This whole environmentalism thing is seriously overrated.
Let me tell you something about our Good Mother Earth.
Earth is 4.6 billion years old. In that time, we have had billions of species come and go. Some have ravaged the planet, whilst others have barely left a mark. This planet has changed topographies NUMEROUS times thanks to tectonic plate shifting. The subsequent earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tidal waves have decimated entire populations. Meteors have bombarded this planet dozens of times, each time wiping out species after species. This earth has hit the reset button several times, and after each calamity has always come out winning, and each time ends up more beautiful.
Nothing we do save for nuclear explosions in the mantle that would blow the planet to smithereens will cause this planet any more damage than she has done to herself. Littering may make the ground unclean, and may make some animals sick, but it's not going to cause a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that kills 1,100,000 people and floors entire megalopolitan centers to the fucking ground. Pissing in the drain isn't going to wipe out the parrotfish. An oil slick in the ocean is not going to kill the planet. I'm not saying we shouldn't maintain our surroundings - in fact, a dirty home breeds disease - but this whole "we have to take care of the mother Earth before anything else" is complete bullshit. In order to function in our established society, you have a lot of things you have to deal with BEFORE you start crusading to save the whales or convert everyone to Wicca or force everyone to eat vegan.
There's a particular bumpersticker that says "Act locally, think globally". Keep YOUR YARD clean. Keep YOUR HOUSE tidy. Keep YOUR FAMILY healthy. Keep YOUR CROPS cared for. Keep YOUR JOB functioning. Keep YOUR INCOME coming. Keep YOUR TAXES paid. Keep YOUR FRIENDS happy. Let everyone else do their part, you do your own, and everyone will get along just fine. The Earth is quite capable of taking care of herself. She's been doing it for billions of years before monkeys started walking on two legs and scraping sticks to start fires.
Sure, it sucks ass that this stuff has to come before this, but that's the way our society works. If you don't like it, then try to change society. That's what Michael Moore's trying to do. His heart's in the right place, but he's wasting his breath on people who frankly are too wrapped up in their own lives to give a damn. So good fucking luck.
In sum, the Earth is plenty capable of sustaining herself. We're insignificant in the greater scheme of things, and we're still at the mercy of the throes of tectonic plate movement and tidal waves and typhoons and comets falling from the sky and all the other colourful stuff you hear about in Ænima.
I'm really sick of people in the post-hippie era whinging about how we don't take care of our environment enough.
It's not our job to domineer the environment. It's our job to live WITH it. And that means living IN it. Let the environment take care of us. I, for one, have rent to pay.
If you got here through a link, click here.