The power of profit...
As expected, the house voted (229-193) to all but dismantle the Endangered Species Act this week. Many people believe, as do I, that we are in the midst of a mass extinction.
It is quite evident that the Republicans, and some Democrats, are more concerned with protecting profits than protecting life on this precious planet.
Just a quick check on reality for everyone:
There are about 500,000 species left on earth...only 4,629 of which are mammals. For every species that becomes extinct, we take one step closer to our final farewell. A permanent date with the Wooly Mammoth so to speak.
To be honest, I for one agree with Kurt Vonnegut that the world will be a better place when we're gone. Can anyone name another form of life that has gutted this planet for it's own benefit and given nothing back in return? I mean, we can't even put our metals and plastics in a separate trash bags for fear of missing 2 minutes of American Idol. We see the effects of the destruction of natural habitats that are there to protect us (see: marshland in Louisiana), yet we continue to make the same choices in exchange for the Almighty Dollar....and we continue to vote in the politicians who allow it. Will we ever learn? Will we ever wake up? Or are we just another tick closer to joining the dinosaurs?
posted by Kevin @ 10:31 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
No gas lines equals a better quality of life (for me anyway and pretty much everyone else)... And I'm ok with that. The endangered species act is an enormous failure. Drill every freaking drop of oil out of the planet from where ever it is. The Gulf, Alaska, hell yea. The marshland in Louisiana would have been 20 feet under water with everything else. A storm surge don't stop for no freaking marshland. I'm against the indescriminate destruction of nature, but I'm also against the "let's protect everything from our evilness" as well. What I want General Motors to produce is an engine that produces 400 horsepower and get's 40 miles to the gallon. That technology will produce little shit creepers that get 80 mpg. At that point you can sneer at me from your crap cockpit as I blow by in my urban assault vehicle.
First, I'm not saying the marshlands would have prevented the destruction of Katrina. I AM saying that their existence may have minimalized some of the damage...we'll never know.
But here is what I am gettin at with my post...and it's just a theory...one that I'm not behind 100%.
Say you are in a room with 20 other people and a gunman walks in. He shoots someone dead. 19 left. The probability of you being the next person shot has just increased.
With every species that dies off, the probabilty that humans are the next species to become extinct increases. What if the one species that died off today is the only possible cure for cancer? Gone, forever. That would increase the possibility of human extinction significantly. But at least Exxon increased there profit margin by 3% this quarter...that's worth it, right? Knowing that your grandchild could die from an aggresive strain of cancer in 2053, that could have been cured in 2007? All so you don't have to wait in line an extra 2 minutes for gas tomorrow...
But of course, that's the new America. NOW NOW NOW!! ME ME ME!!
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