Earth Day 2012

With our country still reeling from the Great Recession of  2008 it seems that it is once again socially acceptable to exploit the Earth even more, as if  before was not enough, as we are being led to believe this  will create millions of all the new "jobs" in our country which we justifiably do  need. Clearly in this process the increasing of profits and power of the multi-conglomerate corporations will dominate. These soulless organization, that many "open mined" and libertarian Americans prefer today to blindly trust today, rather than a  government agency like...gasp! The EPA. Corporations just live from one earning statement to the next and are pushing forth an agenda that is reckless and short sighted for the quality of  life for humanity and all the other species that exist here.

If we just  think about our own day to day existence and our impact on the Earth  since 1960 each person in our country has increased the  trash they produce from 2.7 lbs to 4.4 lbs. In 2010 this has produced about 250 millions  tons of waste in our country alone. The vast majority of this now sitting in landfills and at the  bottom of the oceans.
That is simply not  sustainable and  guess who created this? The consumerist culture promoted by our "friends" in big business and  Wall Street.

Many of us do not want to even accept the fact that we may be reaching a  tipping point in our own lifetimes due to the over consumption of the world's resources. Half the world Arctic ice has melted alone in the last fifteen years. That is an area about the size of the United States. Right now there is the same amount carbon dioxide in the  atmosphere as there was 6000 years ago when the last Ice Age ended.
Plus with the world's population at over 7 billion today and projected to reach 9.2  billion mid-century our challenges will only magnify.
Sadly they could  reach critical mass.
What can be done you ask?
Many things but it  does start with each of us committing to "downsizing" our own lives.

One of the greatest efforts that could be done all over the world, but  especially here in the States is source reduction. Which simply means stopping waste at the source. This covers all areas of the waste stream from product production with less materials, to extensive recycling, to eating less meat protein, actually conserving energy, and weening ourselves off fossil fuels.
Here is a great link with dozens of beneficial facts that  can  help awaken all of us from the drunken consumer stupor we have been living in the past 100 years.

This quote from Charles Dickens resonates even more so today.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

 

Now get your asses busy kids.

                                   

Photo courtesy of The Verge.com