"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. " E.B. White
I believe very passionately in protecting the environment and everything that she stands for. I hadn’t always felt that way. I don’t want to say that I was ignorant, but rather uninformed. From my youth, I had always been an outdoor person and loved spending time just soaking in the sun on a warm spring day. The smell of freshly cut grass was certainly among my top favorite scents. It wasn’t until an eighth grade research project that I realized what was happening. The whole global warming thing hit me kind of hard and developed an urge to try to do my part. I think that as man gets more advanced, Mother Nature seems to be left out in the dust. She is left to fend for herself, to cry without a shoulder to lean on, to fix her own wounds. We seem unaware as a whole that she even is there. We take her for granted a lot of the time. Eventually she will just give up on us and we will certainly be left with nothing. The Earth is gradually depleting right under our feet, its resources are ailing, its demons are stirring. Call it fiction, call it a hoax, call it a fabrication, or call it whatever you want. However you can only create a false façade for so long before it starts to crack. The facts don’t lie, there is data that shows the Earth is warming, that icebergs are melting, and that species are becoming endangered. I’m not dismissing the people don’t think about the environment and protecting it because I think that there is a lack of proper information. All the information floating about becomes mixed together and people don’t know what to consider as truth. On one end of the spectrum you have people claiming that we are just warming up from the last ice age and on the other side you have the people claiming that we are inevitably doomed. In order to become united against this fight of our generations we need to be on the same page. I think that if more people were open to finding that middle ground we could make a change. Unification leads the path to righteousness.
Nature has sacrificed so much already for us; it is time that we repay a long owed debt. We have used her bounties to better our lives but have hardly done anything in return. We have exhausted her resources, but still try to scrap the bottom of the barrel and pull out even more. She is the foundation for which we live our lives. A brick house would fall apart if it didn’t have cement just like a chair would be useless if it didn’t have any legs. We don’t let those things happen, but yet we are letting the environment slowly fall apart right under our feet? How much is going to take for people to want to start to make a difference? Another couple of cubic miles of ice melted away into the ocean abyss? One more degree? Polar bears becoming endangered? Two more degrees? Winter being limited to a month? Three more degrees? The point that I am trying make is that the time to act is now, that our debt has gained too much interest and it needs paying back.
I think that what kills me inside the most is that it just takes one little thing to make a difference. Just by changing a light bulb to a more efficient kind, you could make a difference. Just by unplugging electronics not in use, you could make a difference. Just by using both sides of a piece of paper, you could make a difference. Although it is unlikely that we can turn back the clock on what has already been done, we can certainly slow down the pace of global warming. People are unaware of the simple changes that they can make in their life to essentially change the world. It makes you feel good knowing that you are doing your part, your duty, to the environment. Nature should not be privileged to have us, we should be privilege to have her. Take charge and make a change. We decide what is left for future generations. Do we want to leave them nothing or everything?
Living life for only the advancement of man is selfish and really benefits no one. If you don’t have a planet to live on, what sense is it to have all the technologies of the world? Global warming would prohibit many new inventions causing them to become obsolete. Flying cars would be pretty cool, but if the ozone is depleted than it would be deadly to fly. It all goes back to having a solid foundation before you are able to go any further. The advancement of man does not rely on the newest technologies, but rather if there will be any place to use them. Our future depends on what we do now and how we will protect what has already been given to us. We need to gain respect and understanding for what we have now, before we can even think about what we can still develop. The hope of our future lies in something 4.6 billion years old.
Save the world, save yourself.
