"Attachment
to the annual obsolescence of the Gregorian calendar has
become more of luxury than when use began in 1582. The
Earth’s population is more than ten times larger
now. Converting to a perpetual calendar is one way to
be cleverer with our shared resources. The decision really
comes down to whether simplifying, and therefore calming
daily life is more important than unnecessarily transforming
the calendar each year.
--Wayne
Edward Richardson
Director
The World Calendar Association
|
|
|
It
might not be possible to know how many Gregorian calendars are
printed each year. At year end, some are saved for the written
notes on them. When they're saved for the pretty pictures they
include, that implies that the calendar would have hung around
another year or decade or more had it not so quickly become
obsolete. We don't change our clocks because the format expires
and we should stop accepting without question that calendars
are necessarily any different. Replacing one calendar copy with
a new copy simply because the year changes is nonsense.
It's
easy to conclude that humans play some part in global warming.
While that debate continues, what obvious waste can we avoid
to minimize negative impact on the environment? Simple
awareness that billions of people discard one or more calendars
every year should be enough to put calendar reform on ecological
MUST DO lists! The win-win of The World Calendar is
that it is both Earth-friendly and user friendly.
Imagine
turning down someone's annual advertising project because you
don't like it any better than the one already on the wall. Or
imagine people still using the calendar you published years
ago. And imagine only agreeing to acquire another calendar because
you want one in another room or office. Imagine billions of
reusable calendars and the energy not wasted when reusing them
year after year after year.
Among
proposals to address rising fuel prices, it may be still too
early to tell if any are real solutions. Many of them involve
waiting on someone else to decide or decide to act. The World
Calendar in 2012 is a way anyone can help today and everyday
by sharing the anticipation and expectation of this future event.
The results obviously will not be immediate, but neither will
they occur at all without a tremendous amount of awareness.
That takes time and preparation and, for worthwhile goals, counts
for as much as stepping over the finish line. Even without the
ability to recognize all potential benefits before the change
is in place, is there any other project can you become personally
involved with today that will positively impact more people
and your own life as well? Any little bit better management
of resources resulting from calendar reform times six billion
people times many years beyond 2012 really adds up.
|