Ironically, the importance of environmental protection seems to be a very partisan issue. This really shouldn't be the case. The desire to protect our planet should be on everyone's agenda, not just one political party or the other and not for the reasons you would think. Although saving an endangered species or protecting a really important and unique habitat is awesome and a totally valid and important reason to support environmental protection for me, these aren't the reasons that connect with a large group of citizens and political leaders. But there is a very important fact about our planet that I think we tend to overlook or take for granted.
We need the Earth, the Earth doesn't need us.
For those that don't see the importance of protecting the environment just for the sake of preserving our beautiful planet and all its creatures, you're missing the bigger picture. Environmental protection is about us, too. We cannot exist without the resources that only this planet is known to provide, and regardless of what we do here, whether good or bad, this planet will continue to exist once the human race is dead and gone.
Earth is incredibly resilient and always changing. In one hundred years, one thousand years, or even one million years the planet will continue to spin and provide life whether we choose to protect it or not. The real question is whether or not the human race will continue to exist if we choose not to protect the resources we so desperately depend on. The planet isn't at risk, our way of life is.
Protecting the Earth and promoting sustainable use of its resources, few of which are genuinely renewable, is a job much larger than any one person can address. Yes, your personal lifestyle decisions can have a positive impact, but those impacts will be drowned out if you are surrounded by thousands who are not making lifestyle choices that reflect the will to protect the environment. Significant, positive change can only come from the will of the majority and if we are to convince that will to include principles of environmental protection, we have to change our message.
Environmental protection isn't just about restoring the rainforests or saving a charismatic endangered species or slowing the impacts of climate change. It's about protecting the human race. It's about ensuring that our grandkids and great grandkids will have access to the resources that all of our societies are based on. It's about making sure that humans aren't a critically endangered species 1000 years from now. If you can't get behind environmental protection for any other reason, at least get behind it for the slightly selfish reason of ensuring the survival of our way of life.
