Surfing the web looking for eco-friendly ideas and finding many out there. Some are good ideas, some are just smoke screens to make people think the products have changed when they have only moved the pressure from one ecologically damaging area to another. All of these things are good in many ways regardless, because they focus the public's attention on the fact that changes in our thinking must take place. As the saying goes, change your thinking, change your world.

It is the thinking that must change before the products for the lifestyle will. The mental attitude we have about how our lives should be lived. We tend to think that cutting back on our energy consumption to save the planet will put us back in the Dark Ages and we don't want to give up our cars, computers, microwaves and electric light - but it doesn't have to be that way.

There is an interesting article written by Clair Go-eun Chun, the Managing Editor of the Korea IT Times that I read recently. It's called 'Nothing Made of Gold Lasts Forever'. She has a vision that encompasses a green lifestyle and convenient, wireless technology that would allow people to connect no matter where they are. We do that to a great extent already, but her vision is to have a lifestyle where we could learn, work and play at home if we desired. In the process we would save the massive amounts of energy we now consume, running children to school every day; getting to work; shopping; heating and lighting massive buildings full of offices and such.

Picture
Seagulls on Skaha Lake Shore
These are the spaces we need time to sit still and appreciate.
I like her idea. It doesn't mean we have to obliterate those activities - it just means we could cut down on the energy used if we could do them for the most part from home. The amount of space and energy consumed by an office building that houses 300 people on a daily basis would be immediately slashed if we alternated the days we worked at the office with days worked at home- or in situations where it possible, work entirely from our home. The same could be done with schooling. Some days could be at the school, some days at home. We would definitely save the gasoline it takes for school buses to transport the kids back and forth, or for our own transport to work and back, for a start. Then there would be savings on power to light and heat the space.

Much of this can be done today - but we don't - for several reasons -one of which is habit. Cultural expectations and the way the system is set up have us 'thinking' in terms of getting up and out the door at a specific time, and driving to where we are expected to be. Another is that the infrastructure for such a program is not completely in place. We can do it to a degree, but it is not set up so everyone can take part. Third, we tend to think that people will cheat on the time they spend actually working or studying. And fourth - some of the technology has not been perfected to the degree where it is easy to use and not without challenges to operate.
Picture
Flower Centre
This is the beauty we need time to explore and  enjoy.
There is a vision, though, that includes wireless technology easily integrating text, photos, audio and video from all over the world; the free  sharing of files and information; the ability to join in a conferencing group from anywhere. Compatibility of systems is increasing, the size of the networks is increasing, new tools and toys are being created almost every day. If we add these advances to products and processes that allow us to power and heat our homes in an eco-friendly manner and build them with sustainable products, we could cut our consumption very swiftly. It's not an idea that is impossible. We are on the cusp of reaching that place and time right now. Many people are already living this way. What we need is the attitude change that pushes it over the edge and it becomes something easy for the masses to accept. A way of life.