Purity

There truly cannot be anything more honest and more pure than nature. The patterns on leaves can't lie to you, a butterfly can't really corrupt your mind. Which is why it boggles the mind to think about all of the people who don't give a second thought to what they're doing when a fast food bag is thrown out of the car, or a pile of paper is tossed away instead of being recycled, or even when that ant pile is scattered in the park.

Why do we care so much for our pet dog that we feed him food off of our own tables, or spend thousands of dollars a year on his care, yet we disregard that our purchase of certain goods is causing the devastation and death of wolves and bears and beavers and pretty much any animal that pops up in your head right now. You argue that humans are not directly responsible for this mess, that we need these goods to survive, but let's be honest. We need food, clothing, and shelter. We need a purpose of some sort. We need love. We don't need so much of the excess in our lives. And you may argue that in order for an economy to function, there must be consumerism. But is an economy based on waste and rapid consumption of nonrenewable fuels worth supporting? And will my personal avowal to waste less money on material goods and instead travel or cook well or donate to charities destroy our economy? Not really. In fact, consumerism grows every year, but the economy gets grounded in more debt every year. Preserving the environment doesn't doom any person to failure, but it dooms so many of those plants and animals that would definitely still be around if not for people wanting to get bigger and better and richer and control more and more of the earth.

 Instead, environmentalism would improve air quality (not even talking about global warming, but just the purity of the oxygen you breathe every second), improve the appearance of cities and countryside alike (yeah, that road trip might actually be kind of pretty), and how can you claim that the appearance of wild animals thriving isn't absolutely thrilling? Maybe I'm an idealist, maybe I don't have all the facts, but just watching the waste grow, and seeing how it is directly harming the earth and really not doing much to even improve the status of so many people who are dying from lack of basic necessities is quite depressing.

 We all care about how the earth was made, but do we ever think about how the world is going to look at the end? Don't you think that the final judgment, whatever it may include, will include looking at the world and seeing whether humanity made it a better place, a beautiful place, or an ugly, dirty place? There's nothing that proves the character of a man or woman better than the place they live in; you'd never date someone living in filth and waste. Yet, look at the world. It is possible to use the earth and mine its resources and clear some land without making it look ugly. Ugly is bad. Ugly is undesirable. Ugly is even evil.

Forget your stupid gas-sucking car. Forget your double cheeseburger fix. Forget your super 'fun' hunting trip. Remember that everything you have comes from the dirt. And try to give back a little bit. You don't have to only buy organic produce or check the labels on every shirt to make sure it wasn't made in a factory run by child workers. But please, realize what you throw away. Do you really need a bag for that one item? Go bird-watching, or take a hike. Fall in love with nature again, as you loved nature when you played with those rolly-pollys bugs in kindergarten or watched a cocoon form in second grade science. Tell me why the earth has to be subjected to human negligence.