Save the planet? WTF?!

I am sure you have already heard this before. There is a big movement going on out there of people who want to “save the planet”. If you are reading this, you are probably one of them. I certainly am. But, what does this actually means? Does the planet need to be saved? Is the planet going to die, explode or something like that?

In the words of the great comedian George Carlin: “Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. (…) The planet has been here four and a half billion years, we’ve been here what? 100,000? Maybe 200,000? And we’ve only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over 200 years. 200 years versus four and a half billion and we have the conceit to think that somehow, we’re a threat? That somehow, we’re going to put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that’s just floating around the sun? The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us: been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drifts, solar flares, sunspots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages, and we think some plastic bags and aluminum cans are going to make a difference?... The planet isn’t going anywhere… we are! We’re going away! Pack your shit folks! (…) The planet will be here, we’ll be long gone; just another failed mutation; just another closed-end biological mistake; an evolutionary cul-de-sac".

So, you get the point, right?  What we actually need protect is not the planet self, but the conditions where our life is possible, this delicate chemical balance that allows as and all the other living things on this planet, to breath, eat and develop.

If we damage our eco-system, nothing is going to happen to the planet, but rather to us. If we keep on damaging our air, our waters and our soil, first it’s going to be very uncomfortable to live here, and then it would be impossible.

Maybe you are one of those thinking: “so what if we go extinct?”, “humankind is so damaged that we deserve the extinction”, or “there is so much sadness, greediness and evil on these world, why save it?”. Fair point. But, what about evolution? What about our inherent capacity of improving, of better adapting to our environment? That is our genetic right. That is where the nature in us is going to. Adapting, getting better, surviving. We can trust that part of our self and remember that that same powerful instinct runs in every other living thing’s cellular juice. Trust that even the worst things can be improve with time. Ok, maybe with a lot of time. I mean it took as only 200.000 years to be the way we are now.

If you imagine the next evolutionary step for us humans, the next homo sapiens. How are these creatures like? I am sure they are peaceful and eco-friendly, because they have learned how to live in harmony within themself, with each other and with their environment. They are wise, they understood how the circle works so they stopped contaminating the water and the soil, which are the source of everything that nurture them. They are loving creatures, they inhabit their home earth with care and with respect for the others species who cohabitate the earth with them.

Are we going to extinct before learning how to be that way? I have no idea. But it is nice to feel we are walking on that direction, don’t you think?