Scoring system:
❤ = Will keep, I love it / 👀 = Not sure, will try some more / 😐 = Oh dear, it's not for me
For a late Christmas present I treated myself to a book called There’s no Planet B by Mike Berners-Lee. I bought the latest version which was released in January 2021.
I remembered seeing the author Mike Berners-Lee on the TV show called 'Feast to Save the Planet' about the impact of our food on the environment. I’m a lover of statistics so felt encouraged that I would learn lots, & lots I did indeed learn! I have added some quotes from the book below with some of my interpretations.
“It’s not what we do, see or have that matters but how much we appreciate it.” p141
The tendency in today’s society is to have it all, do it all and want more of it. But can we appreciate the amount we do have without pushing for ever better (but also more wasteful) things? We need to find the right balance of having just enough & not pushing for more. Businesses need to learn from this too as they are often the ones driving our wasteful society.
“Human impact = impact per person x no. of people.” p169
How many people think ‘there’s no point me doing anything if everyone else is not bothering’ but if all the folks who wanted to do something make a start then as a collective it does make a difference.
Per person, our own little bit of impact can benefit the planet as a whole, but be careful as this can apply both ways, bad as well as good! By doing nothing we are creating a bad impact so any little bit in the right direction really does help. In other words, do start to make changes no matter how small they are & build on them. You could influence others to do the same!
“12 billion careful people could live well on the planet, whereas 1 billion careless people couldn’t.” p262
Our planet can survive even with a bulging population but only if those very people take care of Earth’s precious resources. If not then the planet would have trouble even with 1 billion of us. Us humans are intelligent enough to realise that all is not well but realising is not enough, we need to create the action needed to change our ways. But, it can be done!
“If all the world’s discarded plastic was cling film, it would be more than enough to wrap the whole planet.” p63
Well if that doesn’t get you started in cutting back on plastics nothing will!
During my 50th year on this planet I decided to make some changes in reducing plastic.
I am not claiming to be perfect, my house does still have plastic products in it, but I have tried to make the switch in many ways (more soaps, shampoo bars, bamboo toothbrushes, non plastic razors, recycled bottles, re-using old bottles with re-fills, making my own products & more).
Click here to see how I made some switches. I hope it will provide some inspiration to others who want to make a start too.
I highly recommend reading 'There's no Planet B', it really will get you thinking & is packed FULL of information from start to finish. It is indeed a love ❤ from me. Happy reading!
Meanwhile let’s give the Earth a bit of TLC, because, where would we be without her?
Mike is also the author of the books ‘How Bad Are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything’ & ‘The Burning Question’ (a book about climate change).
