Slow Sunday " A Simple Solution To Global Warming"

Have been sitting out in the garden reading Guardian online, came across this article, written by Satish Kumar, about how we could cut our carbon emissions by literally taking a Sunday off spending time with family and engage ourselves in home leisures by doing some writing, painting, walking, gardening, e.t.c.  He suggested closing supermarkets, department stores and petrol stations for the chosen day of the week, in doing so, we reduce our mobility to bare essentials.  If you think about it, there will be no great hardship in cutting down non essential and non urgent use of fossil fuels for one day.

I  guess if  you do need to travel, we could rethink about the 'necessity' part of it.  And if there are errands to do, could we possibly leave it for the Monday and make a habit out of it? And if there's a dire need to perform the errand, could we ask ourselves why?  Of course there must be certain things that can't be help like taking a sick child to the clinic or having to drive over to a family for a visit.  But could we dedicate a Sunday every week and treat it as a day of rest and renewal.  I think it's a great idea and it can be done if we put our minds and deepest of intentions to help the world.  A small movement in every individual is a collaboration to make this a better place to live in.

 A part of the article from The Guardian....................

"The 10:10 movement supported by the Guardian is a wonderful way to empower ordinary people to participate in the great movement of mitigating global warming. We cannot wait until governments are enlightened enough to legislate and cap the carbon emissions. Matters are urgent. We have to act now, without any delay. The power of public opinion and citizen action will have a strong impact on the climate conference taking place in Copenhagen.

One thing we can easily do to achieve this goal: we can declare Sunday to be a fossil fuel-free day or a low-carbon day or at least an energy-saving day. We can start this week, this month or in 2010. We can start individually and collectively. The long journey to cut carbon dioxide emissions can start in the here and now.

Global warming or climate change is only a symptom of our deep-seated desire to consume, consume and consume. The external problem of carbon emissions is connected with the internal problem of desire. If we stay in the rat-race 24 hours, seven days a week, we are bound to pollute our inner space as well as the outer space. Speed is the curse of modern civilisation. The solution to global warming is simple: slow down. Slow is beautiful. Even if we cannot slow down every day, at least slow down on Sunday. If you are a Christian then Slow Sunday should be natural to you, if you are a Muslim make Friday your low-carbon day, if you are Jewish then Saturday can be your day to save energy, if you follow a secular way of life then choose your own carbon-free day. At least on Sunday we can be citizens rather than consumers."