203_Do We Even Know If the World Is Worth Saving?
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast
Episode 203
Do We Even Know if the World Worth Saving?
Under normal circumstances, life can be over whelming at times. Managing time, money, family, work, the daily commute, and the mortgage, all takes its toll. And on top of that the world seems to be falling apart around us. But how can we possibly worry about that when the roof needs to be fixed?
It is a nice concept to think of working out everyday, taking a walk in the woods on a regular basis, cooking more at home, and eating the right foods.
Zero waste, plastic free, supporting sustainable brands all require time, research and even more effort. But who has time for that when when there are unexpected medical bills? And besides, does it all really matter anyway.
If you want to learn more then join me for episode 203 Is the World Worth Saving?
Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is E203 Do We Even Know if the World Worth Saving?
What I want to accomplish in this episode is to simply share a recent experience that I had that made me realize that most of us still treat the world with benign neglect perhaps because we just don’t realize that it truly is worth saving. And all it takes is a change in perspective.
But, let’s start out with the
Sustainability question of the week
Is recycling the best answer for our waste problems?
Good News Story of the Week
This weeks good new story comes out of Oregon and California, right here in the United States. And it has to do with an amazing feat of environmental restoration. These are the types of projects I get excited about because of the tremendous benefit to local ecosystems.
In 1903 and 1962 two dams were constructed on the Klamath River in California. This of course impeding the ability of trout and salmon to migrate up and down the river back and forth to the Pacifica Ocean as they had done for thousands of years.
But as these dams aged and became outdated the decision was made to remove them. It was slated to be the largest dam removal project in the world. This project was started in 2023 and was just recently completed ahead of schedule and under budget. The transformation on the river was truly amazing. Trout and salmon can now migrate and breed up and down the river for the first time in over a century.
The local Yurok Tribe, that had lived along the Klamath River for centuries, led the decades long campaign to have the dams removed. The river can now flow as it has done for centuries. Resource specialist from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration believe it may take 10 to 15 years for salmon and other species to establish permanent populations. But by increasing the diversity of their environment they should have no problems thriving.
So, the round of applause for this week goes to the Yurok Tribe for their persistent campaign to have the dams removed.
So, let’s move on to this week’s episode.
Many of you may already know that I love to cook. If you do not know that about me, then I am going to tell you that I love to cook. I have been collecting recipes for many years. All of them are nicely organized in a notebook app in my iPad. At last count I had over 300 recipes.
Every time I try some new recipe my response is mostly the same. I wish I had known about this before. A perfectly good example of this is when I recently learned about gnocchi. One of the hospital staff I work with is Italian and she shared with me how to make gnocchi like an Italian grandmother. I had never even heard of gnocchi. Once I tried it I could not believe how good it was and instantly knew this recipe was a keeper. I had no idea what I had been missing out on. But that is the benefit of trying new things.
When I first started scuba diving I had a similar experience. I had always been very active in the outdoors. I was constantly hiking, backpacking, camping, kayaking, taking road trips and exploring. For several years Annette had been trying to convince me to take a scuba diving class . I kept putting it off because I just didn’t think I needed to be doing it.
But after we took our first class, got certified and went on our first dive in the ocean I was hooked. I got introduced to a world that I never knew existed. It wasn’t until then that I realized what I had been missing out on for all those years. I just didn’t know.
There was a time when I used to joke around with my friends that what the world needed was a good pandemic to make people appreciate what really matters in life. Then along comes the COVID 19 pandemic. In the aftermath of that what I saw is that people were even more aggressive, ill behaved, and acted even more entitled. But thats a different story.
My point is that everyone on the planet was affected by this pandemic including myself. As much as I like to travel that part of my life ceased to exist for several years. It wasn’t until this year that Annette and I finally took a trip to Mexico. It was our first trip in several years especially going out of the country.
And just recently we did something else that we had not done in several years. We hitched up the travel trailer and drove 2,600 miles (4,184 kilometers) over a period of ten days. It was a fantastic road trip.
