I Saw The Light.....and it isn't pretty....

"If every home in the U.S. put in one compact flourescent light bulb....the savings in greenhouse emissions would be wiped out by fewer than two medium-sized coal plants. The kind of plant that is being build in China at a rate of one a week" the headline stated.

What are we expected to do next if anything at all. The environment has been a concern to me over the last few years and it's slow destruction. I will talk about it a lot, although, rather ignorantly. I do feel an obligation to future generations that they may have an opportunity to enjoy the earth's beauty as I have. Changing my light bulb will have no impact. I have purchased recyclable bags to take with me to the grocery store but realize the number of plastic bags I would normally use in a week pales in comparison to the number of diapers that end up in land fill. I don't have a car and walk to work and use public transit to get around. I live in 700 square feet so I am not heating and cooling a large home. I actually live well below my means. And none of it matters globally. At least I have the knowledge that I am not a grotesque contributor to the problem and make my best attempts to improve the scenario however small it may be.

The answer. I think it is too late for the answer of trying to reverse the affects. Developing countries like China and India do not have the ability understand why they should cut their living standards and deny their kids better health care or schools when we in North America also show little interest.

Parents still want their kids to have everything. They still want to drive their kids to hockey/soccer/ballet (fill in any blank)in their SUV's. They want to have the big house in suberbia with the in-ground pool. And how can you fault anyone for that?

The world is a mess....who is kidding who. We can get up each day and enjoy our happy lives but I am afraid that we have a future in front of us that....I am not sure how to finish that sentence. Of course there is a future in front us and how it will look is anyone's guess. Perhaps a great saviour will be sent down from heaven. Perhaps life from another planet will arrive and have the answers. Perhaps people in power will actually step up. Perhaps I will be long gone before anything of real concern happens. I do beleive the future generations will look back upon the period of 1900's to now as one of the periods when civilization was the greediest.