Neohumanism and the Consumer Culture

Eco-Quiz: What is the Greenhouse Effect?

•Warming gases in the earth’s atmosphere allow sunlight to pass in, but like the glass in a greenhouse, they block the heat from escaping.•One such gas is carbon dioxide (CO2)•Global Warming is caused by the greenhouse effect

One Example of Effect of Global Warming

Receding Glaciers

Consumer Materialism: An Unsustainable Way

The only thing that continues to expand by constantly consuming its own resources is cancer cells—until

they finally kill their host!

Consumer Motto: Shop Till You Drop!!!

The Newest Sport: Malling

Simple Living—High Thinking

Principle of Non-Accumulation

• Non accumulation of resources that are unnecessary for the preservation of life

Capitalism: Collective Violation of Non Accumulation Principle

• 6% of the people consume 59% of the world's resources

Spiritual Death

• The more I seek happiness in external objects the less I realize that lasting happiness lies within

Happiness lies not in what you Have but in

what you Are!!

Dual Dangers of Materialism

• Destroys our natural resources (world)

• Kills our spiritual initiative (personal)

Non-accumulation does not mean to return to the Stone Age or to turn back the clock

“There is no question that industrialization has polluted our surroundings. But who buys the products? We do, you and I. Each of our actions has a global impact”

Jane GoodallEnvironmentalist

Consumer Power!!

The 3 R’s

• Reduce

• Reuse

• Recycle

Principle of Mental Contentment• Being satisfied with income earned from a

normal day of work

Violation of Mental Contentment Principle

• Stress• Strained Relationships• Personal Burn Out• Mental Restlessness

Eco Quiz: What produces more greenhouse gas emissions: eating

meat or driving a car?

Livestock are responsible for 18% of greenhouse gases that cause global warming—more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together!

MEAT

That is because the methane produced from animal manure has a warming effect that is 23 times more

than carbon

65% of all nitrous oxide emissions come from meat,

dairy and eggs

Vegetarianism and Sustainability• "If everyone adopted a vegetarian diet and no

food were wasted, current [food] production would theoretically feed 10 billion people, more than the projected population for the year 2050”.

Population Reference Bureau report

Global Meat Production is expected to double in the first 50 years of this

century

Becoming a vegetarian would reduce 1.4 tons of carbon emissions per year.

In 1996, U.S. factory farms produced 1.4 billion tons of animal waste—130 times more than humans did.

The Environmental Fallout of Eating Fast Food

“Livestock grazing has threatened or eliminated more plant species than any

other single factor”.

U.S. Government Accounting Office

Neo-Humanism -“ ever-new humanism ”

-the practice of love for all

created beings of this universe

When love is limited for humanity -

it is called human sentiment

But this human sentiment has violated the interests

of non-human creatures

The “Control of Nature” is a dangerous and obsolete

idea.

Eco-Quiz: What is the Most Energy Efficient Mode of Transportation?

Bicycle

• More energy efficient than walking!

• At 12 km/hour a cyclist uses 100 BTU’s/passenger mile

• Pedestrian walking at 3 km/hour uses 500 BTU’s per passenger mile

• 1 BTU= 252 Heat Calories

•Colombia has 350 kms. of bicycle lanes throughout the country

•Copenhagen provides 2,300 bicycles free for public use; businesses pay for the bikes

through advertisements

•Japan has 2,500,000 bicycle storage spaces in train depots

Eco-Quiz: How much faster than the human population is the carpopulation growing?

The car population is increasing five times as fast as the human population!

Stamp Out Styrofoam

• If you lined up all of the styrofoam cups made in one day they would circle around the Earth!

• Styrofoam can never become part of the Earth again—it is permanent garbage

• The CFC’s in styrofoam contribute to opening the ozone layer

Neohumanism’s Goal• Effort to achieve a balance between

the inner pursuit of peace and the outer pursuit of harmonious living

Spiritual Practice: Meditation• A constant effort to feel the deepest inner

peace and thereby control the desire to run after pleasures associated with consumption and waste

Spiritual Meditation does not encourage

asceticism or renunciation of the

basic necessities of life

Reduce

• Change our energy consumptive lifestyle through:

• Principle of Non Accumulation • Principle of Mental Contentment• Meat Out• Bicycle• Turn off unused lights• Turn off unused equipment

Reuse

• Hard Plastic Water Bottle

• Cloth Bag instead of plastic bag

Say NO to Plastic Bags!•Plastic bags are a by-product of the oil industry—a non-renewable resource•A plastic bag may be used for only minutes—enough to get from the shop to home•But they take 15 to 1000 years to break down in the environment!•Every year plastic bag litter kills 100,000 birds, seals, turtles and whales!

The Chinese government will ban ultra-thin plastic bags from June 1, 2008. As a result China’s largest plastic bag factory has shut down.

Singapore Today Newspaper, Feb. 27/08

•Since March 2002, Ireland has reduced its check out bag usage by 90%

Recycle

• Re-chargeable Batteries

• Separate Wastes at home: glass, plastic, paper and organic

• Organic Waste

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Plants (PCAP)

• Prevent cruelty to animals and plants

• Popularize vegetarian diet to save lives of innocent animals

• Do afforestation to protect forest and biodiversity

• Assist tribal and forest dwellers to sustain their livelihood and culture while remaining in their natural habitat

“Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand in it

Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself “

( Chief Seattle, Native American)

"Never think that a small group of highly dedicated people cannot change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has."

Anthropologist Margaret Mead

Circle of Concern

Circle of Influence

ThinkGlobally

ActLocally