It is (or I certainly hope it is) evident to the masses that the Earth is vital for humanity. We walk on it, we inhabit it, we drink its water and we eat its vegetation.
In spite of this, anti-environmentalist groups, like this one, still exist. They argue that environmentalists peddle ‘junk philosophy’ which puts the needs of the Earth over and above the needs and comfort of human beings (something which, evidently, they believe to be undesirable).
The general argument many anti-environmentalists have is that the Earth is 4.54 billion years old, which demonstrates how hardy the Earth is, and its ability to withstand billions of years of abuse and defilement. Therefore, instead of pointing to the Earth’s depleting resources as cause for concern, they point to the environmentalists themselves as the issue. The particularly paranoid video below from a group called Free Market America (their contribution to Earth Day) insinuates that the true agenda of environmentalists is to hinder the progression of America, and any attempt to conserve the environment, rather than being helpful, is actually damaging to the economy.
Those of us with our faculties intact will, hopefully, recognise this instantly for the Republican propaganda hokum that it is. Sadly, they may indeed have a point…
Whilst it is not my intention to play devil’s advocate, I can’t help but argue that if your reasons for wanting to save the Earth are solely for the continued survival of mankind, these guys may be right.
Humanity, save for water and a habitat, gains nothing from being eco-friendly. It’s time consuming, often expensive and we grow our food in laboratories now anyway.
In addition, there are so many threats to the existence of humanity that extend beyond the Earth, such as bioterrorism and nuclear warfare, that one could argue omnicide poses a far more imminent threat than global warming. Therefore, if we are simply going to kill ourselves, why not guzzle oil, drive 4x4s and leave the light on until then?
The truth is that there are so many more worthy reasons to save the Earth other than humanity.
The Earth consists of an estimated 10-30 million species – only 1.4 million of which we are aware of, and only one of which is the Homo sapien. It would be difficult to argue in favour of saving the Earth without explaining a bit more about its incredible inhabitants. Some of my personal favourites include:
1. The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum). This salamander is known for the amazing ability of being able to regenerate its limbs, which has lead to it becoming a species of great interest in scientific research. In rare cases, they have even been known to not only repair a damaged appendage, but also regenerate an extra one, much like the mythological Lernaean Hydra. Pollution and urbanisation have lead to the axolotl becoming Critically Endangered in the wild.
2. The mosquito (the Culicidae family). I find these guys particularly fascinating, not for any morphological reason, but because of the massive amount of devastation they have caused. Despite its diminutive stature, the mosquito boasts the title of the deadliest animal in the world. Mosquitoes are known to carry parasites and viruses to animals. The most famous of these – Plasmodium (malaria) was responsible for the deaths of approximately 1.24 million people in 2010 alone.
3. The Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula). This carnivorous plant traps its prey when its trichomes are stimulated. After this, the Venus Flytrap releases enzymes which begin to digest its prey. Although popular as cultivated plants, I was surprised to learn that the Venus Flytrap is listed as vulnerable.
4. The aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). This lemur is exceptionally interesting in the field of evolutionary biology due to it being the only member of the Daubentonia genus and Daubentoniidae family. It is, perhaps, most known for its bizarre extended middle finger which it uses for foraging. The aye-aye’s unusual appearance has lead to it becoming a prime target for superstition in its native Madagascar, where a sighting is thought of as a premonition of death. Subsequently, many aye-ayes are killed on sight, resulting in it having a Near Threatened status – something certainly not helped by increasing deforestation.
5. The little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus). I’ll let Sir David Attenborough do the talking about these extremely deviant critters:
It is not only the large variety of species that make the world such an interesting place. It is a place of grandiose natural phenomena. The Seven Natural Wonders of the World are a testament to that, all of which have formed without the aid of man.
So, if we can’t save the Earth for our own sake, it is important to consider what remains of the world without us. The Earth is full of diversity and unsolved mystery, and if that’s not reason enough to save the planet, I’m not sure what is.
staceyav 
Very powerful – the world needs more people like you to champion these things. I believe the human race need to stop thinking solely for our own purpose and gain, but to start thinking about what else inhabits our world, big and small. Just because we’ll (our generation) be dead within 100 years doesn’t make it ok to screw it up for everyone else!
Also, Axolotls are AWESOME.
Thank you so much. Axolotls are indeed awesome 🙂
You’re really going from strength to strength on this, Stacey. The Earth will recover from whatever we have to throw at it (though it has been through some pretty nasty mass extinctions – the P-Tr extinction was devastating). On one level what we are trying to preserve is Homo sapiens and our way of life. I would justify the conservation of those species as they help to preserve us and our habitats (e.g. the axolotls and the hope of body regeneration, and the various keystone species we’ve looked at).
One capitalism-based argument in favour of environmentalism is that as we use more oil and resources, the cost of them will rise, and as such it is economically viable to develop free, renewable energy sources. The state of Texas is starting to get the message, and there are massive wind farms springing up, because once the turbines have been bought, there’s a little upkeep, but it’s free electricity. If I owned my place, I’d have solar panels installed, because I have friends who are actually profiting from selling the excess electricity!
Wow, it surprises me that Texas of all places are heading this up! I’m quite fed up of the English argument that wind turbines are ‘eyesores’.
