There a saying that there is nothing new under the sun, and this is a phrase that I have borrowed from comedy writer Douglas Adams, although best known for the ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, this comes from the third book in the trilogy of five, ‘Life the Universe and Everything:
“The Somebody Else's Problem field is much simpler and more effective, and what's more can be run for over a hundred years on a single torch battery. This is because it relies on people's natural disposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain.” Douglas Adams
The term Somebody Else’s Problem it is a one has stayed with me since the 1980s and sums up my take on the prevalent view in society, from individuals, organisations to governments. Our impact on the environment is always somebody else’s problem, we all contribute to it by eating food, drinking water, producing waste, consuming energy.
Meanwhile the oceans are filling up with plastic, fish stocks are dwindling, ground water is contaminated and the atmosphere is filling up with greenhouse gases, but we all continue living following the continue business as usual scenario. The problem? Is the commonly held perception that it is always somebody else’s responsibility to tackle the global situation that we are all contributing to, it is always ‘Somebody Else’s Problem.
Society is addicted to fossil fuels and the consumer lifestyle. Nobody wants to give up their car and let’s face it, in a city like Beirut as with many cities that do not have the adequate infrastructure, even if we give up our car how would we get to work when there is no alternative? Then there is the air conditioning, the electronic gadgets, the convenience foods and products with all the disposable packaging, not an easy habit to break, the consumer lifestyle is making us sick, and with the perception that human impact on the environment is somebody else’s problem.
The back story is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble published by Xlibris — Do We Need ARCHITECTS? A Journey Beneath the Surface of Architecture
Society is addicted to fossil fuels and the consumer lifestyle. Nobody wants to give up their car and let’s face it, in a city like Beirut as with many cities that do not have the adequate infrastructure, even if we give up our car how would we get to work when there is no alternative? Then there is the air conditioning, the electronic gadgets, the convenience foods and products with all the disposable packaging, not an easy habit to break, the consumer lifestyle is making us sick, and with the perception that human impact on the environment is somebody else’s problem.
The back story is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble published by Xlibris — Do We Need ARCHITECTS? A Journey Beneath the Surface of Architecture
