[cdn2wheeler]

A thought came to us last night as some friends and I were discussing the whole concept of subjective reality, and I'd like the group's take on this.

The thesis was essentially this: Nothing exists outside your conscious awareness until you bring it into your consciousness. (That, as I understand, is basically the foundation of SR, though if my interpretation is wrong, please call me on it because I may have it incorrect.)

That said, there is such a thing as a shared SR; the world, gravity & other laws of physics and so forth.

My environmentally-conscious friend said that, in her view, SR had the potential to be extraordinarily damaging to the environment. She explained that if we use a lot of fossil fuels (eg: gasoline) and throw a lot of stuff away, once the fuel is burned and the stuff is thrown out it ceases to exist in our minds and we don't give it another thought. But the green house gas (GHG) emissions and stuff that's thrown out pollutes the shared SR, impacting the rest of the world to a detrimental effect. It may not be in our consciousness anymore, but it still exists in shared SR.

Western societies have been essentially living in this paradigm for years, burning fossil fuels relentlessly and throwing away stuff willy-nilly without giving it a second thought. The result has been a spike in GHG emissions, associated global warming and a sea of garbage.

Then she got up and had another chip with cheese dip, leaving us with question marks over our collective heads.

Whaddya think? Can a literal interpretation of SR be the cause of real environmental degradation?