It is now socially cool to be environmentally conscious. Society is impressed with people, who cycle, walk or use the public transport to get to their offices. I’m always in awe of anyone who can spout obscure environmental facts that no one else knows, like, “Did you know that Reykjavik is the most eco-friendly city in the world?” The recycling symbol, the color green, the hybrid car, the organic living, gardens and car pooling all constitute the cool environmental persona many people are sporting these days.
But do we really care?
We don’t.
How many of us can say we’ve planted saplings to prevent soil erosion? How many of us have protested (protesting mentally or protesting to your friends and family doesn’t count) against the cutting down of parks and forests? How many of us have consciously bought fruits grown in the local areas? (do we even know which fruits grow in our local area?) How many of us cycle or walk to our offices?
Not many of us. Sure, we all know we should be doing those environment saving activities. We support those sorts of activities verbally and we even talk about them on almost a weekly basis. But haven’t we reduced our environmental condition to small talk?
We should blame our casual attitude towards environmental condition on our politicians because they make empty statements about Kyoto Protocol and sustainable growth when in reality, they are too concerned with maximizing agricultural land and exploiting forests for fuel to reduce auto emissions. In reality, the effort towards saving our ecosystem is done by privately funded groups of scientists and nature-lovers who genuinely want save our planet. In this scheme, the common people are set to play their own small role which is usually something so small that doesn’t matter whether it is being done or not.
Isn’t the time for a small role past? Shouldn’t each of us be playing a more active role in rescuing our planet?
We just need to get serious and stop thinking that sporting a recycling sticker on our books will mean that we are actually, actively doing something to stop ecosystem degradation.