We can all do more
In case anybody was interested, last Saturday, April 22, was Earth Day. Every year it comes, and every year its significance is either completely overlooked or diminished down to, say, a super model (like Gisele Bundchen) posing in a dancer’s stance on a beach in a revealing bikini. Nothing against Ms. Bundchen, she is deservedly considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, however, one would hope for a bit more in terms of coverage (pardon the pun), of this significant day than a woman in a bikini on a beach.
Earth Day may not bring presents like Christmas or chocolate eggs like Easter, but it celebrates the one thing which is at the ground of all our lives, the Earth. Without a healthy, natural environment, it would be extraordinarily difficult to exist at all, let alone thrive and grow as a society. And it’s not exactly like we have been kind the land, air and water which Mother Nature gives us.
Thankfully there is more awareness, and better environmental practices, out there today than in previous generations; but as our footprint grows ever larger across the face of the Earth, due to population increases and the export of First World consumer culture to developing nations, we are in a situation of critical deficit with the natural world. In short, we are taking far more out of the Earth than we are putting back in to it.
This situation, if one believes in logic, can only lead to certain inevitable conclusions: The sterilization of broad swaths of nature and a dirtier, less safe world for all. A world where massive temperature swings are commonplace and a poisoned oceans lap our shores in all directions.
Argue all you want about climate change; believe or believe not, it hardly matters. Climate change is the strawman of little minds. The fact is the human population is growing, our cities are growing, and our energy demands are growing at an unsustainable rate.
In Canada, our population isn’t the issue; it’s our consumption. We use far more than we need. This, unlike some of the countries facing extremely dangerous environmental crises like China with its poisonous air, Brazil with its rampant deforestation, or low-lying island nations where the shores are slowly being consumed by the rising sea, is a fixable problem. We can do more as Canadians to consume less. It is possible, and relatively easy, to make those kinds of changes.
So let’s get to it.