I Think I Found My Cause

I'm beginning to think I truly am weird, but, that's okay with me. I like being weird. It means I'm different, not run of the mill or another fake clone.

But what's got me thinking I'm weird today is the fact that I have never, not once it my life wondered "why are we here". You know, the theological question that everyone seems to ask? I have never wondered why we are here on Earth. I just know that we are and whether we like being here or not we have to deal with it. I don't wonder what we're doing here or if we have a purpose and if we do what that purpose might be. When you get down to it the fact remains: we ARE here and there's nothing we can do to change that fact. And I wouldn't want to change it. I like being here on Earth. I am happy being on this planet, in this time. Do I think our planet needs help? OH YEA! We humans are damaging and hurting Her faster than we can heal Her. (Check out my post about Interesting Articles for some examples). I'm sure humans aren't the only ones out there hurting the planet, there's got to be some animals somewhere that are doing some destructive habits. However...

I was reading this book yesterday and in it, it pointed out that every change we make to how we do things doesn't just have one effect but several effects. For example: A beaver building a dam creates him a home right? Ok, well that dam can also block the flow of water in the local stream. If he cut down a tree to make that dam then he could've destroyed a squirrels home as well as a birds (this then makes them have a to create a new home thus invading another tree and whatever it's got going on). And if that tree was supplying nutrients to smaller trees or organisms that grow in it's shade or near it, they've all been affected to. Now lets go back to the stream...if the dam blocked the flow of water then it cut off the water supply the rest of the stream thus leaving the plants and animals living on the surrounding areas to rely on rain or find another source of water. And lets say there were salmon in that stream...they can no longer go upstream to their mating grounds. And if they can't get upstream to their mating grounds that's going to hurt the salmon population of that area. See what I mean by the smallest changes have a ripple affect?

This is another reason to make small changes in your life that you will most likely not notice. For example: don't take the scenic route to work, take the shorter route. Instead of blowing the A/C all the time in the summer, open the windows and get a nice breeze. Ceiling fans and floor fans also consume less energy. When replacing lightbulbs, we all know LED bulbs are better right? They may cost more but they last longer and require less energy to do their job. Instead of trying to replace them all at once? Try doing one at a time. Above my kitchen counter there are 4 small lights. One of them has an LED bulb while the others still have the regular run of the mill bulbs.

Doing these things can make a larger impact on the environment. Doing several small things can have the same impact as doing one large thing. But the sad thing is, this isn't something we can solve individually. We can't help the planet just by one person doing something. It's going to take several people pitching in and doing these smaller things. If everyone instituted the 3 small changes I suggested above, what kind of a difference do you think we'd all make?

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That wasn't meant to turn out into a semi-article but...it gave me ideas for some. This is what happens when I free write. I start off talking about one thing and end up on something totally different. But...you know how most people (I won't say everyone) have a cause? Something they want to fight for and support? I think I've found mine. For a long time I thought it would be animal rights and while I do support animal rights, I'm not a passionate advocate of them. And first off I'd like to correct myself...I support animal WELFARE. I believe in the humane treatment of animals regardless of what they're being raised for. Animal rights would mean that nobody could eat them, even if they needed the nutrients and protein in them to survive.
However my cause? You can probably guess it by now: The welfare of our planet. Most people refer to the planet as Gaia so that's how I'm going to refer to Her in future blog posts.