The Environmental Roadblock

Most people, when hearing the news of a company tearing down a tract of rainforest, would cry out in protest. Images come to mind of thousands of acres of trees being cut down, wildlife running desperately for life, streams being polluted in the wake of the machines causing such carnage, and a public outpouring of sympathy would follow. To hear of environmental devastation evokes compassion in most people, and many of them will fight to prevent such a thing.

Every day we hear of bills going to congress on clean coal technology, protecting endangered species, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, climate change, pollution, and many other environmental issues. Millions of dollars are poured into creating such change or preventing it. Mostly, we know that preserving and protecting the environment is the right thing to do.

But at what point do we really fight for it? I’m a huge environment proponent, but I admittedly do several things I could stop doing to really help the planet. I have increasing anger for the practice of mountaintop removal (for those not familiar with mountaintop removal, it’s a process where the entire top of a mountain is stripped of trees and blasted off, or removed, to extract coal to keep our electricity flowing) and the environmental devastation it causes as well as the serious health risk posed for residents around such operations. Yet, this post is coming to you from my laptop, plugged into my outlet, underneath an electric lamp, as I watch TV and listen to the TV on the stereo plugged into it. In the corner, my roommate’s snake basks under its heat lamp, and I sit cross-legged on my couch in my comfortably heated home, eating soup heated on my electric stove.

In an ideal world (well, at least mine) we would live in houses we built ourselves, tending to our own personal gardens, hunting for our own meat using natural tools, under natural light or candle light, cooking over fires and being completely self-sustainable. Not to mention our population would be reduced by several billion because of smart, voluntary population control.

This is not an ideal world. Humans are ever prevalent and will continue to be. Most, if not all, of us will not be able to give up what luxuries we have in order to prove a point. We have come to rely on technology, transportation, mass-farming practices, electricity, and convenience to get us through life. And why shouldn’t we? We as humans have the capabilities of creating these things, why not embrace our intelligence?

Let’s revert back to the ideal world situation. The houses we built must be made by wood from trees we must cut down. Our garden plots must be made by clearing even a small portion of land. Many of the vegetables and fruits we’ve come to know and love today are some sort of genetic manipulation and do not occur naturally. These gardens might even give way to future exotic, invasive species. Our candle light must be made by some type of wax, which would involve the exploitation of bees. Ways to counter disease would be sought after, starting the medical and pharmacology industry. The point I’m trying to make here is that our ancestors did start here at one point. The growing population gave way to these new technologies and more land to be cleared, making way for bigger and better things. No matter where we start from, it will inevitably lead to the same point.

I’m not saying that this technology will save us, or that our human nature is an excuse for the state we leave the world in today. Our gross waste of nearly everything has put us in a pollution nightmare across the globe. Our growing technology leads to greenhouse gas emissions that threaten our climate to possibly catastrophic conclusions. We are in danger of losing our natural resources, which no one can ignore is very finite.

The problem here is how we curb this very severe problem. It’s unrealistic to think that humans can change 360 degrees and stop waste altogether. Our growing population demands more energy use, and that means more coal. If it’s not coal, it’s wind turbines with a threat to avian creatures, or solar panels which will only work when the sun is out. Nuclear power is the next option, which is a serious health and pollution problem. No matter what we choose, any “solution” will lead to the use of some sort of natural resource and not be 100% foolproof.

The unfortunate thing is that one would think the technology we’ve amassed so far would find a way to remove the waste we’ve amassed, to solve our problems, allow us to keep this planet living for longer and more naturally. It seems that human compassion has left those who are in every position to get a head start on these possible solutions, and instead replaced with greed, indifference, and ignorance. What energy that could be used to turn the world around instead fuels the drive for bigger, better, and more profitable. Some even say that more people in the world would be the best thing to happen to us; the more minds on the earth, the more possibility of developing a magic solution to cure the world’s ills.

Politics play a big role in how our environment and planet survives underneath our growing population and technology. Economics is a very close second, if not first. As people continue to inhabit this earth, our resources to continue living must come from somewhere. We argue that we shouldn’t drill in the ANWR, yet there is no doubt in our minds that we need oil to make the gas for our cars or the plastics that we’ve come to depend on. Our increased dependence on foreign oil is something we all agree we need to curb, yet we also don’t want to destroy a wilderness to get a few million, finite gallons of oil to satiate our consumption. It raises the question: why do we care about this wilderness? Does the wilderness, that relatively few people ever trespass upon, have any direct effect on us? Isn’t it true that the oil underneath the wilderness is more useful to us, as humans, than the plants and animals within it? This goes into an entire philosophical debate that could take pages and pages to ponder, but it’s something to think about.

