How many planets would be necessary if everyone consumed like you?

[AlexandreCampbell]

A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro for the third time. It is a place that I always like to return to because it always makes me reflect. I’ve been trying to take action to reduce my impact on the Planet, but I was sadly surprised when I simulated my ecological footprint. If everyone on the Planet consumed as much as me, 1,4 Earth would be needed to sustain them. Even though, according to the Museum of Tomorrow, I consume than Brazilian (1.7) and global (1.8) averages, I know that I need to do more. So, I want to share two decisions that I made, in addition to the things that I already do:

• Reduce my meat consumption, mainly beef. For this, I am joining #meatlessmonday, an international campaign that encourages people not to eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the Planet. Besides, I decided to reduce the products of animal origin every day.

• Increase the energy efficiency of my home - Brazil is a favorable country for the use of solar energy, but the solar panels are still expensive. Even though I decided to purchase them to contribute a little bit more to the Planet;

What do I already do to help the Planet?

• Carpool - I have used more and more websites that allow us to offer and take carpool rides. As a result, I’ve been using less my car for pleasure and business, and when I do, I’m sharing it with others.
• Separation of waste materials for selective collection;
• Reducing consumption of industrialized products;
• Preference for products that use more environmentally friendly packaging than plastic.

Have you calculated your ecological footprint? What do you do to reduce your impact on the Planet? What tomorrow are you building?

I would love to know in the comments.

The Museum of Tomorrow

I could not let to tell a little about the Museum of Tomorrow, which would initially be the central theme of this post. It was opened in December of 2015, as one of the attractions for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. It was built in Rio de Janeiro Docks Area, which was an abandoned site, and today it is revitalized. In addition to the Museum of Tomorrow, there is currently an aquarium, a cantilevered observation wheel inspired by the London Eye, and other attractions. I am scheduling a meetup for the next month in this area, and in the recap, I’ll show this part of the city.

At the Museum of Tomorrow, you can learn about various aspects of science, geography, and history, interactively, through touchscreen screens, videos, and interactive games. All contents are available in Portuguese, English, and Spanish.

The main Exhibition, located on the second floor, is divided into five main galleries: Cosmos, Earth, Anthropocene, Tomorrow and Us and tries to answer some questions such as: Who are we? Where we came from? And where are we going?

Access to the Museum costs R$ 20 reais (less than US$ 5). Residents and natives of the city of Rio de Janeiro pay half price, as well as those under 21, students, seniors, people with disabilities, etc.

The Museum also has free admission on Tuesdays. By the way, you might like to check out my list of free museums in Rio de Janeiro (some have a free entry every day, and others have free admission certain days of the week).

In addition to being an incredible place, the Museum also has a privileged view of Guanabara Bay, as you can see in the last picture.

[ComradeShah]

What a post, I have read each and every of your words taking a great pause at. Your post has reminded me one of my subjects “environmental science” that I was preparing for my exams. In those days luckily I got a chance to know about our ecosystem and the way we are damaging it.

Thank you @AlexandreCampbell for letting me know about the Museum of Tomorrow, I had no idea about it.

Thumbs up for your efforts towards a sustainable environment.

How do I reduce my impact on the planet :

• Nationally we observe meatless Tuesday and meatless Wednesday. ( environment may not be the reason behind, but it is helping directly).
• I have started using my homemade handbag: to reduce the use of polythene plastic bags.
• I have started riding a bicycle within the city to reduce carbon emissions on my behalf.
• During night-time I use to turn off almost all the lights in my home except one.
• I have registered my name in the volunteers list of my village for planting trees.
• I am trying to reduce my industrial usage, and making efforts to reduce the waste.
• I am trying to make sure the applicability of the 3Rs principle: reduce, reuse, recycle.

[LuigiZ]

Hi @AlexandreCampbell ,

very interesting post, thank you for bringing the topic. Nice to start from the visit to the Museum of Tomorrow, reflect on the argument, and take a little action in order to give our, small but important, contribution. Btw the museum looks really nice!

