What is your general philosophy toward the environment?

          Holy moly, what a question - so simple and yet so  . . . I don't know . . . so hard to answer. I interact with and impact the environment every day, but it's not really something I think about, kind of like brushing my teeth.  Of course I'm pro environment, who wouldn't be pro environment, I mean nobody would be against the environment. Nobody would actively support the degradation of our planet - would they? OK, so I pick plastic bags at the grocery store and drink bottled water. I sleep with a fan on, have been known to flush aspirin down the toilet and I drive my car everywhere, even down the block to get my plastic ensconced booty of Pop Tarts and 12 packs of Ice Mountain, the 100% Natural Spring Water - AND - I don't recycle. So I guess when you put it that way, I sound like a hater. Like a bad, bad date, who wines and dines, uses and abuses, gets what they want and never calls again.
          But I am not a bad person, I love blue skies and bunny rabbits. I don't want to live in a f*#ked up world like in Mad Max or Soylent Green. When I grew up in the 70s, I listened to Woodsy Owl, I did give a hoot, I did not pollute. And I didn't want to make Iron Eyes Cody cry so I didn't throw my McDonald's bag out the window onto the road. (for those of you born after the Nixon administration, here are a few links: Woodsy Owl PSA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zpz1k5Mv4o   Iron Eyes PSA    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R-FZsysQNw )  I was, and still am glad that I didn't grow up in Love Canal, the housing development in upstate New York that was built on what was to become a superfund site, where babies were born with birth defects and children died of cancer from living and playing on 21 tons of toxic chemicals. Movies like Silkwood and The China Syndrome gave me a healthy mortal fear of anything nuclear. I along with everyone else applauded Julia Roberts as she portrayed the bosom baring activist Erin Brokovich crusading for justice and potable water in Hinkley California.
          I guess what I am trying to say is that I am from a different world, a world where environmental issues were just beginning to be discussed (hell, I was almost 10 years old when the first Earth Day was held). When issues were presented it was often in terms of entertainment; cartoon characters and actors in public service announcements telling the public to use trash cans, or movies decrying degradation of the environment - the environment was only just becoming a mainstream concern. There were leftover hippies living in their geodesic domes, going off the grid and raising organic bean sprouts, but for the average person, there were not many choices we could make in our daily lives that could make a direct impact on the environment  - remember - these were the days before bottled water and GMOs. For the most part, people saw a better environment as the responsibility of industry and government.
          So, today, I guess I would have to say my philosophy toward the environment tends towards an anthropocentric bent. While I do think that animals, rocks, trees soil and air do have inherent value, and I do believe that everything in the environment is connected and interdependent, I am just greedy and selfish enough to want to use the environment and it's resources to get what I want. I am not advocating a wholesale 'rape' of the Earth, there should be some responsible stewardship and we can do a heck of a lot better in eliminating pollution and managing resources, but I'm sorry, I am just not willing to live without air conditioning, medical advances and a .69 Big Gulp Mountain Dew, and if that makes me a bad person I'm sorry, just sit me in a corner and force feed me tofu or soylent green, whichever you prefer.

P.S. Just so you know that we did have meaningful music with socially relevant lyrics about saving the planet,   it's the Osmonds singing Crazy Horses . . . see, we did care about the environment. I love you Donny!!!!

Mad Max Movie Trailer     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkriid1YxHY
Soylent Green Movie Trailer     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVpN312hYgU
The China Syndrome Movie Trailer     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PJ-BzXAN1c

     
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT:
The year is 2025, the world has exhausted its food supply - but never fear, science has stepped in to save the day. The Soylent Corporation now manufactures all the nutrition you could possibly need in the form of yummy, convenient crackers. The most popular brand is Soylent Green . . . but are the ingredients organic - no. Is Soylent Green vegan - no. Soylent Green is not even vegetarian . . . because Soylent Green is made out of dead people. Bon appetit!