Connections

In the truest sense we are all connected, bound to a small planet in this vast universe with very limited resources. We have limited space, limited food, limited drinking water, and if nothing changes a limited future.
Plants and animals are disappearing at an alarming rate, the oceans are on the brink of collapse, our energy choices are polluting the air we breathe and the water that sustains our existence. Our choices are causing a global shift toward hotter climates and much more severe weather. Everywhere you look our world is out of balance, spinning out of control and losing the very essence of what it once was. Even those of us who consider ourselves good stewards of the earth are constantly having to re-evaluate the choices we make as we come to realize that in our everyday lives we are unwittingly supporting those among us who are destroying our planet for personal gain. We are connected. Connected to those whose actions are causing irreparable harm to our world.
It's in the food choices we make, the tuna fishing that kills the dolphins, it's the shrimpers that are killing the sea turtles, the cattle ranchers that are overgrazing the public lands and killing the wolves. It's the toilet paper and tissue we use that comes from old growth forests, it's the fracking and the coal and the oil and it's the mining and it's the chemicals we spray relentlessly on our lawns. It's so many things that it would take forever to list them all. All of these things connect us to the people and the corporations that prey on the environment for a personal wealth that is nothing short of obscene.
It's the choices in our everyday lives that have made billionaire moguls of bad guys and bad companies. There will always be people willing to do long term damage for short term gain and they are counting on you not being a savvy consumer who stops and thinks about where the product came from and who's behind it and what is the environmental damage associated with it is. Would you really continue to eat tuna from a company that is using methods that kill thousands of turtles, sharks and other species and is depleting the ocean stocks of tuna to a dangerously unsustainable level? When you throw those steaks on the barbecue do you stop and think about the wolves that are being eradicated by ranchers?
The truth is we have built a world on unsustainable practices and we have now reached the crossroads for the entire planet. The big guys make the kind of choices that damage the environment because they are not held to account by the consumer. They are not held to account by you.
The question is what can we do about a world system built on the total annihilation of species after species? What can we do about people and corporations that believe only in the accumulation of wealth even beyond what they could ever spend in many lifetimes.
The answer  is amazingly simple! Stop buying what they are selling. Knowing what you are actually buying and learning which companies are good stewards of the earth is a good start. Joining organizations like Greenpeace or the NRDC will also help you to become a more informed consumer. Just a little research on your part will help you to help save the planet. Remember reusing and recycling are great but not buying it in the first place is better!