With all the horrible things that divide the people of the world, it’s vital to remember the one commonality that binds us ¾ we all call planet Earth our home. Yes, this is a simple concept, but sometimes simplicity is the best way to cut through the bullshit and address what it is that we need to focus on to make things right.
Earth Day is April 22, and it’s an occasion for us all to realize that the most dangerous threat facing mankind is the death of our planet. We must not treat this as a single-day acknowledgement of a universal issue; that would be like inventing a holiday in February where you’re supposed to tell the one you care about that you love them.
Save that trivial “Hallmark holiday” crap for minor things like Boss’s Day! This is the fate of our planet, and we’ve got to act now if we plan on sticking around.
Some politicians like to down play the seriousness of Global Warming ¾ the artist formally known as Climate Change ¾ but therein lies the problem. There’s no denying that the earth is dangerously polluted, so we must not waste time arguing over how factual “An Inconvenient Truth” really was.
Al Gore didn’t invent the Internet, and he sure as hell didn’t invent Global Warming.
The New York Times reported that “as ever larger amounts of carbon dioxide have been released along with the development of industrial economies, the atmosphere has grown warmer at an accelerating rate: Since 1970, temperatures have gone up at nearly three times the average for the 20th century.”
Of course this leads to changes in the environment, as polar ice caps are melting and are causing the sea levels to rise at an alarming rate. Many argue that it creates unstable weather conditions as well, like the devastating Hurricane Katrina that hit the Gulf Coast in 2005.
The bottom line is we must stop thinking politically about this life or death situation; we’ve got to put our heads together and stop treating our home like a massive waste dump.
The “green” cliché seems largely to be a marketing tool for businesses to promote themselves as environmentally friendly, so consumers must do the research and make decisions that are less traumatic to the Earth. It doesn’t take a genius to see that driving a Hummer in a three-person family wastes fuel and emits unnecessary amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Ditching your car and riding a bike is another great way to reduce pollution. Bringing your own bags to the grocery store also reduces waste.
Think about how many plastic bags you throw away after you go to the supermarket; can you imagine how much it would help our environment if we all stopped relying on those stupid pollutants?
Even going the extra mile and researching the energy use of electronic devices would be a productive way to help our environment.
According to The New York Times, “Computers, for instance, can be manufactured to use less power, but with most users oblivious to energy efficiency when they are shopping for a computer, manufacturers perceive no competitive edge in spending the extra money on efficiency.”
The only ‘green’ that many corporations are concerned about is the money in their pockets. We can change this by demanding only environmentally sound equipment. The power of the almighty dollar seems to reach many businesses more than the possibility of a global meltdown.
When all is said and done, how much money one makes means nothing if the earth is destroyed. What’s our priority?