The earth is in pain

The earth is in pain.

But hardly anyone notices. We’re too busy feeding, taking, and stealing.

Bags for instance. What about the campaign against taking plastic? Cashiers keep giving. Perhaps the recession has made stores more competitive as they try to up their customer service. “Give the bags, just give, give!!” the businesses say, “the customers will appreciate it, in fact, they will come back for more”. And we, the poor, unsuspecting, voiceless people are being victimized – we have no choice as the friendly and over-enthusiastic store assistant places every item into a separate bag and shoves them in our face. It’s embarrassing, and not to mention way too much hassle, to take these items out of the bags to carry them in our hands, or even place them into one of the many other plastic bags we are already carrying. The choices we have to make, the effort we have to spend. Give us a break already.

We live in a society where it is all about the individual. It belongs to ME, it is MY right, I do what I want to do and there is not a chance that I will back down for anyone else, especially not for some silly planet. I have a right and I will use it.

Recycling? Completely unfashionable. Do you expect me to keep all this used paper and walk all the way over there to place it in a recycle bag? What do I get back for all that extra leg energy I spend? What will other people around me think? That I care for the environment? No way.

And the zoos and animal parks keep preaching their 3R message during every show – Reuse, Reduce, Recycle. The audience has heard it all before and they have their own 3R response – right, right, right. We were walking in the bird park aviary the other day and an empty drink bottle was floating in the pond with the ducks and swans. So much for that.