This time of year, Christians all over the world celebrate the death and supposed rebirth of Jesus Christ. Believers make minor sacrifices for a few weeks to honor a man who, in their eyes, died for mankind’s sins. Now back to reality, and the need to make real sacrifices for the real suffering of real people. All religions believe in helping the less fortunate, and while the Lent season is just one example of many traditions based on various faiths, the intent is noble. And in keeping with that intent, I bring you this bit of uplifting news straight from Brussels, as written by Arthur Max of the Associated Press:

“The world faces increased hunger and water shortages in the poorest countries, massive floods and avalanches in Asia, and species extinction unless nations adapt to climate change and halt its progress, according to a report approved Friday by an international conference on global warming.”

To the point to say the least. The collective “we” make all types of sacrifices of all degrees for reasons based, at some level, on pure common sense. But, for some reason we socialize sacrifice – and this applies not only to Christianity but to all religions. The Jain faith, which my mother chooses to follow, does many of the same things. While less commercialized, the lack of efficacy is the same. There exists a very severe disconnect between the actions of well intentioned people and the manifestation of results. Money and time spent trying to help others have much less of a measurable effect on society than we’d like to believe. What does affect everyone are the everyday, habitual actions of people. For instances, the nature of how people in the developed world live out each and every day of their lives – driving everywhere, throwing away everything. This is where sacrifice does not exist and needs to the most.

I’m proud of the fact that my fiance and I live in an urban area, I’m able to commute to work on foot and we’re able to live our lives with one automobile. Minor inconveniences arise from time to time but knowing my “carbon footprint” is dwarfed by that of the average American makes me feel good about behaving in a way that moves the average of us all toward the betterment of society (from an environmental standpoint).

“The poorest of the poor in the world – and this includes poor people in prosperous societies – are going to be the worst hit,” [Rajendra] Pachauri [chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] said. “People who are poor are least able to adapt to climate change.”

I tend not to bold text excessively to highlight exclamation but these blockquotes are the fundamental truth about what is happening, and will happen to the planet in the next few decades. To believe otherwise is ignorant, and to such an extreme that even discussing the notion that climate change is not occurring is a waste of time and resources to an immeasurable degree. Back to sacrifice . . .

For no other reason than to make the burden of life on the poorest people on this planet lighter, you, me and everyone else with the ability to understand the causes of climate and the capacity to make changes in our lives must make real, measurable sacrifices. We must buy energy-efficient vehicles, appliances, accessories (light bulbs, etc . . .). We must recycle ink cartridges and cell phones and other electronics. We must support the people who support policies to reduce waste, increase recycling, and incentivize the private sector to invest in renewable energy in all shapes and forms. We must also understand that higher efficiency will never take the place of conservation. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, turn off the lights when you leave the room, print double-sided at work and reuse everything you can reuse. And don’t use anything you don’t need to use. We must stop believing that we are entitled, with our freedoms, to do whatever the hell we want with anything we can get our hands on. We must learn new habits, that over time, kilowatt by kilowatt, will reduce or reverse our destruction of this planet.