Thoughtlessness - Cause & Effect

I once had a house with wood burning stoves in 3 rooms. We burnt all sorts of wood. It was in a very rural area & wood wasn't difficult to come by. We were very prone to power outages, which often lasted days, so the wood burners that had a hotplate were very useful. We thought we were being very eco.

Now we know that burning the wrong wood risks a fine, the life of your stove, or even a house fire if you burn irresponsibly. https://www.hetas.co.uk/consumer/advice-hub/advice-articles/16-things-you-should-never-burn-in-your-wood-burner/  The main thing to understand is the emissions can be very  harmful, releasing greenhouse gases. Burning wood releases more CO2 for the same amount of heat or energy than fossil fuels like oil or gas. It is not carbon neutral because trees take decades to regrow and absorb the carbon they released during combustion. 

It's cause & effect rather than thoughtlessness. The big problem we have in decision making, whether it's micro / individual, or macro / political & philosophical, is that we need to engage our brains before action. We need to try to look to the whole question of what our actions today might mean for the consequences down the line. But we tend to make decisions that are expedient.

We need to develop creative thinking skills. We need to effectively gather, analyze, & evaluate information to solve problems, make decisions & achieve goals. People need critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, and reasoning in order to understand, apply, and create new knowledge. These skills are crucial for navigating the complex tasks the world today presents us with. 

In order to become people who make good choices & societies that do not push humanity towards oblivion, we need to first recognise that we have made poor choices in the past. Then we need to learn how to be more thoughtful & try to predict the outcomes of our actions & inactions.

We understand what cause & effect means, both individually & societally. But we are not yet prepared to take responsibility for outcomes & change in ways that are difficult. Until we do, thoughtlessness & expediency will take us down a path we really don't want to travel.