Showing posts with label Evironmental Issue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Evironmental Issue. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Effects of Consumerism on the Environment

We are now in a situation where the structure ecological of the planet not coping with all the pollution because it is very large, continuously increasing, consumer demand. This excessive demand for consumer products has created most of the current environmental imbalances. These imbalances will become a much greater problem than most people expect this to be. These Imbalances has caused ecological disasters in many places around the world, with many more to follow.

This rate of consumption is increasing at an alarming rate. This will cause enormous environmental devastation in the future, to the extent that around 2025, people will need to complete major changes in their lifestyles to avoid the worst possible scenario.

The greenhouse gas effect is now so great that around 2015, the whole planet will experience the aftermath of rising temperatures in a far more severe way than most will expect.

While most people have begun to notice that the climate is changing they may not have understood that these climate changes are the forerunner of a much more serious problem. As a result most people are not changing their lifestyles, reducing their ecological footprint, resulting in a further increase of the present ecological imbalance.

With the ever continuing increase in environmental damage there will come a time where this will reach a point of no return, whereby the planet will no longer be able to support its own functioning. It is expected that by 2025, the planet will no longer be able to cope with the severe ecological damage. This will mainly be caused due to present geological stresses, further increase of global warming, and further destruction of the planet's ecology which is so needed by the planet to provide support for its overall functioning.

It is of benefit for people to look at how they live their life and what they can do to change their lifestyle, so that an excessive need for goods and products will not become a major drive in one's life. This may be difficult to do while the overall consensus is to buy more products. However, this is not reducing consumerism. At times, products may be needed to improve a lifestyle; however, people often wish to increase their buying and spending power and buy more products so they can feel better or can keep up with others. Thus, this need for an increase in products in the household creates an increase in the number of products manufactured, which in turn often results in an increase in environmental damage.

While humanity needs consumer goods, the impact these products or the production processes can have on the ecology has to be reduced. To save the environment humanity can no longer continue to increase its consumption of goods and, this should therefore not be encouraged. The human race needs to envisage a future whereby people still have their comforts but without the throw-away and polluting aspects of living, as is happening in most modern-day societies.

It is important that the planet's worsening environmental crisis is taken seriously and action is taken to make adequate change to prevent a looming ecological crisis within the next twenty years. A simpler, less polluting lifestyle will result in a more manageable, sustainable environment, which as a result can function better as a support structure for the planet's overall functioning.

Several years ago Mia was told by Spirit that by 2009 major climate changes would begin . This information can be found in her book - New Concepts for Business and Humanity. Chapter 1 can be downloaded for free from her website www.miadenhaan.com.

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Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wood Burning Fireplaces

Environmental Psychology considers two issues with wood burning fireplaces. Is this important to you? Is your home environment only for emotional support or for saving the environment?
If you plan to move to a new home or to build a home, you may draw a line through a fireplace as a necessity. Although people love the warmth, comforting crackling sounds, aromas, and moving light a wood burning fire provides, fireplaces can emit polluted air into your home and into your neighborhood.

Most home shoppers request a fireplace. Home buyers desire a hearth, which symbolizes home. Families gather around the fireplace during holiday celebrations and quiet conversations. Book lovers enjoy curling up next to a fire on a cool afternoon. Many new homes feature fireplaces in the main bedroom. After all, what’s more romantic than a fire?

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, wood-burning fireplaces emit nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, organic gases, and particulate matter. These pollutants can cause serious health problems for children, pregnant women, and people with respiratory problems. Like cigarette smoke, some of these elements contain cancer-causing properties.

Some urban cities have considered banning wood-burning fireplaces altogether to stem the flow of pollutants in the smog-filled air. Some California cities and counties have enacted local ordinances to limit the growing wood smoke problem. Mammoth Lakes, Squaw Valley, Cloverdale, Fresno, and many cities and counties in the Bay Area permit installation of only U.S.EPA certified wood-fired appliances in all new construction. Since 1991, the Bay Area AQMD has issued advisories for a voluntary no-burn program on poor air quality nights, "Spare the Air Tonight".

But wait! Solutions exist so you can enjoy your fire. To keep pollutants from entering your room air, you can install a certified clean-burning fireplace insert and a glass screen. Buy a carbon monoxide monitor and an oxygen-depletion sensor to ensure safe air. The new fireplace systems keep pollutants from leaving your chimney.

Other considerations for you to ponder include the source of heating for your home. What happens when natural gas demand outpaces production? Prices skyrocket. And if your heat comes from a coal-burning electrical plant, doesn't the burning coal produce toxins that pollute the air?

If you're building a new home, consider installing a Pellet Stove, the most efficient and least polluting of the new stove designs. Pellet Stoves provide less than 1 gram per hour of particulate emissions. Most of these stoves s require electricity and burn compressed wood waste formed into pellets.

Be kind to yourself and to the environment. Consider these environmental issues when you light up your fire.

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