Nowadays the topic of using too much our planet is very strong, perhaps because we can recognize, or try to, that our footprint is way too high … but indeed with very small actions, if done all together, we can make a huge difference.

I’m tagging here @ErmesT which is for sure interested in the post, his campaign Save the date: March 6: is M’illumino di meno I enlighten me less within the CTW project is indeed towards the same interest.

Thank you my friend!

[ErmesT]

Great post @AlexandreCampbell , about a very important subject.

Our footprints are everywhere, and we are deeply impacting on the actual conditions of our planet.

We need to change quickly our lifestyle, to be able to stop, in 10 years, the rise of the temperature of the planet.

Thank you for the tag on this post, @LuigiZ

@ComradeShah , I wrote a few months ago an article about “the 6th R”

If you are interested I can send you a link

[ComradeShah]

@ErmesT I am looking forward for your article about the 6thR, please do send me the link. Thank you.

[Tushar18]

Great article @AlexandreCampbell …

Some of these and other steps should be taken by each and everyone of us. Protecting environment is becoming the need of the hour and everyone’s contribution is necessary.

[ErmesT]

Done @ComradeShah

Hope you can find it helpful

[AlexandreCampbell]

Thank you for your comment and your incentive, @ComradeShah . The 3 R’s summarized very well what we need to do. Totally agree, @LuigiZ, small actions, if done all together, we can make a huge difference.

@ErmesT you are correct, we need to change our lifestyle quickly, and it is difficult in a world that stimulates consumption and measures the quality of life by what we can buy. BTW, I’m also interested in reading your article about the 6th R. Feel free to share the link here or send me privately.

Exactly, @Tushar18 , we need to change our lifestyle and stimulate others to do the same, by the example.

[ErmesT]

Done @AlexandreCampbell

I am developing the concept of the sixth R, (I believe I am the first ).

I wrote the article for the No Profit Association where I am volunteering. Here an excerpt

It is no longer just a question of reducing energy consumption, it is a matter of Rethinking and Redesigning a way of life, giving it a shape that we cannot even imagine at the moment. It is the sixth R.

The idea that we can “maintain the status quo” in a “more environmentally friendly” way is a contradiction in terms, which will not lead us anywhere. Of course, thinking about “green” is important, doing our part is important, because it increases awareness, but “getting the right conscience” will not get us anywhere unless we start thinking that our life will have to change radically. Our life will change anyway, whether we like it or not.

Give up all hope …? Absolutely not. Abandon the technology? Not even. It will be the technology, in the hands of less conditioned minds of ours, the hope of an evolution of our way of life.

A different way of living, which I’m not able to tell. For now I can only imagine ….

[AlexandreCampbell]

I Got it, @ErmesT . Thank you very much for sharing. This article is making me reflect even more about what I can do. Another “R” word came up to my mind: "Resignify." We need to resignify the meaning of quality of life, which is also Rethinking and Redesigning a way of living. I echo this sentiment of hope, and I’m looking forward to seeing this evolution.

[ErmesT]

I want to tell you a secret, @AlexandreCampbell

On 1988 I was in tour around Italy with a modern dance group.

The title of the show was “Gaia Hypothesis” (you can search for that, to see what I mean)

The music of the show was Planeta Gaia (Hacia El Universo), by Carlos Fregtman, a New Age Brazilian composer. He wrote the music for us, and the disk was published two year later, on 1990.

32 year later, I still trying to share the same concept, with only two difference

• Now, people is listening
• Maybe now is late (but I hope it is not)

A big hug my friend

[AlexandreCampbell]

I’ve never heard about “Gaia Hypothesis”, @ErmesT . But, I took a look at some articles about it and the concept that “all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet” makes a lot of sense for me. I’m saving some articles to study more about it.

A big hug, my friend!

[ErmesT]

You are welcome @AlexandreCampbell

The deep sense of the Gaia Hypothesis is that WE ARE NOT KILLING THE PLANET, WE ARE KILLING OURSELVES.

