Stand Up, Speak Out

I want to take a moment to point out a really amazing thing that has nothing to do with computers that Whurley is doing. He posted about it over at whurley.com. It is called "Stand Up, Speak Out", and Whurley has been doing what he knows best, getting involved in various forms of social media like Twitter, Digg, and every other thing he can think of to call attention to the event. The date for this is October 16th-17th, so it is right around the corner.

I will be just arriving in Pune, India on the 16th, which puts me in mind of something I saw on the BBC website a while back. The graphic shows that if everyone on the planet lived the way we do in the US, it would take five planet Earths to sustain us all. At the same time, if everyone lived at the same consumption level as those in India, it would only take .4 of a planet.

This is clearly not a level playing field, nor is it possible for everyone to live the way we do in the US. In fact, even here in the US, we can't live the way we do in the US. The laws of thermodynamics will not allow it. We have to figure out how to get everyone closer to 1.0, since 1.0 is all we have.

And, to be clear, I am not advocating everyone live on less than two dollars a day. There are other ways. Better ways. Poverty in this days and age is obscene, and so is consuming resource just because one can.

It may seem like blogging and twittering and all is not going to be enough to get a problem this large fixed anytime soon, but the power of the Internet is an amazing thing, and raising awareness is always the first step to making real, lasting change.