There. I said it.
Earth day sucks. It’s harmful.
It provides a cop-out, marketing-based, feel good way for people and companies to feel good about half-assed lame excuses for making a real sustainable difference.
Every day should be earth day. This one-day-per-year stuff is garbage. This “oh! what did you do for earth day?” feel good crap doesn’t help. Frack off. Every fracking day is earth day. What did you do for EVERY OTHER DAY OF THE YEAR earth day?
Just like striving for “carbon neutrality” isn’t going far enough. We’ve got to start undoing a half century of crapping all over this planet, and these silly Hallmark™ sound bite gestures just don’t cut it.
Yeah, awareness is good. But, really, who needs to have their awareness raised? This is 2008. This is post-Inconvenient-Truth. This is not news to anyone who can or will do anything about it. Can we stop the silliness now, and just assume that saving the earth should be a mainstream, full-time activity and not some stupid annual event? The “Green” issue of Vogue. The “Green” episode of $stupidTVShow. The celebrities touting their guilt-salving charity work. Ridiculous.
As long as we have countries spending a trillion dollars on wars to secure cheap gas for SUVs, all the weak gestures in the world don’t amount to a hill of beans. As long as we have countries willing to strip mine entire provinces to extract petroleum to keep the economy booming, switching a few light bulbs isn’t going to make much of a difference.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
The world will end soon. By a fair means…but there is no fair means
People will eventually kill themselves off.
Stressing over petty environment things like this won’t help, nobody is going to listen to you wackjobs.
The faster the apocalypse comes, the better. Some people are bored.
@synonymous – I’m trusting that you’re not a sneaky spammer trying to insert a link to your online community site…
The world will not end soon. This planet will survive global warming, nuclear war, and whatever else we can throw at it.
We might not, but the planet will…
I don’t recycle because I know Jesus Christ WILL one day judge this entire planet. Great will be humanity’s fall. The heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of God will never pass away. So after that is said, what’s the point in recycling? It’s a futile attempt in delaying the inevitable.
@wetjet That’s the spirit! Why try to do anything with the life we’ve got, when all we have to do is say “sorry!” and a big, friendly ghost will grant us access to eternal paradise! Screw the earth, man! I want nirvana!
D’Arcy,
I think I sent the two commentators above a bumper sticker. And i couldn’t agree more, let God sort out the trash –I think your on to something with this thread, we no longer need Earth day but just a good old Rapture day.
I get your frustration, but the logic only works if there is some alternative that provides pressure on those who otherwise do nothing. As it stands, having earth day provides a net gain, even if it is only 1/365th of what most participants could be doing (and I suspect it is somewhat more than that as even in my very limited personal experience I have seen people– in fact companies– adopt continuing environmental measures as a direct result of earth day activities and advertising, while I’m not aware of too many who have been spurred to pollute more… other than you and your hummer, of course
… not having earth day results in losing even those tiny gains.
Which is why I don’t have a problem with it, or other good ideas adopted by half-wits and well-meaning folks alike (witness National Poetry Month)– I see no evidence that they hurt because of the false assumption that without them any of the folks that get involved would pursue the *real* changes you talk about. I see no evidence that Earth Day provides an out because there are no ramifications to doing nothing, while Earth Day provides good propaganda. The whole system is broken. Reminds me of education.
In D’Normian the whole thing’s called a “clusterfrack” I think…
I suppose Earth Day isn’t _completely_ harmful. But it does send a message that a single day is enough. What if there was a “don’t hit your spouse day” – that would imply that the other 364 days are fair game. “don’t steal from work day” – cool. I’m grabbing staplers for the rest of the year. “don’t destroy your planet day” – awesome. I’m going to behave then, but am going to crank the A/C all summer.
