A lot has changed in the last 20 years. Some for the better, and some for the worst. Don’t get me wrong, I’m on the computer right now and I love having a smartphone, but maybe we should ease up a little, put on the brakes, and really think about what place technology should have in our lives versus the resources that got us here.
A series of thoughts that have been in my mind, and debated and shared with a few others, is this idea of going paperless equaling “going green.” How does that work when we need a computer or some other type of way of still acquiring the “paperless” information? Paper is one of the few materials that is still bio-degradable, electronics . . . ? I don’t envision a world where my computer becomes one with the earth and is used as compost to create an eco-system that we can be sustained from. Do you?
Nothing about a computer, cellphone, tv, e-book and countless other electronic items made to keep us technologically-savvy that also need batteries (that are highly toxic and everyone is told should be recycled versus thrown into the trash) is bio-degradable. Yet books may disappear from our shelves to be replaced by bright shiny objects that we just have to plug in to receive all the information that we ever thought we’d want. And it does have a cost.
Who do you think sustains most of the production of paper in the world? Corporations. In order for a corporation to sustain the need for paper, they also need to make sure there are trees. They use this resource by chopping it down and planting more trees, so they’ll have more resources to keep supplying us with paper. Do we really want corporations to stop seeing trees as a resource that they should invest time and money into sustaining?
When paper is gone by way of technology so will our trees. What was a resource to companies will become a liability of land and we will lose the one good thing corporations are doing right now that benefits the earth and our eco-system. I don’t see them taking care of it, if it’s not a resource. Technology is impacting our paper supply and that isn’t a good thing. Read a book (not on a device) when you can, write a letter by hand, wrap a gift for a friend, try to do things that keep us connected to the world and ourselves before they get lost on-line.
(This picture is actually taken from a recycling center for electronic items. They break them back down into their earth-friendly counterparts.)
Monkiyo's Musings 