The planet will survive, the life in the planet will survive, without us. The self regulation removes the disturbing elements, but the planet will still alive.

So thank you again for writing this post

[TsekoV]

Hi @AlexandreCampbell ,

Thank you for raising this topic. It is definitely something that we all must think about on a daily basis. It is not always about the “others”, it is first about “me” and how I make the change that I want to see in others. I really hope the day that everyone cares will be near to now, I know that @ErmesT and probably all of the Local Guides deeply care too.

By the way, I am also thinking of getting my parents solar panels so we can reduce the consumed energy in my home. Indeed, they are still expensive, yet it looks like a good option to me too.

A thing that made me deeply worried recently is the problem my country started facing - the lack of water. Usually Bulgaria is known for its profound water resources, we have lots of water and hundreds of lakes and rivers. While I was driving through the country I passed through one of the biggest lakes in my country and I was petrified by the look of what I saw, it was almost gone. I visited there the beginning of last year and it was such a vast and big lake and now it shrank something like 15-20 meters and I could walk on its bottom. This is something that should not be happening and I believe that we, humans, do have a guilt in this.

[ErmesT]

The “EU plans for renewable energy” was approved on July 2001, and applied in Italy from 2005, @TsekoV

At the beginning the price of the Solar Panels was incredibly high, mostly due to the low production. When I joined the program, the price was already 60% less of the initial one, and actually is around 80% less than the 2005 price.

I receive a payment for the energy that I produce. In 7 year I have been able to cover the whole price of the plant with what I have received back from the Energy Authority, and I will be payed until 2030 for what I produce.

The Renewable energy web page of the European Community is quite interesting, to see the direction Europe is taking.

On the Venetian region the renewable energy was covering 45% already on 2016. Actually the energy produced in my region by Solar is more than what is needed for the homes, and we give energy to the industry. We can, we must do better, but this is a big goal

[TsekoV]

Thank you for sharing this link with me, @ErmesT . I will enjoy reading more about it. I know that the prices of solar panels are quite less than before and more and more people could invest in purchasing solar panels for their homes.

Usually solar panels can produce energy for more than 25-30 years, isn’t it?

[AlexandreCampbell]

Hi, @TsekoV . Thank you for your comment. I’m glad to know that more people are deciding to invest in Solar Energy and I hope that in the future it becomes cheaper. As a Local Guide, I’m becoming more conscious about the environment. Thanks to @ErmesT and others who raise this theme, I’ve been learning a lot.
I am very concerned about the water, as well. In Brazil, there is water in abundance, but the problem is the quality. The wastewater treatment is not present everywhere, for example. I don’t know if we’ll have clean water in the future if we do not change our lifestyle urgently.

@ErmesT , here in Brazil there are some incentives, but the panels are still expensive. I hope that the Brazilian Government increases the benefits like the EU is doing. Actually, I was sadly surprised to read recently that Germany (24 times smaller than Brazil and with a third of our population) produces much more solar energy than us. And it not every day a sunny day in Germany like it is in Brazil.

[anu7spice]

Great informative post, @AlexandreCampbell . I would love to visit this museum one day. As for what I’m doing to reduce my carbon footprint, I make sure to recycle & compost, use less plastic, use public transportation when I can etc. I don’t eat meat, so that helps too.

Very happy to know you’re making an effort to reduce your carbon footprint as well .

Thanks for sharing

[Avraham_Jurado]

Me ha gustado mucho tu post amigo @AlexandreCampbell , llevarnos hacia la reflexión sobre un tema tan importante como es el impacto ambiental me parece una lucha que nunca debería ser olvidada. Gracias por la información. Abrazo!

[AlexandreCampbell]

My friend Tessa @anu7spice . First, let me tell you that I miss you so much and I hope that I can see you again soon. I believe that you are doing a lot to reduce your carbon footprint. It’d be awesome if more and more people were conscious like you;