I have read an article figuring the growth of retail shopping around the world. Globally in 2013, people have shopped merchandises of worth 1.2 Trillion USD and this might grow up to almost 2.5 trillion UDS by 2020. That is slightly more than the double. Obviously, the world population is not going to get doubled during same (thankfully). This growth will be lead by the increased consumerization and consumption. It will help to boost the economy and the increased financial capacity may make lives better for millions.
But on the other side, this also alarms about the increased manufacturing, exploitation of natural resources and increase in the use & throw culture which will lead the world to environmental disaster. Do we have a plan to handle this?
Along with the environmental challenges, one of the worries this world has is energy consumption rate. Fossil fuel is still the largest, the significantly largest source of energy for us. Though we are known to the damage they have been causing to the environment and the scarcity it has, we are hastily dependent on such sources of energy. Talks on solar power, wind power, hydro energy, bio-diesel and other natural sources of energy are heavy but the execution is missing. Sometimes I wonder if the energy we have spent during the talks, conferences, and advertisements related to sustainable energy sources would be higher than the actual energy we would have generated that way.
Yes, all sustainable energy sources seem promising if executed well. I feel Piezoelectric is an important contributor. Piezoelectric is a way of energy generation with foot and bodily movement of the humans. While jogging, running, dancing and walking humans can generate tons of energy sufficient to reduce carbon footprint significantly. The problem at present is the cost of such flooring would be too high but adequate research can turn up this as an idea of “Mahatma Gandhi’s” self-reliance movement where everyone is generating their own energy themselves.
The self-reliance in energy generation and energy consumption will keep our mother earth alive.. forever.