During that time I ignored the world. I ignored email, voicemail, social media, my podcast and blog, and only answered messages from friends and family. It was the first time in several years that I had gotten completely away from my daily routine. My daily chores and responsibilities were hundreds of miles away. I spent more time with my dogs than I did humanity.
Another unexpected side effect of this trip is that I slept extremely well every night and slept in late every single day which is something I never do. I started wondering if that was the result of a total lack of stress that resulted in a perfectly still mind.
During our trip we visited three national parks: Glacier, Yellowstone, and Teton. I took many, many pictures of course. But some how photographs never do justice to the kind of astounding beauty that I had just seen. Prior to this trip I always said that Alaska was the most beautiful place I had seen in North America. That has now changed.
But it is interesting to note that while I am at home I already live in the middle of the forest. Most days I return home to the total lack of man made sound. Nature is just a few steps outside the front door. Despite that it is amazing what happens when you leave your home environment. It somehow gives you a different perspective, a different way of doing things, a different point of view.
This trip made me feel as if I touched the natural world once again. I saw places that were completely new to me. Jaw dropping beauty is the best way to describe the scenery that we saw. If I had only known years ago what I was missing by not traveling to this part of the country I would have come much sooner. But, I just didn’t know.
One thing is for certain. This trip gave me plenty of mental down time. It helped me to step outside my daily routine, relax, and get a new perspective on what I do everyday. It made me appreciate the fact that I needed to do this sort of thing more often. But as a result of this trip I gained two different perspectives or perhaps two different realizations.
On one hand during this trip I gained a deeper respect for the incredible beauty of this planet. It reminded me of how much I enjoy traveling and experiencing new places. It reminded me of how much I enjoy seeing how other people live, what they do, how they manage their lives. To me this is important because sometimes you just don’t know what you don’t know. You may never realize there is a different way of doing things, a different way of living, a different way of experiencing life unless you step outside of your present existence and do something new.
The other thing that I gained a deeper respect for, something I thought very deeply about, is just how our world is changing much faster that anyone could have predicted. After experiencing this amazing natural beauty it made me sad to think that one day it may not be here. And what is even worse is that most people just don’t know what they are missing.
On a global basis nearly 50% of people now live in urban areas. In more developed countries that is as much as 80%. We are completely disconnected fro so many things. The vast majority of people just think that meat comes from the supermarket. Most people have never even seen a cow. French fries are our most common vegetable while most people do not know that French fries did not originate in France. A good percentage of adults believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows and have no idea that pickles come from cucumbers.
The great outdoors has become the great indoors. We view our changing planet with benign neglect because we are completely disconnected from it. We have no idea whether the world is worth saving because we never go out and see it.
A perfect example of this is something that Annette’s son Erik just recently shared with us. Erik just turned 20 years old and he is busy working and traveling as much as he can and just experiencing life. But, that is what we taught him to do. Much of his childhood was spent living off the grid, traveling internationally and even living out of the country. We have climbed volcanos in Costa Rica, kayaked in the Amazon, lived in Honduras and Ecuador, and gone diving in numerous different places.
In other words, how he was raised gave him a completely different perspective on life than what most young people experience. He is not afraid to try something new. He is not afraid to randomly travel to some place he has never been. He truly has had some unique experiences. People sometimes look at that and think we must be rich because of all the things we’ve done. But it was simply a matter of careful planning, working extra to save the money, and then making a commitment to just do it.
The point being is that when Erik shares his stories of all the things he has done, his friends and coworkers are astounded. How is it possible that he is so young and has done so many of these things? These are young people that still live at home, a good portion of which live in million dollar homes. They sit inside all day, spend a great deal of their time in front of a phone or computer screen and never travel. Consequently, they just don’t know what is out there and have no appreciation for the natural world and just how much it is changing even as we speak.
But we live in the age of information and by now it should be no surprise that our world is facing significant challenges. Climate change, widespread pollution, forever chemicals, biodiversity loss and ecosystem decline is just the tip of our melting icebergs.
Numerous people from scientists to scholars and even individuals have been sounding the alarm for decades if not longer. Yet as a whole, we continue to operate as if the world is a place of limitless resources.
