It is all too easy to get excited about the next big sustainable technology for saving energy or producing non-polluting power – and forget the flaws in many of these ideas. Some of the best projects show smart out-of-the-box thinking but lack feasibility or, in some cases, might do more harm than good. While these ideas may not work at least scientists, politicians and other innovators are beginning to explore alternatives.
It is no surprise that as land-dwellers we don’t think about the oceans as much as we should given that they cover over 2/3 of the planet. The water bodies of the world may be the key to progress for our species in more ways than one (such as underwater living shown above) and the oceans hold many mysteries yet to be discovered. Still, we are having a profound effect on our waters and need to be mindful of just how powerful our impact can be.
Except perhaps in the bathroom, do you really need any kind of paper? These days it seems like paper is just an intermediate step or default conclusion – a copy that will eventually be scanned in or a digitally written paper printed out at the end. Still, is paperless the solution to environmental problems or simply wasteful in another way?
Many would say that the Church of Scientology is unsustainable in more ways than one, but few have stopped to consider how that applies to the natural environment. While Scientologists overtly organize to protect nature and profess to protect the planet many of their practices seem to contradict their statements. The overall effect seems to be alarmism couple with inaction: all of the theoretical zest of GreenPeace with all of the inaction of President Bush. Here are some of the ways in which Scientology seems to skew environmental issues and play on public opinion without a correspondingly set of proactive strategies. This side of Scientology seems to have been lost in the scandalous shuffle of recent news but Scientology’s mixed messages and actions on the environment are also important.
It is an unfortunate fact of modern life that most species-related news is negative these days. We read about habitats disappearing, animals going extinct and other tragedies. When a positive story does come along it is therefore all the more inspiring.