Getting Started

Pretty much whatever you and I do will have some kind of impact on our environment and so on the planet we live on. Even animals have some impact and too many of some animals in a particular area can damage the local environment and upset delicately balanced ecosystems.

So much choice!

The problem now is that the global population has grown so large andso many of us are using so many of the Earth's resources so quickly. That usage can have other harmful effects on our planet besides depleting it's resources at an alarming rate. So, it would help our planet, and the people, plants and animals that inhabit this Earth alongside us, if we could all use less stuff, less of the Earth's resources and throw less rubbish away to go to landfill sites.

It is therefore a good idea for all of us to think about the stuff we consume and consider if we can cut down anywhere, and I know there are plenty of ways I could cut down myself.

For instance we could ask ourselves if we really need that new mobile phone or PC just yet. Not being mad about the latest gadgets myself, that's not a great temptation for me, although I won't say I'm never tempted at all. 

However, I probably have bought a few too many new clothes recently, for my beach holiday in sunny Mallorca, after a couple of lovely, but cooler and damper holidays in the UK the last two years, and that is something most of us could buy less of with no ill consequences.

I also love to buy books, but I am trying hard to remember to borrow them from the library if I'm only going to read them once, or I'm not even sure if the book will tell me what I want to know.

Of course being human means being a consumer and there's nothing wrong with that in itself, it's just the amount we each consume and the number of people consuming stuff on such a large scale, so if we can each cut down a little, we will use the Earth's resources that bit more slowly and create that bit less waste, there will also be that bit less CO2 emissions caused by the manufacture of the goods we consume.

We should even ask ourselves if we really need the latest 'green' product for the same reasons.


If we can be strong enough to buck the trend and say 'no, I don't need that' to the adverts that try to persuade us to buy something just to make ourselves feel better when we don't actually need it, we may actually feel better than if we did buy it. For a start we'll have that bit less clutter to negotiate in our homes or to cart off to the tip or the charity shop.

Ripples on a pond can be started by one small pebble.

It might also mean our friends feel less pressure to buy so much stuff just to feel good about themselves and that effect could spread like the ripples on a pond, started by just one little pebble.