What will we leave them?
As Earth Day rolls around for 2009, we see a magical unity of people from around the globe with the same ultimate cause to preserve our deteriorating planet. We hear voices of environmental activism in front of congress buildings. We feel the barks of carbon dioxide-absorbing trees as they are planted in parks and public spaces. We smell the sweet & fresh scent of a blooming flower field in Spring time. We taste the crispness of pristine melt water running down an untainted river.
But we are also aware that CO2 levels in the atmosphere are reaching unprecedented levels - 386 parts per million as of April, to be exact. The glaciers from both poles are shrinking at an alarming rate, polar bears are drowning to their deaths in search for food, Southeast Australia is on its 7th consecutive year of drought, farmers are out of a job as deserts expand into their once-arable land, miners in developing nations are dying prematurely from excavating dirty coal, and ironically, Exxon-Mobil just topped Walmart in sales and profits.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people are still oblivious to the well-being of our only host of life. Most of us in the United States live in comfortable lifestyles and have not the slightest clue or interest in worldly happenings. Many of us complain about the smallest distress ruining our Hollywood-scripted-like lives, and play the game of consumerism to the highest levels. We recycle our aluminum cans and think the earth is in good hands.
I don’t care if you are studying business management at Wharton, a lyrical genius with 26’s on your Range Rover Sport, or simply the guy/gal working the 9 to 5 you probably don’t enjoy - let me just make this blatantly clear: your kids and their kids will live their lives constantly trying to clean up the mess we and previous generations will be leaving them. At best, they will question our society at this point in human history about the clear scientific facts available but the lack of immediate rise to action as responsible living organisms on this planet. At worst, they will suffer the consequences of climate change and unsustainable growth – coastal displacement from sea-level rise, famine from nutrient-depleted land and top soil erosion, deathly heat waves followed by massive droughts, species of plants and animals forever lost – just to name a few.
Do we really need to see mandatory water rationing in our local district to start taking shorter showers? Do we really need to see the Great Barrier Reef becoming completely bleached from ocean temperature rise? Do we really need to see drowning Malibu homes, or perhaps another Hurricane Katrina rampaging through another densely populated city before we realize Al Gore hasn’t been lying afterall?
Please watch this 3-minute video:
It’s never too late to start now. Take today as an opportunity before tomorrow becomes a crisis.
Spread the word and love,
Jonathan
