Green - my favorite color!

 One may wonder -What in the world are we doing?  We are beings with insatiable desire to own more of things – irrespective of whatever it is offered in the market. People love to accumulate things, even things that were of no value – knowing that nothing lasts forever. We seek to conquer our world in quest for something new, something different, something unique or something that could rake in money to our pockets.  At the turn of the 20^th century, the pace of change has been accelerating to unbelievable proportions in every sector or our society.  Industrial age is past, easily eclipsed by the information age and now the internet age.  Assets are no longer the usual tangible things we see and feel with our hands, but all the more getting invisible everyday in the web.  The new reality is now virtual, something almost unheard of just a few years past, and all these human activities are throwing setbacks to our dear planet earth. Human activities kept changing, progressing, shifting, and innovating in almost immeasurable speed, but are we really improving?  The prime motive of these endeavour is to make life in this world easier, more fruitful, more productive, better!  Is it getting any better though?  One residual fact is - Pollution!

Despite government measures and strategies of concerned groups to reverse environmental degradation which many believe is now in staggering proportions, there seem to be no change in the business-as-usual attitude of the public majority.   Or could it be just another syndrome comparable to the ‘survival of the fittest’?  I would like to believe that there is an end to the wanton destruction of our planet, the only place we can call home at this point.  Science hadn’t provided us the pleasure yet to choose which planet we wish to inhabit, though that could be another interesting possibility in the near future.  But with the rate of waste production our manufacturing sectors are running, compared to the control measures that world governments are implementing.  There is no way we can reverse this downtrend.  It takes a big leap of change for all mankind to corporately agree and reverse our kind of thinking, followed by keen observance and utmost dedication to re-shape our life-styles, innovate and adopt a healthier outlook and eliminate greed - which is one great factor that fuels all these destructive activities in the name of modernization.

Let’s face it, this physical world is wasting away.  Perhaps no amount of political will can salve its ailing condition.  And even then, will it be enough to save planet earth from self-destruction?  With all our global wastes being generated every day – where will we dump them?  We haven’t developed a waste management that could send garbage to Pluto or even Mars. If that is possible – we simply can not afford the technology yet.  Science is not offering us remedy yet how to neutralize those tons of nuclear materials and wastes stockpiled by some governments.  Science only tells us that it takes at least a thousand years before nature can effectively neutralize a nuclear contaminated environment.  Even if there is a remedy to this, will governments having a hand on these dangerous materials be willing to do and compromise their perceived power for having it in the first place?  Fossil fuels and its derivatives that kept industries rolling, are still in great demand despite the known great contributions to the degradation of environmental current condition.  On top of that, there is no sign of any great move in shifting from this massive use to other renewable energy sources that has been available since time began.  There are of course a pocketful of entrepreneurs venturing into this direction, but it proved even more costly in most cases due to misplaced systems or regulations.  Why won’t governments take a big leap to fully support renewable sources?  Again I saw greed as big contributing factor to this.  Never mind what the next generation will be.  Most of us won’t be there anyway.  Yet, that is not the picture our world leaders are trying to portray.  It’s common to hear them discuss how they cared for our environment and for the generations to come.  They all have a solution to the problem.  Note though that each leader’s solution seem to sound like ‘it’s the only solution’ viable, or could it be – the only solution that would best represent their personal or group interests?  Too much of this hype only lead to people’s indifference, and it’s not doing any good at all.  We become less trusting, less contributing, less caring – we have grown cold.  Worse is that we will not admit it.  Urgent issues do not weigh much anymore, not more than concerns of survival, when the system that was designed to make life a lot easier doesn’t work as it should.  Business as usual!

Is this all only in the mind?  Individually, we probably can do little, but still that will make a lot of difference when taken collectively.  We can at least make a dent, no matter how small it is, by being more responsible citizen of the planet.  It others can’t or won’t, it should not deter us into doing what is right instead of just joining the bandwagon of indifference.  I’d like to believe there is hope, but it has to begin in the mind.  The late American president Abe Lincoln once said ‘what this country need is not a change of men but a change in men’ – I couldn’t agree more.  This is a pressing need specially in issues of global concern such as the environment.  Are we as people groups, inhabitants of this planet - serious enough to take a look and make a step, even a leap of faith – to renew our perspectives for the common good?  Irrespective of affiliations, race, political agenda, religious background, life style or whatever – we all are in the same boat, we call the earth.  We travel together, like or not.  Then we need to stick together, despite the variances, and be counted for the sake of survival.  If we don’t act now, when will be the appropriate time?  Wake up, it will be worth it!