There’s no denying that humans are here to stay, and that our needs have to be met. No one is going to volunteer him or herself in order to reduce the population to stop the exploitation and consumption of resources so that fifty years from now we’re not all in some serious trouble. We all recognize this problem; yet in a sad twist of fate can do almost nothing about it. People recycle mostly for the “feel good” factor, to feel like they’re doing something good for the planet, when in reality it’s a very, very small piece of the puzzle. It’s a rather daunting scenario and difficult to tackle. It’s this frame of mind that fuels the bigger corporations and companies to exploit every resource possible.

There is no simple solution to any of this. I’m not suggesting that our exploitation and resource use is OK by any means. We, as humans, have become disconnected and greedy. The earth is no longer about balance towards all things on this planet, but solely on the human race. We desecrate land in order to support ourselves without regard to other organisms that might depend on it. We’ve not only eliminated all competition against our resources (the removal of predators against deer, for instance), but we’ve begun to turn on our own kind. While people in big corporate or political offices are shouting phrases like “drill, baby, drill”, people suffer and die from lack of adequate food, water, or housing. Plants and animals critical not only in each other’s food chains, but ours, are disappearing and becoming extinct at rapid rates due to our expansion and destruction. How much or how long will it take before we reach our limit and realize we’ve gone too far? Can we really rely on technology to pick up the slack once we’ve destroyed everything? It is these natural places, these plants, animals, and natural phenomena that keep us as humans inspired to look at more than just ourselves, beyond just the human race. It seems to me no coincidence that those of us in the life sciences are more compassionate, more willing to help out each other and other organisms while those who are money-interested are self-involved and only look within.

So what do we do? We can’t focus on what we’ve already done; that ship has sailed, and we can’t change the past. Yes, we need to reduce our waste, but we also need to find a way to convert what waste we’ve already made into something usable. The earth won’t be able to support us forever, no matter what technology we might depend on to save us. Eventually humans will discover their carrying capacity, and we need to be prepared to deal with the consequences and handle our mistakes. How we go about doing that is no easy answer.

A Commercial Society

“Now you can wash your car tires with ease! Watch as it cleans this dirty patio chair in seconds!”

“We loved our back patio, but the sun was just so hot that it was unbearable to be out there.”

“Stinky, stinky, stinky, stinky, stinky, stinky! Now you can keep unwanted odor in!”

“Just wear this device and you can get a workout even at your desk. Have great abs in days!”

I’m sure you’ve heard at least one or more of these commercials recently. They all have something in common. Most of them provide some type of service to counter the inconvenience of doing something else in a much faster way.

Our society has become full of lazy people who have disconnected themselves from the real world. The first commercial is for a power washer. It shows images of this power washer spraying water at full force at a tire rim, blowing the dirt off, and a patio chair, also at full force, blowing the dirt off. Both objects could have been cleaned with a bucket of water and a sponge and used much, much less water. It’s almost sad to see this commercial advertising perfectly good drinking water (in most cases) being sprayed at full force to clean something off, when people in Haiti, after the earthquake, are desperate for clean drinking water. What a gross waste of water. We also have the luxury of wasting millions of gallons of water a day to flush only a few ounces of waste per person down the toilet. Automatic toilets are great for people suffering from some sort of mysophobia, but in the long run, something that could put us into serious trouble.

The second commercial is for the Sun Setter patio covers. This commercial acts as if the sun is an inconvenience to us, and that it’s the sun’s fault that they built their patio in the direction of the open sun. So instead of doing the environmentally friendly option of maybe planting a tree to garner shade in that spot, or go out during certain parts of the day, or even use a better planning strategy, it can all be fixed with harmful plastics and an unnecessary coal-using electric option to open the shade for you! How convenient. Then he goes on to mention that the Sun Setter can protect you from the sun’s harmful rays (thanks, Liam, for reminding me of this part)… if you were worried about the sun’s harmful rays, why did you even plan on building a patio to enjoy yourself outside? You might as well just stay in the house and save yourself thousands of dollars, especially if you’re going to bitch that it’s too hot outside. Poor you.

