[airguitar]

A small passing thought, but have found it hard to wrestle down. Through my numerous trips I've learnt a lot of things : things that my geography teacher taught but never cared, but understood through travel at a later age : why does the western ghats receive heavy rainfall ? What is an estuary ? How are backwaters formed ? Why are the regions behind mountains usually dry or receive less rainfall ? Why do we seem to be more sweaty in the coastal parts ? etc etc.

Because of all the travel through the woods, I'm also beginning to show tremendous respect to forests, trees ( I've cut down the amount of paper I use, or rather waste, out of genuine concern for the woods ), wildlife etc.

But here I go : how have I been to those places ? Drive. Drive. Sometimes solo, sometimes just 2 people. Over a thousand kms on many of those weekends. Aimless drives at night on weekdays after work to unknown places or just to have a bite at the highway hotel. I'm very much one of those who travels because he wants to drive. So am I contradicting myself ? I want to save trees and natural resources for the future generations, but I burn petrol heavily often for no purpose ? That sounds silly. Help me get over this guilt.

[condor]

That eternal dilemna. Tears you, and nothing to hold on to.

But do what you can : save each sheet of paper you can, each mug of water you can. Being minimalist to an extent is more about being honest to oneself, nad not a show put on for others. Not a fashion statement. If you dont need something, try to fore-go it. But not to deny yourself the best (you can afford) in those few things you will get for yourself.

[aargee]

@airguitar - I'm a plant lover; having said that do I allow plants to grow within the house? Or just keep living with weeds all around the house? I cannot right?

Like you I too had this dilemma before, but not anymore. I've a super polluting 2 stroke Rx & I love it. When I was in dilemma, I was even considering to sell it off. But then wait, here're some of my regular practices that I balance for my pollution...
1. I don't like to waste water; I use very little water & insist the same everywhere I go
2. Almost never use paper; even to write down something, I use a paper that has been used several times & each time I write with different color of ink; hope you got what I mean
3. I don't smoke not I consume alcohol. I consider my money spent on petrol as my bad habit
4. We consume about Rs 450 for 2 months on electricity charges. We don't allow unnecessary use of any appliances (we also have this habit of pointing it if any of us leave the appliances working unnecessarily)
5. Trust me, I'm beginning to cultivate an insane habit of not throwing the waste paper, plastic covers or pet bottles just anywhere. About 2 weekends ago, we went to Tirumala & on a regular break, we'd some snacks; I carried the snack cover & juice tettra pack all way upto Tirupathi & disposed it off in the garbage bin

So if I'm polluting the environment in one way, I'm trying to compensate in several other ways.

Last but not the least, though we have ample space for parking about 10 cars, we have 2 coconut trees bang in front of the house preventing the entry of all cars except for small ones; trust me, even a Swift cannot be parked inside our 12 X 10 car shed. I refused to chop one of the trees even though I'm experiencing trouble parking my car everytime

[Lightening-Fast]

The world would come to a halt if you tried to save the planet by not burning fuel. This is impossible. There are several other ways where you could do your bit towards the environment.
1. Just that diwali is around the corner, dont burn crackers
2. Maintain cleanliness around
3. Use 'Bus day' and not use your personal vehicle at least for a single day in the month
4. Wherever possible, 'Conserve' rather than 'Consume'

[McLaren Rulez]

Try your best to conserve the environment but not to the point where your life is miserable. You have to balance out between enjoyment and sacrifice. Where you draw the line is a personal decision.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by airguitar

A small passing thought, but have found it hard to wrestle down. Through my numerous trips I've learnt a lot of things : things that my geography teacher taught but never cared, but understood through travel at a later age : why does the western ghats receive heavy rainfall ? What is an estuary ? How are backwaters formed ? Why are the regions behind mountains usually dry or receive less rainfall ? Why do we seem to be more sweaty in the coastal parts ? etc etc.

Because of all the travel through the woods, I'm also beginning to show tremendous respect to forests, trees ( I've cut down the amount of paper I use, or rather waste, out of genuine concern for the woods ), wildlife etc.

But here I go : how have I been to those places ? Drive. Drive. Sometimes solo, sometimes just 2 people. Over a thousand kms on many of those weekends. Aimless drives at night on weekdays after work to unknown places or just to have a bite at the highway hotel. I'm very much one of those who travels because he wants to drive. So am I contradicting myself ? I want to save trees and natural resources for the future generations, but I burn petrol heavily often for no purpose ? That sounds silly. Help me get over this guilt.

No you are not.
You are helping burn off the fossil fuels - so that the future generation gets weaned off this "eco-unfriendly" source of fuel.
Then they will start thinking and implementing new technologies.

