Tuesday, April 22, 2008

How I Will Spend My Earth Day

As embittered Democrats, disenfranchised Republicans, and the forces of Operation Chaos make their ways to the polls today, let us also remember today is Earth Day! Yes, it's that day where every hippie and tree hugger and eco-veggie-freakamatazoid runs around in a park making a mess while they commune with the Earth. So as you can see, I don't need the flu to make me puke today.

So first, let me share with you my plans for Earth day, especially with that agent of change that is global warming at the top of the list on save-the-planetdouchery . I would drive a gas-guzzler around all day, but I can't afford the gas. If I could lay my hands on a bunch of old aerosol cans or unleash tanks of old freon from air conditioners, I would. But I'm going to have to go really basic today:

Today I will BURN SHIT!

Simple, right? I've got plenty of cardboard and wood set aside for fires in the evening, but today, I'm going to find some plastics, some styrofoam, and even, if I can find one, a RUBBER TIRE. I'm going to get me a big-assed carbon footprint on a budget, if only for one day.

Here's my point though. Earth Day is a load of manatee shit. It was created, supposedly, to highlight things we could do for the Earth to make it a better place. In reality, common sense will tell us what is good for the world we live in. Cars that burn less fuel are good. Cleaner rivers are good. Less garbage in the dump, more recycling is good. Less pollution in general is good. And despite cries from the turbo-hippiholics we are one of the cleanest countries in the world, especially considering where we came from.

So I will, in my life, take steps to make my hometown and my part of the state a better place to live. If everybody, out of pure self-interest does this, we will continue to make things cleaner and better. But this obsession with government regulation to "make things better" will only hurt us in the long run. I'd give you a link, but there are way too many bloggers that have been covering this one to choose from. Although it looks like most of the conservative ones are paying attention to Pennsylvania today.

So which will it be: Common sense or the government yoke?

6 comments:

Toad734 said...

Although China isn't far behind, the United States is the #1 polluter in the world, not the cleanest. Sure our rivers may be cleaner than the ones in India or the Ukraine but our air is worse.

Toad734 said...

That being said I am glad I don't live in Mexico City or Shanghai.

Anonymous said...

Why are conservatives so bitter?

Patrick M said...

Toad: It depends on how you define pollution. We are a country who is constantly trying to improve itself. Let me cite an example:

I once spent a weekend in Cleveland, as I had a cousin getting married up there. I enjoyed myself immensely the whole weekend, including the time spent on the Cuyahoga River. This is the same river that, up to 1969, had a tendency to catch fire from all the shit in it. Of course, we're talking Cleveland here, so it took regulations to fix it. But now we're at a point where we want to make things clean as it benefits people.

Shaw: Where do you find bitterness here? I'm having fun with the day. And I'm smiling about it. Come to think of it, most of the conservatives I've heard today have not been bitter at all.

On the environmental issues, I usually see the bitterness or anger on the liberal side.

Toad734 said...

Ok great, as we cleaned up bubbly creek, the flaming river in Cleveland and Acid Rain and making gains on the Ozone layer, you are saying that global warming is either not real or no big deal. Sure we have had one cold long winter in the last 15 years so lets not talk about how warm it happens to be in Ohio today. My point is, industrialists and conservatives all thought people were overreacting with these problems, Chicagos solution:reverse the river so it all goes into a slimy pit we dont have to drink. Well, it sort of worked but there are several days in the summer that we are still not allowed to get in the water due to Ecoli and other bacteria but we have come along way from a bubbling lagoon full of animal parts. Its people like me and Al Gore who made that happen. Just because the midwest had a cool spring doesn't mean that glaciers are melting and the majority of the planet is on average getting warmer.

Its us "moonbats" you have to thank for that river being lined with condos instead of fire trucks, not the free market and lax government regulations.

That was a rant.

Patrick M said...

That was a rant? I couldn't tell.

My whole point is to use common sense, figure out the small problems, and solve them. we happen to live on a fairly robust and adaptable planet. But it's when we stop trying to solve the local issues and tackle these "global" crises (which have been about to wipe us out since Earth Day began) that common sense gets tossed and regulations and blame orgies come flying in. So on the local front, keep up the good work.

And obviously you missed my other point on global warming: Far too many people take any news or science or statistic and make it fit the GW narrative. Or they blame everything on global warming.