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I'm not one of those tree-hugging hippies nor am I a bleeding liberal, but I can't help but look around and notice how we're destroying this planet. We are far taking more than we're giving and there is no way to ever stop it. Even Al Gore with his movies won't be enough. Even if we do all clean up our acts, it's just not gonna happen--all we'd be doing is delaying the inevitable. We're raping this planet mercilessly.

The global warming: it's unstoppable. We're a species dependant on our cars and fossil fuels. Make all the awareness you want, but things aren't going to change. Entire cities have to be torn down and rebuilt to make us less dependant on cars.

I live four miles away from my job. That's considered hella close in SoCal. It's only four lousy miles. A century ago people were able to travel four miles without a car. But even if I wanted to, there's no way I could get to work without a car. If I walked or biked, I would be a sweaty mess by the time I got there. My boss would fire me for showing up to work like a pig. Perhaps I should get a horse.

We have so much waste. I think of the amounts of trash I have as a single person and living alone--I'm surprised by how much I have to discard. Useless, one-time use containers like milk cartons and shampoo bottle--they all end up in the trash eventually. Talk all you want of recycling, but it's not enough. The energy it takes to sort and melt down the materials all contributes to the waste we put on the planet--those factories all need fuel to operate.

I find it appalling to throw away containers. Not 'cause I need them--but because they're such a waste. I buy bottle of peanuts and in two weeks I hafta discard the container. Why? It's a shame because that bottle is still good. I could take it to get recycled but is that really doing any good? Why melt down the bottle to turn it into another bottle? Why can Planters simple reuse it to ship out another batch of peanuts?

Because people won't go for it and it's not profitable.

If a corporation that cuts back on its waste and pollutants only to see cost skyrocket, what affect does that have? Companies hafta make money: shareholders don't give a damn about their ancestors a millennium from now. The company would hafta raise its prices...and people will buy the cheaper competitor.

That's the underling problem: how much can you ask the average individual to sacrifice for the good of the planet? Like me, for example. I hafta look decent at my job. If I biked to work, I'd get fired--a lot of good that would do me.

We have too much built up. Too many societies and civilizations established to change much of anything now. But the end is coming--look around. Think of the car you replace because it's old. The clothes you throw away because they're out of style. The shoes you trash because they're old and don't match. If you ignore that cosmetic aspect, both the shoes and clothes still serve their designed purpose. But you can't possible wear them without getting sneered at. Besides being out of style, they're old and dungy...so they end up in the trash.

Look at all the things you throw away. An old computer because you need a newer one. An ugly couch. An old mattress. If this was the end of the world and all the social norms were eliminated, you'd hold on to these items because they're still serviceable and not replaceable. Perhaps that the biggest problem: all the corporations make everything too replaceable.

So many folks I know replace their functional cars because they "want" a newer one. Why? The old one still works. It's just what we do. Thanks to marketing and ad campaigns, we always want more. Bigger. Faster. Newer. It's like man's mantra (or at least Americans). We're always getting new stuff even though the old stuff works just fine (think redesigning your kitchen). We take and take and take. Even the most caring environmentalist still takes a lot more than they give back. We just can't help it. Society is built that way.

I'm not an expert, but I would think we're gonna run out of fossil fuels sometime over the next century. We have to--look at the rate we're consuming it. Who knows--maybe we're near the end now (which would explain skyrocketing gas costs). Who is anyone kidding--global warming is not a problem for the future...it's already here. Look how the past few summers have been the hottest in recorded history. Look at the larger number of hurricanes and tropical storms.

I really think we're due for some sort of giant collapse in the near future--maybe even during my grandchildren's lifetime. We're gonna run out of trees, fuel, or clean air. Our landfills are gonna overflow. Our icecaps are going to melt and all costal regions will be underwater. It won't happen over night, but something's coming gradually.

Perhaps the end of the world is necessary. It's the only way we could start over.

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2006