Why It Is Important to Care For The
Environment |
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| The other day, as I was preparing to go to the store, I happened
to recall a question put to me by my good friend Kamal some years ago. The question was,
"Why is it important to care for the environment?" It actually gave me pause as
I adjusted my oxygen mask on my way out of the house. I continued to think on this
question as I exited the airlock of my house and prepared to burrow through the half-mile
deep pile of garbage outside. Having to burrow through "the pile", as it is
known, had been of little concern to me until that moment. After all, everyone had to
burrow through the layer of garbage that blanketed the entire planet. I began to think about the question of caring for the environment as I made my way to the store to pick up a few cases of purified water. Though I had grown accustomed to drinking my water from sani-sealed containers (the chemicals and sewage in the natural water supply being too great for even heavy duty, high capacity home water filters), I found myself wondering about what would have happened if anyone HAD heeded all those warnings about neglecting the environment, all those years ago. Maybe we could have somehow cut down on the pollutants we were putting into the air. Maybe we could have recycled and re-used more material, instead of adding to our piles of waste. Maybe we would have tried harder to keep our natural water sources and other habitats free from pollution. I had gotten so caught up in nostalgia that I almost didn’t notice that I hadn’t adjusted my oxygen mask properly. Not wanting to breathe the lethal levels of toxins in the air, I quickly re-adjusted my mask and resolved to think only of the present. After all, I reasoned, it isn’t so bad, once you get used to it.©1998 by Craig Dominguez |
