pollution

Every now and then it needs to be injected into human society's stream of consciousness that we live on a planet. And while this planet is round and can seem infinite to our senses when we look around, it isn't. Science remedied that.

Yet, even with the knowledge that the Earth is not infinite, the perception remains. We live in what engineers would call a 'closed system'. Aside from our fledgling efforts in space, what needs to be understood is that what happens on Earth... stays on Earth.

That said, I won't say that mankind is completely at fault for climate change on Earth. What I will say is that we are, at the least, partly responsible. Saying that we are not responsible for how we treat the planet is akin to saying we are not responsible for anything. We claim the Earth as our own, do we not? If we claim ownership, perhaps we should take some more pride in the planet.

Perhaps we shouldn't be logging the Amazon. Perhaps we shouldn't be dumping fluoride and cyanide out of Aluminium smelters. Perhaps we shouldn't be dropping our litter all over the place. Perhaps we should be recycling. Perhaps automotive makers should quit screwing around and working on things that would certainly extend the length of their profitability (at least fail why trying!). Perhaps renewable energy sources should be given more use. Perhaps we could plant a few trees here and there. Perhaps we could take pollution in all its forms - from chemical to noise - seriously and be proactive in minimizing it.

Perhaps.

As Carl Sagan wrote:

Anything else you're interested in is not going to happen if you can't breathe the air and drink the water. Don't sit this one out. Do something.

We homo sapiens tend to think that our opposable thumbs give us dominion over the Earth - and honestly, the fact that we have the capacity to pass along vast quantities of information from generation to generation through written communication is extraordinary. Yet, if the living beings on planet Earth formed a democracy, there is no doubt in my mind that homo sapiens would be a minority. It's possible that the bacteria, viruses and insects might lobby for us - and they are powerful lobbies. Dead species can't vote, so we have it pretty easy there as well.