And NOOOO... I most certainly don't mean the Video Game Series. I meant OUR OBSESSION of wanting everything FASTER
Isn't it Amazing to have our items delivered in One day.. Same day... Within an Hour?
Initially, lightening fast deliveries felt marvelous but as I came to know and became aware of the REAL consequences, it wasn't exactly a stellar experience after all... Faster deliveries only lead to inefficiency..
Delivery trucks will likely be less full, drivers would drive faster wasting energy, become prone to lethal accidents due to higher speeds & their welfare is affected since they don't even get proper breaks including restroom breaks
It isn't exactly fun when drivers are so pressed for time that they take empty Coke bottles to urinate in
We demand food faster..
And have caused proliferation of Genetically Modified Foods, Heavily processed Foods laden with additives & chemicals, Fast Food Chains, Animals raised with hormones, antibiotics that undermines our health and also negatively impacts our Environment
Even if hormones in food have been claimed or even proven not to affect humans, from an animal welfare perspective, as there is a higher chance of a cow suffering from mastitis from increased milk production.
Our Travel..
As much as I respect & admire our dear Greta Thunberg who avoided Air travel in November 2019 due to greater CO2 emissions and chose to sail instead, it may not be practical for most of us to do so
Passenger Aircrafts, Fuel-Guzzling Cars create tremendous CO2 emissions. Faster travel burns significantly more fuel. However, as far as Air Travel is concerned, we have a couple of options
Work Related Air Travel : AVOID if possible; Instead video-conference using Skype, Zoom, Google Meet
Leisure Air Travel : Take FEWER but LONGER vacations or MINIMIZE Air travel by choosing “staycations” which are drivable and closer to home
To minimize Carbon Emissions due to Cars...
Use PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
When possible, WALK or RIDE BIKE
CARPOOL
Drive a FUEL EFFICIENT VEHICLE; replace gas guzzling cars with fuel efficient, hybrid or electrical ones
AVOID SPEEDING & UNNECESSARY ACCELERATION
AVOID TRAFFIC using traffic apps such as Google Maps or Waze
SERVICE CAR REGULARLY to keep engine tuned; improve mileage with properly inflated tires
COMBINE ERRANDS; avoid multiple trips to stores
SHOP ONLINE but choose regular shipping
Fuel-efficient cars help in reducing pollution and smog by at least 50%
Driving style
Speeding and unnecessary acceleration reduce mileage by up to 33%, waste gas and money, and increase our carbon footprint.
Tire inflation and other tuning
Properly inflated tires improve gas mileage by up to 3%. It also helps to use the correct grade of motor oil, and to keep engine tuned, because some maintenance fixes, like fixing faulty oxygen sensors, can increase fuel efficiency by up to 40%.
Avoid traffic
Being stuck in traffic wastes gas and unnecessarily creates CO2. Use traffic websites and apps and go a different way or wait.
We COVET faster phones, technology...
As technological advancement proceeds, from very first wireless 1G cell phones & digital 2G text messaging phones to 3G phones with video calling, online capabilities & 4G with faster speeds, we fancy faster phones
Now 5G, facilitating nearly instantaneous downloading of data. Is the 5G technology safe for Humans, Environment and other Living things?
Plenty tout that 5G is a game changer... but several others warn about potential harms of 5G to Bees, Birds and Delicate Ecosystems
There's a lot of conflicting information about 5G. Compounded by their short life cycle, Smartphones create enormous amounts of Hazardous eWaste
"In 2019, 53 million metric tons of e-waste was discarded and about 65% of was not recycled." Callie Babbitt and Shahana Althaf, The Conversation
Lead and mercury from unrecycled e-waste ends up in our water
The energy intensive mining of the rare materials needed to build a new smartphone, accounts for at least 85% of the device’s total CO2 emissions for its lifetime of two years.
Smartphones can be categorized as disposable items, considering their average life cycle of two years
However, most phones will last well beyond 4 or 5 years. Considering the health of our planet, ideally, Smartphones should be replaced only when they are truly beyond repair. Then, they should be dropped off at a reputable e-waste Recycling center
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