Overconsumption awareness

I have just finished studying Block 5 of U116 module at The Open University. The book is called ‘Changing China’ and my TMA for this was to write an essay explaining how migration enables economic growth and therefore leads to environmental issues. 

We all know that China is growing economically and the growth is still rapid. Whilst developed countries are looking into newer ways of protecting the environment, Chinese government seems to be still steering the country into even more development having little regard for the environmental damage this is causing. List of China’s environmental problems is long. It includes issues like threats from flooding, desertification, water shortages, disappearing forest reserves, air and water pollution and many more.

Studying this subject made me wonder what are we ‘the individuals’ are really doing to protect our environment. How many people actually lead their lives by putting the environment on top of their priority list? Well, that off course would be unrealistic but if anyone would take a small step towards decreasing consumption, it could have a massive impact. But we don’t. Why? Because it’s inconvenient and because often environmental problems don’t affect us directly. We are so used to the convenience of life that we can’t be bothered to even make a small effort. Everything is so easily replaceable and accessible that we just don’t bother to re-use things.

I don’t have children but many of my friends do and it is shocking how many toys and gadgets the littles ones have. I totally understand that parents want for their children to have everything they need and to have a happy childhood. But do they really need 100 toys when they’re five? Or do they need new mobile phone every 6 months when they’re sixteen? No, they don’t. But our society is powered by money, advertisement and sales. When you become a parent you’re being told you need to buy hundreds of gadgets for your baby and they’re all essential. Then you need to buy hundreds of toys which will stimulate baby’s development. And after that your kid wants hundreds of toys and gadgets because they are bombarded by the advertisements. If you do try to stop this and say ‘no’ then you’re facing a fear of your kid being an outsider because all other kids will have the toy, the phone etc. and you have to cave in because you don’t want them to be the odd one.  

So which way do you think this trend will go? Will we continue to overconsume and not think about what we’re doing to our planet? Or will we wake up, stop this madness and teach the future generations to re-use rather than bin and buy a new one.   

Click here to see ‘Overconsumption, overpopulation – in pictures’.

Who do you want to be when you grow up?

Lately I had a thought. Does anyone ever know exactly who they want to be when they grow up?

I don’t really believe in ‘what’s meant to be, it will be’. I don’t belive in fate, destiny and the whole ‘our lives have already been written for us’. I think there is a lot more complexity to who we become and how our lives turn out. I believe our lives are a combination of random series of events, coincidences and chances; background we come from; family circumstances; choices we make; how hard we work; how intelligent we are and so on.

So how do people know who they want to be and how do they become that person?

What prompted me to think about this was my old friend. Both she and her husband have degrees and work within their degree’s fields. She works in an environmental sector and he is a geologist. They both enjoy their jobs but she recently said to me that if she had to make the choice again she would become a veterinarian and her husband said he would become a chef. She didn’t study veterinary because she was scared to move away from her family for 5 years as it takes 5 years to complete a degree in Poland.

So does anyone know who they want to be at age of 16 when they have to make that first important educational choice? Many young people go to uni and study subjects they don’t really like but feel that they need a degree of some sort. Also many people come from well-educated families and get pressurised to becoming doctors, lawyers etc.

I never knew who I wanted to be. I tried few different jobs and did few college courses. I was just as confused and undecided in my early twenties as I was as a teenager. Finally at age of 28 I have made my choice and I am so happy I decided to start my studies with The Open University. It took me so long to realise that I have always loved science, I have always cared for the environment. I am now finally motivated enough to pursue this path. I feel that any other time in my life I was too young and too confused to make this decision.

I am so grateful that The Open University allows people like me to get higher education without compromising their lifestyle. Hopefully in four years time when I’m all grown up, I will be who I want be.

 

 

 

Everyday life planning – introduction

I am a person that needs planning to stay sane. I also like to write things down on paper. My head is usually full of ideas, things I need to remember to do, random thoughts. It constantly works on full speed. This becomes a problem when I don’t write things down. I randomly remember that it’s someone’s birthday in two weeks’ time and then forget about it the next day. Then I remember about it one day before and panic that I haven’t got time to make/buy them something. It caused me a lot of stress and sleepless nights with added guilt and feeling of failure when I forgot things or wasn’t prepared for things.

Writing things down on paper helped me to free my mind and organise my life. We are all different but I know that there is a lot of people out there stressing about things, forgetting things and running around like headless chickens trying to do everything last minute. I was one of those people and yes, it’s impossible to fully get rid of that attitude if you’re naturally little bit ‘all over the place’. But I guarantee you that planning and organising your life with a simple planner will save you time, stop the stress and will help you sleep better. Also simple ticking the tasks give a sense of achievement and makes me feel that I have been productive and succeeded in managing my time.

There is a lot of different planners and organisers out there and a bit of research will help you pick one that will suit your life style. It took me few months to work out my ‘perfect’ planning routine. In fact I still adjust it as I find out how/when I am most productive. Don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t work out the first time, try different approach, different planner.

If I was to keep going with this post it would turn out extremely long. So I decided to split it into a few posts and make a little planning series out of it. I will share my planner with you, post links to planning videos and ideas and explain what works and doesn’t work for me. Don’t forget that this planning series will apply to anything from work, uni to personal and family life planning. These categories can be separated or combined all in one. As for me, I like to have everything in one place to see an overview of my week/month/year.