57
consumers and even by the leaders of the society
until human health is threatened (smog
catastrophes, advancing diseases caused by environmental pollution) or significant financial damage occurs (crop reduction due to acidification,
destruction of lakes due to water overuse, etc.).
Needs and especially demands are strongly
dependent on the development level of the society, meeting them, and consumption are dependent on social conditions as well. Social
differences among the citizens greatly influence
the total consumption of inhabitants within a
country. Producers naturally try everything to sell
more products and therefore make efforts to
increase the demand of consumers using advertisements. Environmental consciousness of people, however, could influence the environmental
effects of consumption in a way beneficial to both
humanity and the environment (see Box 2.2).
Considering the above, the key to solve the
basic environmental problem is in changing the
operation of the social system which raises the
question of controlling the system. This is where
international institutes and the harmonization of
the operation of international institutional systems take their share and the task of realising sustainable development is essential (eliminating
social anomalies like poverty, starvation and
inequalities, etc.). The way to do it is made
extremely difficult by the fact that the human
society as a system extending all over the Earth
operates in the form of numerous different subsystems. (For details see Chap. 5). These subsystems (social structures specific for each country)
Box 2.2 “Think Global, Act Local”. The
Principle that You Consider the Global
Impact of Your Actions
Numerous activities of people have environmental consequences but most people
think these are so insignificant that they
just ignore them. Nowadays, however,
more than 7.5 billion people consume produced goods all over the world and alter
their environment as they wish. The added
effects of so many people cannot be ignored
at global level. Environmentally conscious
activities of people could have major influence on reducing unwanted effects.
For example, if every car owner travelled only 100 km less each month than
usual (using more mass transport or bicycles) around 60 billion litre less petrol and
gas would be burnt annually reducing in
this way the emission of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen oxides and other pollutants.
One of the greatest global environmental problem, plastic pollution could also be
significantly reduced by changing the habits of customers. On the one hand avoid
plastic packaging material for packing purchased goods where possible. On the other
hand, collect used plastic products and
packaging material selectively thus they
will not end up in the natural environment
and even useful tools can be made of them.
With environmentally conscious behaviour
the amount of plastic released into the environment could be reduced globally by up to
one million tonnes annually.
The annual quantity of municipal solid
waste was 480 kg/capita in the countries of
the EU in 2016. Around 50 kg out of it was
food, i.e. an average family of four throws
200 kg of food into the bin every year while
800 million people suffer from starvation
on Earth and many of them live in rich
countries. We should be more careful in the
households not only to think about the
environment but also in the spirit of
solidarity.
By using fossil fuel more sparingly for
heating and cooking CO 2 emission and
releasing other pollutants (SO 2 , soot, dust)
into the environment are reduced. One third
of the total energy used globally is utilised
for heating and cooling of buildings and
running households. This shows the environmental significance of our own energy
saving.
2.6 Earth Models, “World Models”
consumers and even by the leaders of the society
until human health is threatened (smog
catastrophes, advancing diseases caused by environmental pollution) or significant financial damage occurs (crop reduction due to acidification,
destruction of lakes due to water overuse, etc.).
Needs and especially demands are strongly
dependent on the development level of the society, meeting them, and consumption are dependent on social conditions as well. Social
differences among the citizens greatly influence
the total consumption of inhabitants within a
country. Producers naturally try everything to sell
more products and therefore make efforts to
increase the demand of consumers using advertisements. Environmental consciousness of people, however, could influence the environmental
effects of consumption in a way beneficial to both
humanity and the environment (see Box 2.2).
Considering the above, the key to solve the
basic environmental problem is in changing the
operation of the social system which raises the
question of controlling the system. This is where
international institutes and the harmonization of
the operation of international institutional systems take their share and the task of realising sustainable development is essential (eliminating
social anomalies like poverty, starvation and
inequalities, etc.). The way to do it is made
extremely difficult by the fact that the human
society as a system extending all over the Earth
operates in the form of numerous different subsystems. (For details see Chap. 5). These subsystems (social structures specific for each country)
Box 2.2 “Think Global, Act Local”. The
Principle that You Consider the Global
Impact of Your Actions
Numerous activities of people have environmental consequences but most people
think these are so insignificant that they
just ignore them. Nowadays, however,
more than 7.5 billion people consume produced goods all over the world and alter
their environment as they wish. The added
effects of so many people cannot be ignored
at global level. Environmentally conscious
activities of people could have major influence on reducing unwanted effects.
For example, if every car owner travelled only 100 km less each month than
usual (using more mass transport or bicycles) around 60 billion litre less petrol and
gas would be burnt annually reducing in
this way the emission of carbon dioxide,
nitrogen oxides and other pollutants.
One of the greatest global environmental problem, plastic pollution could also be
significantly reduced by changing the habits of customers. On the one hand avoid
plastic packaging material for packing purchased goods where possible. On the other
hand, collect used plastic products and
packaging material selectively thus they
will not end up in the natural environment
and even useful tools can be made of them.
With environmentally conscious behaviour
the amount of plastic released into the environment could be reduced globally by up to
one million tonnes annually.
The annual quantity of municipal solid
waste was 480 kg/capita in the countries of
the EU in 2016. Around 50 kg out of it was
food, i.e. an average family of four throws
200 kg of food into the bin every year while
800 million people suffer from starvation
on Earth and many of them live in rich
countries. We should be more careful in the
households not only to think about the
environment but also in the spirit of
solidarity.
By using fossil fuel more sparingly for
heating and cooking CO 2 emission and
releasing other pollutants (SO 2 , soot, dust)
into the environment are reduced. One third
of the total energy used globally is utilised
for heating and cooling of buildings and
running households. This shows the environmental significance of our own energy
saving.
2.6 Earth Models, “World Models”