This I Believe

Jason - Banner Elk, North Carolina
Entered on September 19, 2006
Age Group: 18 - 30
Themes: environment

When I was younger I never thought about conserving the earth and not being wasteful was a big deal. Now that we have destroyed the Earth with pollution and gas emission, our time on Earth may be closer to the end then we thought. Al Gore, my parents, Native Americans, and different African tribes such as the Gabra have had a huge influence on me. I want to be able to change the way people today think and help them to realize that if we want to live longer we need to respect our Earth as if they were our relative. I look at the earth as a brother of mine now and treat it with respect. If I see trash on campus or on the road I try to pick it up and throw it away. I think the whole idea of electric cars is brilliant too. They get rid of the gas emission that is destroying healthy plants and trees all around the world. About an hour or so away from my school there is the highest elevated mountain on the east coast, Mt. Mitchell. If you go to the top of it you can see barred trees. This makes me think, why does such a beautiful place like this deserve what it is getting? Is it too late to change?

They have said that we have about 10 more years on the earth before Global Warming takes down for the count. I think that if we can just start driving cars that do not emit so much gas will help too. The main problem is that our economy revolves around deliveries in big trucks and ships that emit wasteful materials as well. I have been trying to brainstorm a way that we can do this and nothing really has come to mind. I want to help the Earth so much but, is it really too late? I hate the thought of this beautiful place no longer existing. I hate the thought of kids younger than me not even getting the chance to experience college and after it. If the world does come to closure within the next year at least I would have had experienced it. But kids younger than me and even kids my age still are not getting what they deserve. If I can create some kind of system that allows me to reach out to people and let them know how I feel and let them come into realization with the inevitable that is our future, maybe it will hit people. Al Gore has made an attempt with his movie but I have heard all my friends say “Oh, that guy lost the election and disappeared, what does he know.” Let me tell you, I think he knows a lot more than the current president. George W. Bush is more worried about what is going on in another country rather than what is happening here and the earth all together. I personally have not heard President Bush talk once about Global Warming and the importance of it as it pertains to us as a country and the World. If I could see him just make an effort to care for it would boost my respect for him. If he would take some advice from his administration other than to attack the wrong countries, that would help too.

The Earth has so much to offer to us. There is so much more that we have not discovered and so many species we have not even seen before. Yet we take away there homes in the rainforest to build hideous homes on the side of the highway. I think of the animals of the world as our brothers. Even though I have made the choice to not eat some types of meats, they supply the rest of the world with so much food. Just from one animal you have to think how much we get from them. Also we do not know what some animals can cure. Yet we pull off there skin so that we can wear it in when it is cold outside. An old Native American Chief has given me that extra boost to go out there and do something about the wastefulness of this world. When we slaughter animals we waste so much of the excess matter. If we are going to slaughter these animals we should use every last bit of it and put it all to use.

I pretty much have made myself knowledgeable of what is happening in the world today, environmental wise. I came from a pretty conservative area and it seems like most people from that area really did not care too much about anyone except for themselves and maybe their family. I want to give the facts to people in a blunt fashion so that they no what to expect and if they still don’t care then they personally need to look at themselves and what is important to them. They need to realize that if they really are going to care about themselves so much, this involves them as well. It makes me sick to know that people don’t even care about themselves when it comes down to it. I hope that in the near future there is someone with the same kind of ideas as I do that will have enough authority to make a difference in this confused world. This I believe is the main concern right now in my life. I want to make a difference in the world and make people want to care for the Earth and the people who live on it. If we can learn to not discriminate people for their race, religion, gender, and sex this is another big step. If we all work together we can save this beautiful place that we live on and call home we can make a difference for all of us. The Earth has lent us so much and we really have just stolen so much from it. I think to myself all the time what have we given back to the Earth. Poor people in India look at us as if we are in poverty and they are millionaires. They give so much to Earth and get so much back from it. We need to stop looking down on these people and learn from them. We brush so many people off because they don’t live in luxury like we do and are handed so much on a silver platter. I was given so much as a child from my parents and can never ask any more from them. I want to be able to do this for the Earth and its people. This I believe is my main purpose here on Earth.