Besides, what do you think will happen with the petrol that you are not burning today?
It will get burnt tomorrow.
Thus, in this closed system = the earth, you have hardly made any difference - by postponing the burning to tomorrow, which was due today.

If you really wish to be in truly in tune with nature (the true greenpeace way) then I suggest you go walking.
Because even bicycle "harms" the nature.
Its made of iron - and I am sure you would be knowing how we make steel from iron, and how we extract iron from ore, and what all we do in order to mine the ore.

[lohithrao]

air guitar, i guess this "guilt" would haunt all the nature lovers. as many mentioned even i try to do my bit...

i believing in respecting nature not just loving it, from my childhood days i have fought with people who wanted to cut trees(road side) including the KEB(power supply)...
Once upon i used to love crackers but the day i got some sense, i have stopped buying crackers. my way of celebrating is by just lighting "diya"
But sadly today majority of the people think by burning crackers they are celebrating diwali, its almost like a war with noise and air pollution at its peak!

[Jayabusa]

Originally Posted by airguitar

A small passing thought, but have found it hard to wrestle down. Through my numerous trips I've learnt a lot of things : things that my geography teacher taught but never cared, but understood through travel at a later age : why does the western ghats receive heavy rainfall ? What is an estuary ? How are backwaters formed ? Why are the regions behind mountains usually dry or receive less rainfall ? Why do we seem to be more sweaty in the coastal parts ? etc etc.

Because of all the travel through the woods, I'm also beginning to show tremendous respect to forests, trees ( I've cut down the amount of paper I use, or rather waste, out of genuine concern for the woods ), wildlife etc.

But here I go : how have I been to those places ? Drive. Drive. Sometimes solo, sometimes just 2 people. Over a thousand kms on many of those weekends. Aimless drives at night on weekdays after work to unknown places or just to have a bite at the highway hotel. I'm very much one of those who travels because he wants to drive. So am I contradicting myself ? I want to save trees and natural resources for the future generations, but I burn petrol heavily often for no purpose ? That sounds silly. Help me get over this guilt.

Remember, you are a human being first and a petrol-head later. Hence you are responsible towards to the environment first. Self-indulgenges...the name says it all, you just think about yourself at that point of time.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Shree Krishna had said that an ordinary person will go on cutting down trees for fuel till the whole forest disappears, whereas, a wise man will spend his time thinking about the environment and maintaining it's balance.

Always remember, 'Every Saint has a past and every sinner has a future.'

I know that all this sounds philosophical(it indeed is), but that is the only right way of looking at it and I'm sure it shall help you out of your confusion, guilt, dilemma et al.

Best regards

[airguitar]

Ah there. I feel a lot better now. My bad habits cancel the good habits I guess leaving a net 0 impact on the world

[Jayabusa]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Ah there. I feel a lot better now. My bad habits cancel the good habits I guess leaving a net 0 impact on the world

That certainly isn't what I was saying, airguitar.
What you have said would mean, injuring someone so that he may bleed, then donating your blood to him, doing it over and over again and saying "I have done nothing. Neither am I injuring him, nor am I donating my blood to him.

There is no nullification involved. What goes around(good or bad) comes around.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by alpha1

No you are not.
You are helping burn off the fossil fuels - so that the future generation gets weaned off this "eco-unfriendly" source of fuel.
Then they will start thinking and implementing new technologies.

Besides, what do you think will happen with the petrol that you are not burning today?
It will get burnt tomorrow.
Thus, in this closed system = the earth, you have hardly made any difference - by postponing the burning to tomorrow, which was due today.

If you really wish to be in truly in tune with nature (the true greenpeace way) then I suggest you go walking.
Because even bicycle "harms" the nature.
Its made of iron - and I am sure you would be knowing how we make steel from iron, and how we extract iron from ore, and what all we do in order to mine the ore.

exactly my feelings .
I am doing my best to finish off the fossils fuels so my great great grand children have a better world to live in.

that is if we still have a world then.

[greenhorn]

its not guilt, its Cognitive dissonance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
enjoy the article, It might help you

[airguitar]

Ah sorry lost track of this thread. @greenhorn, you made this greenhorn feel better. Cognitive Dissonance.

@Jayabusa : My bad, i twisted it.

[jeevmenon]

T-BHP should have a separate sub-forum where members write about the way they think/do to save the environment. Set examples - e.g for every 1000KM plant 5 trees. Dont wash your car for 2 days, use jute bags for grocery or something like that, self punishment to neutralize. More infliction for longer drives.

[aargee]

Thread already exist @Jeevmenon - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...lifestyle.html