Bill Mckibben mentions in his article “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math” about the over excessive pace our resources are being used up. Along with this he also mentions how in todays technology we are able to take back on those resources and substitute them with better alternatives. But, sadly and surely, we have learned to pretend to not know about those alternatives and continue to use up the resources that have become the norm to our daily lives.
Recently back in August of this year Beijing, China has participated in an event to help show how much one cause can make a huge difference. The Chinese government created a two week event that controlled 5 millions cars to drive on alternating days and times, gave factories certain restrictions and close down 40,000 construction sites in order to decrease air pollution and the results were outstanding. For the first time in years the skies of the massive, over-populated city were visible and washed in a beautiful shade of blue and white clouds. This gave a great awareness on how much small changes make huge differences not only in physical aspects but also mentally and emotionally. It is known that the polluted air kills about 4,000 people in China per day!
Knowing the size and population of China and how influential they are to the world, it heightens the awareness and education on alternative resources and other things we can do to help the planet. Just like how big celebrities play a huge role on their fans, iconic places like China and the United States can influence the rest of the world. Even the smallest contributions to help the environment can make the biggest impacts.
[designing for resilient] sustainable systems 