How Much Should a Person Consume?

I've just wrapped up reading "How Much Should a Person Consume?" by Ramchandra Guha. The book makes interesting reading, particularly the parts that talk about the history of the Indian ecological movement. As it is Guha's style to treat history as a living continuum, rather than merely a thing of the past, book traces Indian ecological movements right upto the present (or 2006, the year the book was written).

Today, I was part of a parents gathering asked to come up with ways to save the earth. Listening to group after group brought home that we are indeed "ecological onmivores", with a sense of entitlement and an expectation of sacrifice on the part of others less fortunate than us to help us sustain our lifestyles while somehow saving the earth.

Some of the ways to "save" the earth espoused by the group:

• Build dams to collect and save water (What about the flora, fauna and people who inhabit the areas to be submerged by the dam? Not to mention the climate changes that dams bring about in the areas that they are built)
• Stop using airplanes (This was said by someone who looked much traveled -- he described how the airports used to be empty and now are "more crowded that railway stations". Flying planes into the ozone layer resulted in pollution according to him!)
• Control the population (The same person who wanted "aam janta" to stop flying also said that basically more people meant more carbon dioxide in the air. Well then -- shouldn't he have refrained from having children? What's also ironical is that this person's offspring are likely consume more ecological resources and do more damage to the environment that the children of the have-nots)
• Teach children how to save the earth (While it is important to teach children to be aware of their surroundings -- respect nature, re-use, re-cycle; they are being subjected to extreme views of what the world will be like in "2070". This frightens them. Surely this is not the desired impact?)

There was however, one voice which was a ray of hope in the group (no it wasn't mine ;-)). One parent spoke about how complicated and sophisticated our lives have become -- lives that take away from the planet without giving back. This is true. If only we step back and simplify our lives just a little (by little), we will go a long way to leaving our children a living planet.