Will We Succumb To Our Own Lifestyle?

When we speak of the amount of waste that we produce as individuals on this planet, it should not be limited to the topic of recycling our paper products, plastics, and metals rather than having them sit in a landfill for hundreds of years to come. Our waste as individuals goes way beyond this point, and each of us needs to get ahold of ourselves and pull together as a team in order to make a difference in our environment - the environment that we will give to our children and our grandchildren when we pass on.

Horror stories of industrial and agricultural wastes are well documented throughout the literature. We already know and understand that carbon fumes are heating up the atmosphere, causing havoc with the climates around the world. We know that dumping toxic chemicals into our waterways are killing off the wildlife and seeping into our drinking water. But, did you know that you and I cause more problems for the environment than industries do with all their bad reputation for environmental apathy?

When we talk about the environment, we must necessarily include wildlife into the equation. Our world is built upon a delicate balance where anything that affects one species ripples down and across the board to affect all others. Our global environment is made up of thousands of different species that all affect each other and, in turn, have an impact on the environment, as well. And, since man has been introduced onto the planet, more species are facing extinction than at any other time in the history of the earth.

Look at all the little things that we do that have a hand in destroying our environment by killing off wildlife, poisoning our atmosphere, and tainting our drinking waters. Very little of our actual waste gets recycled. Instead, the plastics and metals sit in the landfills to become boobie traps for curious wildlife who ingest bits and pieces or get entangled in our garbage to die of starvation. Do we stop from buying food and drink in packaging that is hazardous to the environment and its inhabitants becauseof our concern? Commercial packaging of store-bought items are not likely to change until we MAKE it change by refusing to buy items that are not environmentally-friendly.

The cigarette butt that you pop out of your mouth to discard on the roadside will stay there for two years without degradation. Glass will last for decades and metal for nearly a century. Does that stop us from littering? Pesticides and fertilzers that we spread on our lawns and gardens blow in the wind and spread out to where they were never meant to go - and finally to seep into the earth and its groundwaters. Does that stop us from spreading it on our lawns and gardens to make the neighbors green with envy when they see how lush our grass is and how big our flowers get? Do we stop and think about how much of those chemicals are getting into our drinking water? While humans can filter those waters before gulping them down, the wildlife is condemned to drink contaminated waters and to die a horrific death. Do we care enough to stop putting those chemicals down and spreading them out to poison our wildlife and to eventually let our own children drink?

We are doomed by our own gluttony. We want until we cannot fit what we want into our lives any longer, and then we throw it away. For all the wants we have, more "things" are manufactured by industries, pouring out their poisons into the lakes and streams. But, is the environmental demise the sin of our industries - or is it the sin of us who want much more than we need?