{Insert my lament here}. Seriously, I got pissed off and started a diatribe when my little brother asked me whether I had turned off the lights for Earth day… I was told to calm down, which I did… Top down solutions are always better than bottom up “solutions”, which only exist calm people down so it’s business as usual. In the end I think that only the rich can save the planet. We’re peon that do as told. So yeah, get me a billion dollars stat and I will spend each and every penny on saving the Earth, solving conflicts, and bring peace to the planet. Otherwise, my day is lost writing lines of code so that one person can give a bit of money to someone else in a third world country (Kiva). That’s the extent of my contribution to saving the planet without any real money. That’s all I can do… That’s it.
D’Arcy, I share your concerns about Earth Day and other feel good lifestyle solutions, which only sidestep the much more difficult economic and geopolitical analysis and action that is needed if we do, indeed, want to continue to survive. Despite very good intentions, recycling, turning off light bulbs, etc. is like trying to cure HIV/AIDS with aspirin. It’s delusional and actually counterproductive if it lulls us into thinking that this is what’s needed to be effective. I’ve just finished George Monbiot’s brilliant book, HEAT, which pulls no punches as it systematically takes stock of where we are and what we need to do to unravel the mess we’ve created. It’s not a pretty picture, but it’s a very, very important read.
@ dnorman, Chris L, efeinblatt
So, you think you’re going to save the planet by recycling everything? You think that we wage wars to secure America’s right to inexpensive petroleum to drive our *gasp* SUVs? You don’t think we wage wars because… ummm… gosh… maybe some crazy terrorists flew two jumbo-jets into the Twin Towers in NY and one more into the Pentagon, killing hundreds of innocent people and causing millions (more like billions) of dollars worth of damage? And oh… if given the chance, they’d like to do it again. If you want to really get a grasp on what recycling and evironmentalism really costs the planet, try reading this article:
http://www.williams.edu/HistSci/curriculum/101/garbage.html
Hard to justify the increased cost (and thereby, the waste) associated with misguided attempts to decrease waste and “save the planet”, no? All we’re doing is making the problem worse. If you truly believe the spoon of bull**** you’ve been fed about how wonderful recycling is, you’ve been misled or you’re just plain stupid. I hope, for your sake, that it’s the former.
-V
you mean you invaded Iraq because some Saudis flew a couple planes into buildings? Why didn’t you invade Saudi Arabia? Well done.
If you only equate value with monetary cost, you’re missing much of the picture, you shortsighted ignorant fuck.
Actually, I didn’t invade Iraq. But I do support the invasion of Iraq, since the former ruler of Iraq funded and harbored the terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attack. Perhaps next time you can line up to be their first victim and explain the errors of the American way to them. I’d love to see how sympathetic they would be. Also, if you bothered to read the article, it was, in fact arguing that in addition to money, there are other benefits provided by disposing of trash in a manner that is the most efficiet allows people more time to enjoy the things they like, instead of sorting through trash like beggars. But perhaps you enjoy the lifestyle? I won’t try to stop you, if you enjoy it (unlike you and your colleagues who have forced recycling down my throat whether I want it or not – whether it’s good for the planet or not). Instead, I am forced to sort through my trash (which is time that I’d rather spend reading with my children or talking to my wife). Perhaps you should reevaluate who is shortsighted.
Hussein was a very bad man, but had nothing to do with 9/11. Bin Laden was the banker behind that. He was Saudi. The terrorists trained in Afghanistan. Which is an entirely different country than Iraq. Why is this so difficult for you rednecks to figure out? You were fed a pack of lies by Bush Jr. and his ilk.
As for the “lifestyle” you defend – disposing of garbage in landfills is a short term solution. You’re unwilling to sort garbage? fine. there are effective ways to recycle without having to spend your life sorting cans/plastics/paper. I’d recommend starting by consuming less energy – your soldiers are being sacrificed to secure cheap oil (not to prevent terrorism) and the best way to prevent their slaughter is to reduce your energy consumption. But I wouldn’t want you to have to modify your lifestyle at all. There are plenty of eager young soldiers ready to be sent off to Iraq to ensure your SUV is properly and cheaply fueled.
Look at the mountain of trash left behind in CENTRAL PARK after one of their silly EARTHDAY celebrations