One thing I'd like to call your attention to is the way we use natural resources in the world today. Don't get me wrong, I love the amenities of modern life as much as you do, and I'm not about to tell you to go and live in a portable ger (a traditional Mongolian tent) in the plains of Mongolia. It's just that we have to find smarter ways to live comfortably, because at the rate we're consuming the world's resources, none of us will be able to use the things we take for granted every day.
Computers, an efficient transportation system, air conditioned homes, good tasting food. All gone.
Probably not within the next fifty years or so, maybe not even within the next hundred years, but it's definitely happening. Our world cannot support the amount of natural resources we're consuming at the moment - and bear with me for a minute, because I'm not telling you to become a technological Luddite and live in a cave.
I'm simply saying that we have to live more efficiently. Find more efficient forms of power. Find better ways of reusing "junk", because at the moment we're throwing tonnes of perfectly good electronics into the rubbish, all because they're "outdated". There are plenty of little things we can all do with our comfortable lives to make sure we aren't flushing the world's collective future down the toilet drain.
I'm admittedly a pretty violent warlord who once subjugated the entire world with my horde of mighty warriors, but even I think it's slightly unclassy for a guy, to be hurting future generations all because he was too lazy to change his lifestyle so it'd be a little less damaging to the world around him.
Okay, now that I've shown you the person you shouldn't be, I'm going to point out something positive a few people have been doing.
Can-Action. A lame name, a not so lame cause. These guys make sure that all of the aluminium we use, gets recycled. One moment, I have to address something I've heard a lot as Kublai Can.
"Recycling aluminium is useless, because it takes more energy to recycle it than it does to mine it!"
Comments like this make me want to go on a world-conquering spree all over again, despite my retirement. Look, use your common sense.
In order to mine aluminium in its raw form, bauxite, you need to -
- Strip acres of forest to prepare for mining - this includes places in South America, Australia, you get the idea.
- Devastate the area with military-grade explosives to bring the raw aluminium to the surface. "Is it harmful to animal life in the area?" - uh, go figure.
- Refine the raw bauxite - you need large amounts of energy to heat up the aluminium with caustic soda in order to refine it, and even then you only get alumina. More raw, unusable aluminium!
- Finally, with the alumina, you have to heat it until it becomes molten, and then perform electrolysis to bring out the pure aluminium.
If you recycle aluminium, you simply melt it down and use it again.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that recycling is the way forward, at least in this case. Wiki it, if you don't believe me.
So here's what Can-Action's been up to, at least recently.
Can-munist Recycling Bin Distribution Campaign
Can-Action figured that part of the reason people never put their cans in the recycling bins, was because they were too far away. People didn't want to get up and walk to the recycling bins, when they could just toss their cans into the nearest rubbish bin instead. So Can-Action reasoned,
"If the people will not bring their cans to the recycling bins, we will bring the recycling bins to the people."
And so Can-Action did.
Propa-canda Campaign
Even with the recycling bins placed everywhere, even next to normal rubbish bins, people still threw their cans inside the rubbish bins. What's worse, I myself saw one student throw a can into the rubbish bin and his lunch into the recycling bin. The Can-Action group's been trying to knock some sense into people like that, because if they don't change their actions now, they'll be damaging the environment for the rest of their adult lives.
The Can-Tube Project
Their semi-secret project (not so secret now that I'm posting it on this blog), Can-Action is trying to put the fun in recycling. As fun as it can be, in any case. Because it's important to educate the lower years about living responsibly as much as we can, Can-Action is building a transparent pipe from the upper floors of the school building, designed to carry any cans that need recycling from anywhere in the school, to the bottom floor. They promise that it'll look awesome.
And on that note, I must be off. Live thoughtfully with regards to everybody else living on this planet, and please, please don't live like an irresponsible dou..
We've got enough in the world as it is.
Your faithful warlord,
Genghis Can
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