So Earth Day is here, and frankly, I don’t care. I recycle, I grow a few veggies, I do my best to not eat processed food, I open windows instead of turning on the AC, I use florescent light bulbs . . . and I don’t really feel like doing much more. I could get rid of my truck, buy new windows for my house, upgrade my washer and dryer, install an energy efficient AC unit. But you know what, all that costs money. And even if I could afford all those things, buying a new hybrid when my Xterra works perfectly fine would only be contributing to pollution. Buying newly manufactured “more efficient” things to replace the old stuff that aint broken contributes to pollution.
However, I’m sure that when I have children, I will make a big deal about it. I’ll teach them all about conserving this, recycling that, reducing waste, etc. I feel like it’s a lost cause for me and others of my generation though. The hippies before me were busy hugging trees. The kids after me are busy planting trees. And somewhere in the middle is where my generation (generation X) stands. We teach our kids about nature conservation, but we drive them to soccer practice in SUVs. We grew up in the time of Hummers, cheap flights, lead paint, aerosol, and disposable everything.
It’s hard being that transitional generation. We’re slackers; we want to save the earth, but kinda grew up not caring. We grew up being consumers just like kids now a days, but without the counter messages of conservation. I feel MY efforts will not be enough to save the planet. I really feel it’s the millennials jobs to fix it.