I wish the government would start introducing eco-friendly initiatives on a more micro level. Living in a block of flats, we have communal refuse bins but no communal recycling bins (which, I suppose, makes sense as I’m sure they would only get contaminated). Ealing council is very unclear as to which category of recycling services we can request due to the slightly odd infrastructure of the block of flats I live in (as far as I’m aware the building management are looking into this). The only option that leaves me with is bottle banks or my local civic amenity site, the latter of which will charge me almost two hours of my wages to use, which hardly seems fair. Apart from that I’m all out of ideas as to how I can do my bit, except for maybe getting a plant (any suggestions?).
In our old flat we had a recycling bin for plastics which we would use whenever possible, but would often have to go a month without it being emptied due to the refuse collectors neglecting to check it. On the flip side, another friend of mine recycles a lot and was told by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead that she would have to pay an extortionate amount of money to request a second recycling bin! It all seems a bit backwards to me.
Yes, Texas is really going for it. We weren’t aware of it until we stopped in Sweetwater on a road trip a few years ago (incidentally, that website is one of the most amazing websites it has ever been my pleasure to eat up bandwidth for). It’s one of the largest wind farms in the US. I think they look awesome, not an eyesore at all. I have more sympathy for the concerns that it’s injuring birds, but I don’t think I’ve seen well-supported data for that yet.
The recycling is very much dependent on the local council, I think. Hounslow is better than your report of Ealing. We have social housing between our place and College, and they have communal recycling points. Our place isn’t considered “flats”, so we all have individual recycling boxes and bags. I think it’s difficult if you live in a block of flats, as you don’t have the option of fixing up a water butt, growing your own vegetables and making compost like I do. Taking your own bags to the supermarket is easy to do, and buying refill packs where you can. Plants are always great too. The Boston fern Nephrolepis exaltata is great, and you can have any number of pelargoniums from the lab if you want!!
Though I didn’t vote for them, back in 2010 there was a vague hope that the Conservatives were going to introduce a lot of “green” initiatives and measures. I’ve not seen a single environmental policy since then, sad to say. Increasingly, this is going to have to be international government-mandated changes, though Rio-20 was a total failure. I recommend making sure as many people see this video and then this video. They managed to convince last year’s A2 class that climate science was worth studying in Topic 5!
I could have sworn I composed a nice big reply to all of this, but it must have been eaten by the internet…
I agree – I find wind turbines an awesome sight. Paul and I saw the Sweetwater wind farm on a road trip a few years ago (incidentally, the Sweetwater website is amazing, truly what the internet was made for) – it’s one of the biggest in the US. Turns out, the ranchers have figured that if there’s no oil left under their land then they may as well make use of the wind racing over their land!
Different boroughs clearly have different ideas about recycling. Most of the blocks of flats I’ve seen in Hounslow have recycling points. As we’re a conversion we’ve all got our individual recycling boxes, and as a result put out a bin bag of rubbish maybe once every three weeks because everything else gets recycled. It’s difficult to do more if you don’t have some outdoor space. I can grow my own veg, store water in a water butt and have a compost heap, but people without a garden can’t do that. Practising fuel-efficient driving is a good one – on a good day I can get 400 miles out of my tiny Punto’s tank.
As for plants, any plants will do (and you’re welcome to have as many of my lab pelargoniums as you like as cuttings or whole plants – they’re becoming triffids!). NASA put together a list of air-filtering plants (Wikipedia page is easy to read but the paper is there too). I love my Boston fern – it looks like Sideshow Bob, and is non-toxic to animals (which may be an advantage for you!). Aspidistras and spider plants are also great, and tough as old boots.
I think my comments may have gone to spam as I put in more than one link… You might want to check your spam folder!
How annoying – I would’ve thought wordpress would be clever enough to recognise a previous commenter.
I’ve gotten quite good at fuel efficient driving – my Stepfather is a haulier and knows all the tricks of the trade! Although I do miss my little 1.1 litre engine on my old car.
I may have to take you up on the offer of the plant cuttings! I did, coincidentally, have a Venus Flytrap but they are notoriously difficult to keep as houseplants.
I did vote Green Party in the local elections, as I think they should have an influence (I love their drug reform policy, as well as their green initiatives), but would hesitate to vote for them in the general elections for several reasons, but mainly because of their views on genetic engineering.
I think there’s an option in WordPress for setting the criteria for something to be marked as spam, but I don’t host my own blog on WordPress so I’m not too sure. Ah well…
All the carnivorous plants are difficult plants to keep, as they’re really sensitive to minerals in the water. I’ve only managed to keep the sarracenia alive in the lab because I nick distilled water for it. I’ll be back in College from 15th August, so you’re welcome to choose a plant whenever you’re around. The pelargoniums just go crazy, so there’s plenty to go round.
It’s been the fairly anti-science attitude of the Greens that’s prevented me voting for them nationally too. Anti-GM, anti-stem cells, anti-animal testing, and pro-homeopathy! If they could get out of that anti-science rut, they’d easily pick up a lot of supporters from all three other parties (but I suspect mostly the Lib Dems). But I also agree with them on drug reform – I have said for a long time that legalising, regulating and taxing the recreational drug industry would be a positive move.