I was thinking about what to write about. I pondered with talking about the Tasmanian Devil (because it's endangered) but I will save that for another time. I haven't read many environmental books lately and projects to help the environment sound really cliche, or at least the ones I come up with. Rather, as the title suggests, I will simply reveal my musing on the subject of the environment.
Some people don't like nature. Or rather, they are not educated enough to know the truth and therefore, claim they don't like the environment. (If only they knew we wouldn't be living like we are today with the environment providing for us day and night). But, most people (at least somewhere in their hearts) like nature. They smile when they see wildlife, at least when they see the cute fuzzy animals and the intense breathtaking creatures like tigers and bears. However, it's how much people care about nature where the lines get hazy. People like it, they like what they get from it, but they aren't willing to do anything in return for mother nature. I simply don't understand it. How, how on earth, can people that claim to love nature, and still go along with the treacherous and evil acts that humans push upon the environment every day. Even if these 'nature lovers' don't support what is occurring to mother nature, they aren't doing anything to help her. It's like watching a bully beat up a kid for his lunch money and then say how awful it is, the bully should be punished. Well, you didn't do anything, so you are just as bad as the bully.
I'm not that great of an example for environmental lovers, but I try. Yes, I'm in high school and I have come to terms that my schedule does not permit me to really make a huge difference. I can make small differences in my community and possibly other communities but nothing major. But you see, I want to become a conservation biologist. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I think that's a good step for me to repay mother nature. Basically what I'm trying to say is if you love nature, do something to help it. If you, for whatever reason can't, simply refrain from saying I love the environment (because, in most cases, if you can't do the simple things to help, like recycling your plastics and newspapers, you do not have much respect of love for nature. Maybe that is harsh, however, it's, put simply, annoying to go throughout my life, especially in school, and be surrounded by people that like hiking, like the earth's creatures, like everything about nature but can't walk ten feet to put their bottles in the recycling.
What brought up this idea in my mind is the recent developments in the tar sands in Canada. They want to to construct the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. First of all, tar sands are messy. Utilizing and processing tar sands is one of the dirtiest actions in all of the energy realm. It's terrible for the surrounding area, it destroys vast amounts of land and kills ecosystems. The pipeline will disrupt and probably destroy at least 1700 miles of United States land. The environment will be tainted, animals will lose their homes, be killed in the process, plants will be disturbed and trees cut down, water supplies will most likely become polluted from run off and direct pollution from the construction. The list goes on and on about why this is bad. There have been many rallies, protests, etc against this construction. People know it's affects, they know what it will cause yet the question is still up in the air whether it will be built. I was listening to a pro-keystone XL person on TV last night and I just wanted to scream at them and smack some sense into their head. He kept repeating how this will be a cheap way to get oil, how it won't do much harm, and more lies. To my astonishment, the State Department announced that this construction will NOT have a major environmental impact. What? Are you kidding me? It's one thing to want this (stupid) pipeline, it's another to blatantly lie! This, this is what annoys me every single day and it kills me to not be able to do anything.
But alas, I will cease my ramblings here, or else risk going on forever :)
Random picture time:
(baby Sumatran rhino) I think it's one of the cutest things ever
Baby Pygmy hippo
Slow Loris! (I actually got to see one the other day at a sanctuary)
I could just keeping going and going with all the amazing, cute and endangered species pictures. But, my point is, wouldn't you want to save the earth just to see these creatures living peacefully? I sure would.
I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ
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