Who would have thought that taking a few minutes out of your day to practice mindfulness could lead to sustainable practices? Becoming mindful leads to a whole new perceptive on life, which one reevaluates their personal well-being amongst environmental well-being. In Marc Cohen’s Ted Talk he brings up the point that it is hard to be happy if you are not well and that you are not well unless the environment around you is well. This relates to the mindfulness article because it states that mindfulness promotes awareness that leads to more sustainable practices. It is up to us to make ethical purchases and actions that improve the state of our environment. I believe that being mindful can have a positive effect on a person’s life just like the article stated having a wandering mind leads to unhappiness. I have personally dealt with constant over thinking and negativity. Marc said for every negative thought there is an equally powerful and equally valid positive thought.
Once someone becomes mindful they become aware of their true moral values. I am a merchandising major and that means I have had to do research on the manufacturing process of clothing. Sweatshops are a wicked problem for the industry I am going into. I have made the decision to stop purchasing clothing from fast fashion retailers because of poor working conditions and low wages of those who are manufacturing the clothing. In 2013, more than 1,100 workers died in the Rana Plaza factory. This was due to the fact that safety regulations were ignored. This is a tragedy, but unfortunately not the first time this has happened. There have been many more factory accidents because safety regulations were not a priority. From the research I have gathered on sweatshops I have learned that there is a debate as to whether sweatshops are unethical or if they are better than other options these people are faced with. I am unsure at this point if that is true, but I am interested to go more in-depth into the subject.
From the western values reading I learned that if the whole world lived like Americans do that we could only sustain 1.4 billion people. This is because consumption here is the main issue. Consumption of clothing, food, technology, and many other things. Every 0.9 seconds someone dies of over-consumption and every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger. From the Leyla Ted Talk, she points out how 40% of fresh food is wasted in the United States every year. When I heard these statistics, it was hard for me to understand that there are people here in America dying from over-consumption while there are people in third world countries dying from starvation. On top of that, the food we waste is not biodegrading because it is ending up in landfills instead of composts. Landfills are aerobic meaning that there is no oxygen. This creates methane which is a 25 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. This opened my eyes to be conscious of the food I buy, from now on I am only to purchase the amount of food I know that I am going to consume. With the amount of food, we waste I would think there would be a way to help people that are starving but it is a wicked issue meaning it is complex. Through this class, I have learned so much about the environment and being wasteful. Now I am becoming mindful of my actions. Education is a key to making a change in the way people live.
Blog Administrator
Contact
For more information contact cosette.armstrong@okstate.edu.-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- June 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012