"Within this culture wealth is measured by one's ability to consume and destroy." - Derrick Jensen

As of today Polar Bears are considered to have a few more years left before complete extinction. 60% of Polar Bears live in Canada. I really do not want to become one of those 'annoying-environmentalist-anti-capitalism-hippies' but really...I can't help but be disgusted with the culture we live in. We are so destructive, and nobody even thinks of it.

Where do you think garbage goes when you put it out at your curb on garbage night? How do you think plastic is made? What about oil? I feel so helpless to this whole situation, because plastic is so central to how our culture functions, it is scary and sickening. I also feel like a hypocrite as I sit here and brush my hair with a plastic brush, typing on a plastic keyboard, and sipping from a plastic cup.

By the time we come up with a new alternative to plastic for manufacturing all of these things we 'need'.... the damage we will have done will be too late anyway. We are already too late. How do we revert almost the entire world out of this destructive state? How do we apologize and make up for the fact that other countries and animals are suffering from our narcissism? Where did we get this feeling of self right to whatever the hell we want? Forgive me for saying this but I absolutely hate the culture we live in. I absolutely hate the fact that it would be near impossible for me to completely rid this plastic out of my life...Do I hate the fact that I have all this cool technology? No, obviously I do love all of my neat gadgets. But I have been brainwashed in away to not even think of the after effect of all of this. It really does make me sick to my stomach.

But here is what I am planning on doing, just so I can sleep soundly at night knowing I am doing something...(Yes I am aware that it is 'spitting in the ocean', but change is slow, and hopefully if anybody starts reading this blog of mine I can open some eyes to this beyond enormous issue we have here).

- Buy a re-usable mug for my coffee runs

- No more plastic bags. At all. Whatever is purchased can be put in one of those re-usable bags that you can get pretty much anywhere now. Or, be even less wasteful and just carry the purchase home without a bag.

- Re-evaluate before I throw things away as 'waste' so easily

- Educate, educate, educate myself on the issues so I can at least be an educated ranting lady, and spread the word

- Try to re-teach myself about what I really need in my life

Another issue brought to my attention while reading "What We Leave Behind" by Derrick Jensen, a book that explores the destruction of our planet by this culture we live in, was that us merely 'being green' isn't solving the god damn issue. It is like saying "Okay, we recognize that the lifestyles we lead are destructing and killing our planet...We recognize this needs to end...HOWEVER, let's just make our destruction a few percentages less destructive, and continue on this beaten path..." Abandoning this destructive state we are living in is such an unbearable thought to people, that we wind up making things "less destructive" (like how Starbucks claims to have fewer toxic emmisions while manufacturing their plastic to-go cups)....What the hell is this going to do?

This rant may seem a bit disorganized, and believe me I will be writing more on this issue and exploring it in the future... But I just feel I had to get this out there.

I am really sad, and really scared for our planet. No, I am not saying 2012 is going to roll around and kill us all. No, I am not saying tomorrow we are all going to die. Yes, we will eventually kill our planet. Yes, it is going to be terrible. Yes, before we kill the human race we will have already killed hundreds of other species before us. No, it doesn't seem fair that all of these animals minding their own business have to suffer our consequences before we do. But hey. That is what we live in, and isn't it splendid? Why don't we all go out and get the iPAD now, because don't you know...we 'need' it.

P.S. - I am also getting tired of people saying ' the world has gone through these stages before... this is completely normal.' Give your head a shake. During these 'normal cycles' were the Albatross birds going extinct because they were mistaking plastic as food that they found in The Great Pacific Garbage Patch? (currently estimated to be the size of Texas). Were there sea turtles growing deformed because a plastic ring got caught around their body? Were whales washing up to the shores dead, due to starvation because their stomachs were too full of indigestible plastics?