The third commercial is for a new type of Hefty bag. It blocks odors without being scented. Again, our waste has become a huge inconvenience to us, even though we’re the ones making the waste. The commercial shows various stinky-makers, including chicken legs, fish, vegetables, diapers, and other such items that can either be A.) recycled after getting rinsed out B.) eaten completely and not wasted (and if you don’t eat it completely, deal with your own consequences of being wasteful) C.) composted, or D.) usable by an alternate method (cloth diapers still exist, people). We throw away so much garbage it’s ridiculous. How much do we waste? Here is a video of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM and some images of hundreds of albatross chicks that die every year due to such garbage: http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=11 Ironically enough, as I went to search for the YouTube movie of the garbage patch, a popup ad came up for Hefty trash bags.

Commercial number four is for that ab workout belt you can wear that sends electrical pulses through the belt to work your muscles, as you do absolutely nothing but sit there. This is on top of the diet pills and the “fast results” diet plans, lap bands, and pills that have exploded on today’s market. Our laziness has become the epitome of waste. Instead of going outside and jogging, or even taking a walk in the park, the woods, or some sort of natural piece nature, we’re destroying nature in mountaintop removal processes that provide the coal to power your lazy-belt.

These services and items are made for our American, lazy convenience. While I realize it’s not possible for every American to stop what they’re doing and become super-environmental, products like these are completely unnecessary. I’m reminded of the scenario played out in the Pixar movie Wall-E, where everyone has evolved to have everything done for them. While I realize it’s a little far-fetched, it’s also not beyond the realm of possibilities. Every day a new product or piece of technology comes out in order to make our lives simpler or to do things for us. With the mass production of meat and vegetables, we’ve become dissociated from what really occurs in the real world. Most women nowadays would scream if they had to be self-sustainable and get their hands dirty by creating a garden, and if we had to kill our own animals for food, there would be far less omnivores in this society. However, our enthusiasm (or lack thereof) to actually participate in change will be covered in my next blog. For now, I ask that you please do the responsible thing and not give in to these products, because you’ll be jogging (or using your Segway?) the downhill path along with the planet.

Independence: A Dream

I had another dream last night. My dreams recently seem to be taking a storyline-type feel to it, which is intriguing since my dreams are normally quite random and discontinuous. There are random elements in this dream, but generally it stays together. Here goes:

I am a slightly younger girl, given a cute, quaint, pale yellow house in Florida, all to my own, with a garden surrounded by a fence in the back yard. I go to a college near this house. I narrate throughout my dream. This girl I am is a very confident, self-oriented person. She depends on no one but herself and is very outgoing.

At this new school, I begin a swimming class. I change in a wooden locker room (it much resembles a sauna, with individual rooms to change in with triangular benches built into the corner) and then go out into the hallway to go to class. My swimsuit is one piece and black, but for some reason I wear my orange underwear over the swimsuit. I don’t dream about going to the swimming class.

Next I find myself at a magazine rack in the school, and I am dressed normally. I see a famous man-- I think he is a musician-- on the front cover of a popular magazine. I look up to see him browsing the magazine rack as well. I don’t swoon or get excited; I don’t care that he’s a celebrity, but he is very attractive (by my dream self’s high standards). His hair is long and spiky and dyed various shades of black and white. I talk to him and ask if he wants to hook up. He says yes. At this point I narrate that since I acknowledged him and liked him, that I must have him. I was successful.

I go back to the locker room to change and find a muffin underneath the triangle bench in the corner by the wooden post underneath it. I eat a piece of the muffin and decide it’s pretty good. Suddenly a dog comes out from behind the post where the muffin was, impossibly hidden, like some kind of cartoon character. He is a very large, long-haired yellow lab-type dog, and he can talk, similar to that of Dug the dog on the movie “Up.” I share the muffin with him as he talks to me. I casually mention that it probably wasn’t a good idea to eat some random muffin, and it was probably poisoned, and we laughed about it. The dog was quite articulate, again, like Dug in “Up.” I decide that he is a good dog and take him home. It is then that I learn his name, appearing in text below him: “Belmont Washington III.”

I go home in my nice car (also provided to me) and park. I go to the back garden and notice that the wind has picked up and it’s dark outside. I pay no mind and continue to work in my garden. The view switches the behind the stupid kids that live next to me, who are looking down at me and my garden from their high ledge/cliff, with worried looks on their faces. I don’t like these kids. They know a hurricane is coming and are worried I’ll get in trouble instead of looking at my garden and seeing how awesome my garden is. They run off for cover as the hurricane gains strength but I’m not worried at all and continue to work in my garden through the storm. I wake up here.