The other day, I was walking home from class and enjoying the beautiful day. The sun was out, the sky was clear, and the temperature was exactly where you would want it to be. While the sky looked amazing, though, the ground did not. All along the streets I had crossed and walked down on the 20 minute trek home were covered in litter. It really took away from the beauty of the day, leaving me to think about why there would be so much garbage on the ground and a lack of care for the earth in general. I could only come up with one answer: people just don’t care as much as they should.
As much as I wish I could solve the problem of litter and the trashing of our home planet, I know I can’t, and unfortunately I know the powerful people who empathize with my concern can’t fix it either. It’s not that they aren’t trying; it’s that most people really don’t seem to care about it, a notion that baffles me so much.
How could you not care about the planet? The gorgeous and at times surreal parts of nature that govern the homeostasis of the only home we’ve ever known in this universe are something that everyone should care about. What really confuses me is how most people keep their homes clean as a whistle because of the judgment they may face for a dirty home but can’t seem to throw that empty bottle into a recycling bin or even a trash can instead of just on the ground. Whatever happens though, there are really only two logical solutions: everyone goes completely green and recycles and we may just make it out alright or we pack our bags and start looking for a new home to move to.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for intergalactic travel for the sake of the human race (that would be so awesome, who wouldn’t want that right?), but finding a suitable home is tiring and quite difficult. It would be in our best interest, for the time being, to try and save ourselves from ruining the planet we’re already on.
But since we’re all already aware of how badly we’ve treated the earth, why don’t we do something about? Because it’s expensive to be green and eco-friendly, and nobody wants to spend more money when they can get the same results for cheaper. I can understand that. I can’t understand that same logic from big corporations that make so much money they don’t even know what to do with it half of the time. Just change a few things around that will be less harmful to the planet, I’ll be happy and you can still make a ridiculous amount of money. If you don’t though, it won’t matter how much money you have because we’ll be living in a world that looks and works like this.
I know this little rant isn’t going to make any companies change their policies about anything, but I hope it does help people to realize that helping save the earth isn’t really all that hard if we take the time to recycle and buy from eco-friendly companies. If I can’t do it though, then maybe it’s time for a big blockbuster movie about this guy to help get the point across.
