sustainable urban lifestyle, part 1

Modern man is an aware being, this largely due to the information that is available everywhere. When awareness grows the demands for products and services also grows. The conscious human knows she cannot change the world by herself, but she wants to do something for a better world, these actions make her feel good. But only a few act upon this awareness, at least to the extent they themselves deem ethically correct. To say that one is aware and to actually act upon this awareness are not the same. This has many different reasons.

Firstly there is a common resignation among people today. Those who carry this resignation claim that one doesn’t have any choice to act ethically anyway, the alternatives are too few. If the alternatives in everyday life are too few the ethical becomes more complicated, and the complicated does not facilitate behavioural changes. The resignation may also stem from the feeling that “it doesn’t matter what I do if no one else cares”.

I have actually quit separating paper from other trash. In the beginning I was so careful, and was upset when my friends threw paper in the regular bins. But now…I don’t know, it sort of passed. I felt that it took so much extra time and really, what difference does it make? You see the pictures of dumps in the third world and you think “ah, screw it”. (Jakob, 24)