause, there are many of us – maybe even most of us – who will have the identical thought. “It must be good for publicity, their agent must have told them to do it“. And in many cases this may well be true – a celebrity who warns us in song or through film about the damage that we do to our environment, and then drives away from the studio in a gas-guzzling sports car certainly needs to look at […]

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