Use it one and throw it away

Have you watched any TV lately? Every other ad is for either a gas guzzling monster truck or SUV, some kind of use once and throw away cleaning product, or an air freshener that is guaranteed to make your home smell so good that everyone who lives there or visits will be instantly addicted and not want to leave the magic aura of the fragrance.

What the hell are we thinking? Are we a society that is so intent on our status symbols or making up for our own shortcomings and lack of self-esteem that we are willing to use up every drop of NON-RENEWABLE oil we can lay our hands on, throw away everything we use and fill up the air we breathe with artificial perfumes?

There is no magic way of creating oil, at least not in the quantities we need. One day, and maybe in our lifetimes, it will be ranked as an endangered species. When it’s gone, just think of everything that goes with it.

Plastic is but one example. Oh, yes, we are making plastics from corn, but how many of the myriad of plastics can really be replaced by the corn based variety? And, how much arable land will we need to convert from raising food to making plastics? My guess is a very, very large number of acres especially considering our taste for bottled everything, including water.

Oil or petrolatum based products, including hand and body lotions, cosmetics, paints, nylon and polyester will become scarce and eventually disappear. Can you do without your lip balm or Vaseline? I know that there are products in existence or coming onto the market that do not use mineral, but not quickly enough in sufficient quantities to sate the appetites of our ever expanding population.

In America’s automobile-centric mentality, what are we going to do when gasoline is rationed or not available to all who want or need it? Can you imagine lining up for a five gallon can once a month, or having to submit to a lottery for a chance at getting a tank-full? What about not being able to fly anywhere unless you can afford economy class tickets for the price of a full-fare first class ticket for a fraction the number of flights we have now?

Heating oil would go, too. Natural gas would become scare as well. Welcome to the world of our great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparents.

But, wait! While this is all happening, the forests of the world are being cut down to supply the growing need for firewood, and to provide more farmland for corn to make oil to make plastics and bio-fuel for our cars. Now that we need the wood for fuel and the land for corn, we are cutting down the very thing that cleans the air for us. The trees. The carbon dioxide is being taken out of the atmosphere and replaced by oxygen at a slower and slower rate. The thawing permafrost will soon release its own store of carbon dioxide and methane, millions and millions of tons of it.

Add to all of that the fragrances of the myriad of air fresheners. The artificially scented candles and sprays that puff every fifteen to sixty seconds will swirl about us. Let’s not forget fabric softeners, either. Throw those little sheets in the dryer so that your clothes smell good and have no static cling. Every load must have one, covering our clothes and towels and bed sheets in a fine coating of oil and fragrance. Our air will be heavy with carbon dioxide and chemicals, but it, and we, will smell good. If we’re lucky.

I don’t even want to start on the use-it-once-and-throw-it-away products we have for everything from dusting the furniture to cleaning the toilet. We seem to think we have a never ending supply of everything we want. There is no need to open a window or wash a dust-cloth or mop a floor with a reusable mop. We can use it once and throw it away. It’s our God-given right! Isn’t it?

The TV tells us so. Doesn’t it?

First post for a newbie...

Well, I finally did it. I have a blog and can now share my thoughts with the world at large, at least with anyone who stumbles across it. Being such an opinionated person, I will no doubt do it frequently and with a large degree of passion. Oh, feel the power!

Some may question the pomposity of my blog title. No apologies. I am one human being on an increasingly small planet. I have a vested interested in the fate of this tiny, spinning, ball of rock and water. That interest is not only for myself, it is for a whole bunch of people. Therein lies the place where the passion lives.

Oh, my, you say! Is this person another one of those crazy individuals that regularly goes off on tangents about politics and the environment? Crazy, depends on who you ask. Individual, yes, did I not say so in my blog name? Regularly, maybe, we'll have to see what's going on in the world and my mood at the time. Politics and the environment? Oh, yes. The former definitely has a great deal to do with what happens to the latter.

I will, however, not just rant and rave. I need the good things, too. I like the little events in life that make me laugh, or smile, or feel good in any way. It's all important.

Oh, I am just so excited! This thing has spellcheck, too! WooHoo!