After reading The Post Script and That's What She Said today, I realized I completely forgot about Earth Hour on Saturday, and as a result, didn't participte.While I try to be earth-friendly everyday, what I've been hearing from some people (even one if my professors), is that the Earth is doomed anyway.
Over the last 50 years especially, with billions of people, millions of cars, mass production, and everyday waste, I'm well aware that we've vandalized our planet.
But it's hard for me to beleive that it can't be saved. Maybe that's not even it; maybe Earth just won't be saved. That I can believe.
No matter how much we recycle, I'm not sure the other two R's are part of the current equation.
We don't want to give up the luxuries, the conveniences, the habits that we've grown up with, even though we know what they're doing. And I'm not talking about idiotic things like leaving the water running full blast after washing your hands, like this one girl I caught in a restaurant bathroom. (I had to turn it off because she just walked out. Who does that?!) No, no. I'm talking about things you're used to and might not even realize.
Have you ever had to take a cold shower because someone else used up the hot water? What about when you go camping and have to skip showers?
Have you ever experienced a black-out and couldn't figure out what to do to pass the time because everything you do and use is electronic?
Have you ever had to catch your own dinner or face going without it?
Do you remember the days before you could drive and had to walk everywhere?
Would you want to do stuff like that all the time? I wouldn't; I'm not going to lie - and those are only a few minor changes. And you can also be damn sure big companies like Coca-Cola and Nike wouldn't want to limit production or their use of third-world labour.
I don't want this to be all doom and gloom, but if we really want to make a difference, we have to do things differently - and that doesn't just mean buying green and turning everything off for one hour a year. But I guess, as they say, you have to start somewhere...
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The Earth is NOT doomed. I know it may seem that way, but there are already technologies being tested to capture the problematic pollutants in the atmosphere today. Not to mention the experiments testing ways to rebalance the atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteThere's so much stuff to read on this topic. Even if skepticism has got the best of you about any current efforts, something tells me the billionaires don't want the world to end. If there's a will, there's a way -- especially when the (extreme) vast majority of humans don't want the world to end.
Of course no one WANTS the world to end. But it's hard to be positive when experts in the field are telling you it will.
ReplyDeleteOn that note, thanks for the more encouraging comment!