I just made an extraordinarily difficult decision to NOT go on a free week-long trip to India and then a few days in China for an all-expensis paid for conference in a free 5 star hotel... but it was the right thing to do. At the international conference I was invited to in New Delhi aimed at celebrating non-violent worldviews, I was to speak to the esteemed group about implementing little things in your daily lives to live the philosophy of non-violence towards the environment and protecting and preserving natural resources for future generation and other beings of inherent value (and then a possible talk on non-violence and the economy as well). The ironic thing was that in order for me to participate Id have to burn untold amounts of fossil fuels and create a huge carbon footprint to go talk about how each of us should avoid creating larger carbon footprints. It was all free for me, but the impact of this free trip was actually quite large in costs of money, carbon footprint, limited natural resources, and human resources from Honolulu to Shanghai to New Delhi. Very hard to pass up but it was the right sustainable thing to do, especially in honor of the spirit of the conference and deeply held ethical beliefs of those sponsoring me to attend. I feel doing this best honors them as well. Academics do not get the 5 star treatment that often, if ever, much less to an awesome destination like that. I am still hoping to participate and deliver my address via Skype or some similar platform. Some other mitigating circumstances contributed as well, but in the end, I just couldnt go through with it in good conscience. A sustainable future is impossible without individuals willing to convert opportunities for oneself into opportunities to live the ideals one is committed to - even when it would be so completely amazing to take this opportunity. Malama Aina. E Malama I Ke Kai.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 11:19:02 +0000
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