My theme: *drum-roll* I BLAME YOU AND ME! Tadaaaa!

Why? Because by the mere fact that you are reading this article and me typing it, you and me are polluting! Why? Because our computers use electricity, and when producing electricity, fossil fuels are burnt. Fossil fuels release harmful gases when burnt, and harmful gases damage our planet. And damaging our planet is called POLLUTING! Criminals! How dare we assault our defenseless planet?


Liked my intro? In fact, you are not the only one to be blamed. Each one of us, while doing our daily activities, pollute in one way or another, and any kind of pollution harms our planet. Let me consider our stereotipical person that goes to work in the morning. We call that person Mr. X, whom friends call X.

X wakes up in the morning, scratches his butt, checks his morning wood and crashes his alarm clock. He's already polluting! Ignore his butt, focus on the clock. When it rings, it causes noise pollution. X moves on to his toilet, gets his tooth-brush and toothpaste. He opens the tap and uses water, forgets to close it again, and after shaving, closes the tap. There again, he goes polluting and wasting resources. Why polluting? Cuz one day or the other, his toothbrush, toothpaste tube and razor equipment will end in a bin somewhere. Maybe they will get recycled. Maybe not. This is pollution. Our chap forgot to close that tap. Water getting wasted. Recently, there have been cases of scarecity of drinking water in various parts of the world. Is that something X should have done? Forgetting to close the tap? But he forgot, and didn't seem to care; care about a poor African kid dying because s/he could not get a mouthful of water, whereas X in his Developed Country is wasting litters while toileting!

After toilet, X goes for breakfast. He switches on the stove, again using electricity and polluting. His food comes wrapped in plastic, which goes to the bin. Pollution. Again and again. And it's still the beginning!

X goes to work. He takes his non-hybrid car out of the garage, and moves, together with the billions of other vehicle users. In doing so he adds his small, but significant contribution to green-house gases which cause climatic changes, and cause our poor African kid to die of thirst. X gets taken in traffic jams, and while his car stands still, the engine burns fuel, just like the billions others stuck in traffic jams worldwide. All those gases go into the atmosphere. That same atmosphere that sustains all living things on this planet!

We break for a moment to consider something. We all need the atmosphere. We won't live a second if ever it vanished and didn't want to come back. All life on this planet will be extinguished in a minute. Our machines will still run, and still pollute, but we will all be stiff. Still, we continue damaging the thing that sustains our very life! Isn't that what you'd call stupid? This is just what we do though!

Finally, or not so finally, X reaches office. He uses elevators and various electric devices, all which require electricity and whose production pollute. He makes use of copiers, which release ozone which is a pollutant in the lower atmosphere, but a savior in the upper layers. Out of his office window, he can see the city, as always wrapped in smog. He makes use of paper, without considering the consequence of his actions.Every single sheet of paper used require trees to be cut down to provide the raw materials. New techniques can create recycled paper, and various other forms of paper, but the basic theory says trees are to be cut down. Whenever a tree is cut down, we should know that one natural Air Filter of our planet goes down, and our atmosphere remains just one bit more polluted. X uses paper, prints on them, and if ever he makes a single typing mistake in his page, trashes the page (even if it has a blank reverse), without a single thought about trees being cut down. He prints, and it happens that one blank page comes out. He puts it in the tray again? NO! He trashes it! Again, without any consideration! During lunchtime, he will use plastic, and other materials that pollute even more. He uses office supplies, which are so easily trashed. Staples and paper clips are thrown on a daily basis. Paper sheets with only a fraction of a side used are trashed. Nobody really cares, provided the office supplies more.

After work, Mr. X returns home using his car, polluting all the way till home. Then he re-pollutes inside his place. At the end of the day, the only thing that remain to be done is to stick a big "I POLLUTE" tag on him!

Because of Mr. X's inconsiderate actions, the climate is changing. Cyclones keep getting stronger. Famine and all the plagues that harm human kind are increasing in proportions. Floods never witnessed before, intense heatwaves, cyclones on inimaginable destructive power. All that because of our combined efforts to pollute the planet! People in regions are dying of hunger, of thirst, or of diseases unheard. Whole sections of the fauna and flora are going extinct. Who is to be thanked for that, we humans. Yes, we humans, who consider ourselves evolved, capable of thinking power, capable of scientific achievement, but who are unable to recognize that we are killing our environment, and in doing so, killing everything that is worth living for. Is it good to be living in a totally barren land like Mars. No. But that's what our planet will turn into if we proceed as we are doing.
Our insensitive nature will kill us. Countries continue to pollute, using "econonic progress" as excuse. USA, the world Super Power and Defender of Liberty, refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, and its efforts to reduce pollution are not of the greatest, being the largest emitter of Carbon Dioxide. China too has been gaining notoriety in the Polluters Ranking. With its "world largest" dam that is ruining The Three Gorges ecosystem. We are really grateful to them for ruining our planet, our only home. Ever considered what would happen if we didn't have the planet anymore? Where would we humans go? Earth is our only home, and we fools are trying to destroy it.

This scenario is just a simple example of our daily life. I am sure some of you might have recognized themselves in Mr.X. We often do things he does, without considering what happens to the planet that sustains us. As An Inconvenient Truth said, what is more important, the environment or a handful of gold? Gold often wins, although all the gold in the universe won't sustain our life as our environment does.

After this brief analysis, I take the opportunity on this Blog Action Day to make a plea to you. Take a single of your days as example. On that day, before doing anything, take a few seconds to think about what your action might do to the planet. Does that action harm it? Does it do it good? You will be surprised about how much harm you can cause in one day! Try it!

And next time you ever think of dropping a piece of used plastic on the public way, maybe you should consider punishing yourself. Pollution won't be stopped, but it can be contained, if every single one of us on this planet takes just 1 measure to reduce our pollution!

Some simple measures:

- Use bins! Don't litter the environment.
- Plant / Save trees. DO NOT cut them down.
- Clean your immediate environment. Pick up litter and dump them safely.
- Try to make use of recycled materials if possible.
- Watch "An Inconvenient Truth" made by Al Gore.
- Save energy. Use energy-saving devices like energy-saving light bulbs where possible. Saving just 1 watt per person would greatly reduce the need for burning fossil fuels, and thus decrease pollution. Now imagine saving 100's of watts!
- Avoid using non-recyclable materials.
- Dispose of your trash accordingly. Don't just dump it somewhere in the environment.
- Use alternative sources of energy if possible.
- Use hybrid vehicles if you ever have the chance of getting one.
- Use public transportation instead of getting your vehicle out. This saves on Greenhouse gases emissions.


Remember, it's what you do that counts. If you can do simple things to protect and safeguard the environment, do not hesitate. Even simple things like planting and caring for trees count! This will be your payback to the planet that sustains you, that provides you with what you need to exist and live through, that allows you to be, to enjoy the pleasures of life, to breath, to walk, to eat, to love, to care for and to do all the things you like. Therefore, it is only natural that you try your best to save it, and give it your best efforts.

Thank you, if ever you decide to help save our fragile environment.

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