The planet isn't going anywhere; we are

I grew up watching television commercials asking me to pick up litter and recycle in order to save the environment. Mother Earth was crying out in pain because of the decades of abuse by factories, corporations and even people.

Our rivers are polluted, the ozone layer is depleting, the glaciers are melting and the planet is dying. That’s what I got drilled into me as a kid. One of my favorite comedians of all time was George Carlin and he used to say that it’s not the planet that we’re saving…it’s us. If the planet gets polluted and we all die off, guess what? In a million or two million years later, the planet’s still going to be here and probably thanking the heavens to have those annoying humans gone.

I’ve always been an environmentalist, but I’m also a realist. I've talked about fracking and pollution always knowing that the only things in peril are us and the animals we kill. That’s why I have such a soft spot for endangered species. They don’t really have a choice in the matter. They’re simply reacting to the toxins we put into the air and the habitats we’re destroying.

Humanity has destroyed hundreds of species just in the last few hundred years. The very nature of life is that some things end and other new things begin. Humanity wasn't at fault when it came to the decimation of the dinosaurs. There have been countless species that have simply naturally went extinct as adaptation and disasters caused some traits to excel and others to fall away.

There’s a reason why you don’t see settlements of Neanderthals in Arizona. We evolved and adapted, leaving our ancestors in the past. There is little doubt that humanity has scarred the Earth and caused decimation and destruction in its wake. It’s only in the last century or so that we have begun to realize the problems we have caused and sadly only a small population seem to want to rectify it.

We, as a race, are fickle. We want to clean up the environment and go green when it suites us. I've written several articles about the decline in environmentalism since the economy tanked. People are struggling to survive and I don’t blame them for wanting to burn fossil fuels because it’s cheaper. Why should they care about the ozone layer or global warming when people are losing their homes and jobs?

We’re our own worst enemy and assume that we’ll always have tomorrow to fix things. With every generation, the world gets more polluted and our chances of long term survival decrease. We keep hoping that the next generation will clean up our problems, but they don’t. Some will try and will succeed, but the vast majority won’t.

The movie Wall-E painted a pretty good look at our future. It may not happen in 100 years or even a thousand, but eventually the planet is going to become unlivable. The home of the human race for thousands of years will either be abandoned like Wall-E, humanity will adapt to the worsening conditions à la Mad Max or we’ll join our ancestors the Neanderthals.

While the idea of fighting in the Thunderdome gives me a few seconds of thrill, I’m pretty sure that’s it’s not going to be nearly as cool as I think. Do you know what the worst part is? I don’t know how to fix it. The government keeps putting on bandages by limiting emissions and we recycle out plastics, but do you really think that’s going to make a significant impact?

If we are going to have a chance of eventually creating a world where we actually reverse the effects that we've done, then it’s going to be a global effort. Right now, the world is divisive. Israel hates Palestine. Iraq and Iran hate the U.S. and North Korea hates pretty much everyone. There hasn't been a moment in the last 200 years on this planet where there hasn't been battle and conflict somewhere.

We've developed chemical and nuclear weapons, have thousands of gallons of toxic waste just sitting in storage and that’s not going to change. Even if we devastate the human race with nuclear war, the planet will be fine. It’s time to stop trying “save the planet” and remember that we’re trying to save humanity.

Main photo courtesy of ocean.nationalgeographic.com

Inset photo courtesy of popscreen.com