Save The Planet? Not Me!

     What annoys me about the whole ‘Save the Planet’  movement is that it’s always left up to the little guy to make all the sacrifices and take most of the blame.  Sure, a lot of people saving their bottles equals a lot of cleaning up, but what about the big polluters, and I mean, the really BIG polluters.  Are they making any sacrifices to curtail their pollution?  What kind of fines are they getting, or are they just getting another slap on the wrist?  Or are they just dismantling and moving their hardware over the border to Mexico, or India, or Vietnam or Bangladesh in order to carry on without interruption?  What about Shell and the mess they made in the Gulf?  What about the Alaska coast and Prince William Sound that is still a mess to this day?  What’s the penalty and why does it continue with business as usual?

     I’m tired of hearing about this dying planet, tired of reading about it, and tired of watching television specials about the ozone layers, the depleting stocks of fish, the rising temperatures, and the darkening horizon.  I’m particularly sick of environmentalists who warn of the approaching Apocalypse.  Let’s get down to what’s really ruining this planet.  I’m on overload from discussions as to how I should take some responsibility and think about what I can do to save the tigers and the whales and the trees and the lakes and the ocean.  And because I’m so sick of hearing about it, I wish those who talk endlessly about it would get in a rust bucket and head out to Antarctica and hit a melting iceberg and sink.

     Here are some ways to save the planet for those who are interested: 

     There are bio-degradable products, green technologies, solar panels, and genetic engineering. There is recycling and reusing.  On the Planet Green website their ideas are creative:  launching sulfur into the atmosphere, orbiting sun shields around the earth, simulated plankton in the ocean, machines that capture carbon, and fleets of yachts that could pump seawater into clouds.  

     What are we doing?

     I don’t see the sacrifices big business makes, but I do see the minor penalties that they’re given compared to the profits that they’re raking in.   It’s the biggest and the worst polluters who are doing this planet in faster than two life loads of both mine and my neighbor’s garbage, and that’s my main criticism.