Not to ruin your argument here, but in essence individual people on earth are first and foremost just trying to survive, deal with life and be a part of modern society (ie. earn money so they can enjoy their personal and materialistic freedoms).

Most people really do not care about the planet for as long as it (=pollution as a whole) doesn't hurt them personally.

Humans can be (and in many cases will be) incredibly selfish.

It's the way it works for most, especially the lower their incomes are and the less true power individuals have. That's a generalization of course, but a pretty good one considering the environmental pollution in this world.

Genuine idealists motivated enough to really do something are a dying breed if you ask me, just look at how many financial bloodsuckers spawned from the whole 'green energy' hype. Not to mention the political puppets that even if they got the right kinds of ideas take forever to really accomplish change. They're all really more interested in your money in their pockets, than they are in actually changing the world.

How come alternative energy isn't just free and available for all? How come the better alternatives aren't promoted by local governments? How come not one government on this planet has banned automobiles that run on oil-based fuels to preserve nature? How come we get to pay a lot more for allegedly 'cleaner' fuel? Did you know that in many countries you actually pay an additional tax for solar panels on your house?

If you want true progress, then we should change our reliance on fossil fuels today and start driving in different cars tomorrow... Invest in truly durable energy. But no one is willing to really pay the prize.

Not to mention that change won't even occur when only a handful of people really act up to do something (and trust me then I am not talking about Greenpeace trying to save whales. As that's really pointless and a stupid waste of time. There are more important fish to catch, why not go after them instead?). It needs to come from the top, but in my mind just paying money as a debt to nature isn't the answer to this. Things need to be done.

At the same time I can't help but hold a somewhat fatalistic view that individual change is futile considering the scale of the problem. For as far as it's a true problem.



First, that would never ever end up in the bible. Religions are more concerned with the after life they can blind their followers with than true life here and now. It's also why it doesn't say that we should NOT wage war, but instead almost seems to promote it together with hands full of other dirt.

Also, perhaps financial or social high standards in some cases yes, but the world as a whole already is a huge mess.

Religious wars, massive pollution, political conflicts that go nowhere and then I haven't even started on murders and other lesser scale crimes. (I'm not talking about some kind of Armageddon-type climax of evil on earth here, just calling things the way they are and have always been.)

I'm not sure I'd wish my great-grandchildren all that actually, even if it would mean they'd have exactly the same chances in life as I've got. I'd say it would essentially mean not changing the world at all, which I'd say is a bad thing.