Saluting Earth

Earth Day has come and gone, but have we really learned from it? There’s a multitude of factors that play into if we’ve really learned anything, but I would have to say unequivocally no.

Just one look at the gas stations around and you can tell, we’re using up natural resources and fossil fuels like there’s no tomorrow. These fossil fuels and such do burn, and last time I checked things that we burn end up in the air. Part of what Earth day is for is to appreciate where we live but the unfortunate circumstance from burning all these fossil fuels is that we’re making that wonderful place where we live uninhabitable.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure to drive through Los Angeles or any other major metropolitan area, you’ll see a great deal of cars sitting idle during rush hour traffic. We rely so heavily on fossil fuels to just sit idle while we’re burning them all away. What if all those cars in LA were converted to Hybrids that, when idling they burn no gas. I’m sure we’d see some improvements in air quality and fuel consumption.

Earth day may not have as great of an impact on people perhaps because many live in metropolitan areas. The sight of nature is few and far between now a day and oftentimes we’re only fortunate enough to come across a small patch of land once in a while in the form of a park. Then there are those lucky enough to live in a coastal region and aside from having to weave your way through the multitude of beach front properties, it’s genuinely a nice place to be…when there isn’t a surf advisory for raw sewage (as we frequently see living in San Diego).

I’m not innocent either; I drive a car like pretty much everyone else when I could be carpooling or taking public transit. I don’t always recycle because it’s not convenient, and the last time I checked I didn’t save any trees by using that fresh white paper to make some great looking airplanes to toss around the office.

So in all we really can’t put the blame on any one person, when it’s everyone’s problem. Earth day is a start, but we should be reliving Earth day every day. Last time I checked good old Earth wasn’t complaining because it wasn’t convenient to have billions of people around. Maybe we shouldn’t complain so much when it’s not convenient to do something out of the way to help Earth out.

If you would like to read more on Earth day check out:

http://www.earthday.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day