Furthermore recent studies have revealed that not a single country on the planet offers its people a lifestyle that is truly meaningful AND sustainable. Although at present, we can have both, sooner or later it is going to be one or the other. But most people just don’t know this.
A significant percentage of people truly live in ignorance of what exactly is happening to our planet. We are happy to sit back quietly and suffer from what I call sheepeople syndrome meaning we sit quietly and simply obey and comply with our cultural norms. As long as we do that we never know any better. We just don’t know whether the world is actually worth saving.
What this comes down to is something that one of my former employers said to me. Years ago I was hired to completely reorganize a hospital and make it turn a profit. I was having some significant challenges with the staff and was talking to my boss about these challenges. She told me that in order for me to produce that kinds of changes that were needed in the work place, I needed to instill the right culture. And making those changes literally came down to my individual daily example of how the work place needed to be.
As far as sustainability is concerned, instead of feeling helpless we must realize that you cannot focus on the entire planet, and maybe not even the entire country. The best hope for making some progress in moving toward sustainability is at the community or individual level. Cultural transformation requires deliberate changes in individual choices. And that requires you to question the norms of our society and culture. And that will never happen if we all continue to live like sheep and just do what we’re told.
As I like to say, if you find yourself in agreement with 90% of the people around you, it is time to run the other way as fast as you can. The first step is to question the norms of our society and culture. The second step is to change some of your individual choices with the end result of changing your lifestyle.
For example, I decide over 25 years ago to live off the grid. Over time that has progressed to living solely on solar energy, building a greenhouse, and eventually getting myself in the position of being in control of the majority of my resources. At present the carbon foot print of our lifestyle is about 80% less than the average person. And we are still learning and still making changes in our lives.
But, here’s the thing. You can sell your car, walk to work, recycle, install solar, cook all your meals over a fire, live a zero waste lifestyle, and even go vegan. However, none of this means anything unless you can ensure that such practices continue into the future. And the best way to do this is to make sustainability the cultural norm.
And in case you are wondering why this is not happening it is the result of being completely disconnected from the natural world. We have no idea that the world is worth saving because we never go out and see it.
It really is unfortunate that so many people now live in urban areas and rarely spend any considerable amount of time outside. Consequently people never realize there is a different way of doing things, a different way of living, a different way of experiencing life. All it takes is to step outside of your present existence and do something new and different.
On our recent trip we saw vast areas of astounding beauty where very few people live. Those are the kinds of areas that we need to preserve and protect. These are places where natural ecosystems are still intact. And these are the kinds of places that help to maintain a healthy balance for our planet.
I have to say that I can look back over my adult life and point to some very specific things that have had a significant impact on how I lived and what I do everyday. In other words, a few things that really shaped my adult life. Purchasing the cabin property and building the homestead is one of them.
Life at the cabin has never been a walk in the park. There have always been challenges. There are always chores to be done. It has truly been the experience of lifetime. And despite numerous up close and personal encounters with mountain lions and bears and several personal injuries, I would do it all over again.
Besides being one of the best parts of my life, I have learned a lot. I have developed a deep appreciation and respect for the natural world. It is an experience that I never regret. I just wish that more people could have this kind of experience and realize that the world is truly worth saving. But in order to make that happen people just have to learn to appreciate what is out there. After all we tend to protect the things that we love. So just in case you don’t yet know, we all need to get busy saving the planet because it truly is worth the effort.
Now to start wrapping things up, I want to answer the sustainability question of the week.
Is recycling the best answer to our waste problem?
You would think that recycling would be a no-brainer. The vast majority of people support recycling and 75% of us say it should be a top priority. Yet only 35% of people actually do it. Part of this may be due to misconceptions about recycling. While recycling is absolutely important, it is not the complete answer to our waste problems. It is far better to produce less waste rather than clean up the mess later.
Now I want to close out this episode with a nice quote from the Dalia Lama. The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, answered “Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present. The result being that he does not live in the present or the future? He lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
And this is all the more reason to venture out into the world and find out just what you are missing. It will help you realize that the world is truly worth saving.
This is your host Patrick signing off. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.
