Working For The Environment Is Semi-Pointless

Since it seems that even using alternatives to help the environment still doesn’t really change the fact that one day all the resources will dry up right? So in a way it's kind-of pointless. Not saying people shouldnt help the environment just in a way it's pointless.

 

It's not pointless. But it is naive to think that by attacking symptoms (driving clean cars, recycling, eating organic, etc.) we are going to save the planet.

 

it's kinda along the same lines as:

getting out of bed in the morning is semi-pointless because at the end of the day i'll end up right back there.

working for the environment can result in an increased quality of life for human beings. there needs to be more education about the interconnectedness of things. healthy environment= healthy people, sick environment=?

 

Well I'm not saying it wouldnt have a great impact on the planet just that in the long run no matter what if we keep the planet in good shape or not one day the sun will go out.

 

Looked at in that way, life itself is pretty pointless. But given that we're here, we might as well make the best of it...

 

You could indeed say life is pointless. Just as the day is the shitty bit you have to get through before going back to bed, you might see life as the shitty bit between being born and dying. You might see it like that. Or you might not....

 

I like to use the metaphor that a friend of mine from the Peace Corps does: If you are standing on the side of a river filled with drowning infants, you are going to try to rescue as many as you can, even though you can not save them all, you will have saved some. I know that is a bit gruesome, but it really applies here and to many other aspects of life.. You have to do what you can.

 

In relation to this topic...

My boyfriend and I had a chat the other day while watching An Inconvenient Truth and he brought up that he felt that all humans are is a virus and we basically came here and raped the earth, slowly, over time and as technology advanced it's gotten worse (this is me summing up his views). He feels like he'll do his little part whenever he feels fit, but in the end to him, Global Warming is something that is inevitable no matter what we do, as scientifically, this type of thing has been proven to have happened before (the ice age) without human help.

He had a point and it scared me because I have the thought process of "Every little bit counts no matter what" and always will really...his perspective on the topic kinda shattered me for a second. I do believe that no matter what being informed and trying our hardest to prevent something this huge should be a number one priority, but in general it's been proven time and time again that people have to be personally affected by something before they seem to care enough to change things..
For example, millions of people in New York (as an example) would have to be flooded out of their homes due to the effects of Global Warming before any sort of change were to occur that had any true meaning, and by then it'll be far too late.

I was wondering what other people though about this...I'm just sort of going on a tangent right now lol, throwing some ideas out there...I don't mean to be a downer!

 

Well, historically it was the agricultural revolution--the invention of the plow--that spurred on the type of industrial society that takes and does not give. Before that, people lived quite well with the earth. Ever heard the story of Cain and Abel? Cain was a part of the society that takes, and hoards food, and has an uncontrolable, unbalanced population. They grew to the extent that they slaughtered Abel's people (who were largely nomadic herders). Capitalism is brutality in the name of greed. It's hard to respect the environment when we're so full of greed.

 

i think it has to be a personal effort.. not everyone is gonna feel the same way obviously but if you feel strong enough about it you will make the effort to use alternatives and what not.