Editor:
Have you ever considered the sanctimonious aggression of thinking we can save the planet?
The late George Carlin, comedian, had a keen sense of perspective who could see the irony in the eco-saving mantra, so he included an intriguing satire of it in his act which was a big hit even with the younger college crowd.
His stand-up act went something like this…
“The arrogance of thinking we can save the Planet”.
– The planet has been here for some 4.5 billion years.
– We have only been engaged in heavy industry for about 200 years.
– And we have the conceit to think that somehow we are a threat?
– The planet has been through all kinds of things a lot worse than us humans.
It’s been through:
– billions of years of bombardment with comets, asteroids and meteors
– continental drift, plate tectonics creating mountain ranges
– volcanoes, volcanic ash
– earthquakes, tidal waves
– sun spots, solar flares, cosmic rays
– magnetic reversal of the polls, magnetic storms
– worldwide floods, hurricanes, tornadoes
– worldwide wild-fires
– recurring ice age cycles, global warming, global cooling
– landslides, erosion, glacial till.
And we think some plastic bags and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference?
The planet is fine, it isn’t going anywhere, we are!
The planet will be here for a long long time after we are gone. It will heal and cleans itself because that’s what it does, it’s a self-correcting system.
R.I.P. George C.
You could add a few things to his bags and cans, like extracting, transporting some minerals and oil or cutting some renewable trees, etc. is going to make a difference?
Roland Seguin, Langley
