Earth Day...

Happy Earth Day.

I read earlier today that Rush Limbaugh was celebrating today by paying tribute to coal, plastic, light bulbs, etc. Although I disagree with that ignorant man on most issues, I do recognize that he is a significant public figure and I do agree with his outlook on Earth Day. Today should be a day were we, as a society, celebrate all of the wonderful things that we have gained by combining our environment with our own intellect. In this way we have brought ourselves above and beyond any other living thing in success by using our only faculty available to us...our minds (and our thumbs to a smaller extent). Thank you, Earth for providing us with the raw materials to conquer famine, disease, and weather so that we can thrive. Here's to uranium, coal, oil, and natural gas that gives us energy. Here's to wood, clay, stone, and synthetics that give us shelter. Here's to soil, water, fertilizer, and sun that give us food. Hazzah! to Earth.

Recently I went to my favorite museum in Chicago to show my parents a good time. Of course, I am talking about the Museum of Science and Industry located in the last remaining building from the 1893 World's Fair (which showcased electricity for the first time in street lights). This museum is riddled with awesome exhibits that range from an entire captured German WWII U-boat (indoors!!) to a tour through a coal mine to a place where you can order a toy and watch it be constructed with automated robots (Henry Ford would have crapped his pants). My favorite exhibit is the genetics exhibit where you can learn how scientists study behavior with flies and even interactively clone sheep in a videogame. It isn't until you walk our the door that you realize that you have been learning the whole time.

Another fun thing to do at the MS&I is to go to an Omnimax show. Since Chicago is located on Lake Michigan, I thought it would be appropriate to see the one titled "The Great Lakes". I expected shots of the lakes zooming around in a helicopter and also going underwater and seeing what is at the bottom. Instead I was disappointed (and very upset) that I was subjected to an environmentalist film about sturgeon (a near prehistoric fish that is still around). According to the film, the numbers are dropping due to human influences of pollution and unregulated caviar fishing in the 1900's. The story told was very well directed and choreographed with music to pull your heart strings for the good guys (sturgeon and a handful of "hero" biologists) and to make you feel anger at the bad guys (us).

This movie beat the usual drum of environmentalists everywhere...mankind is bad because he competes and mostly wins with his environment, whereas animals and plants are good because they compete and sometimes win. I am tired of religion and environmentalism both telling me that I am a bad person because I want to succeed in life as far as my abilities can take me. Some people are bad, people aren't inherently bad. It is ridiculous to think that any other living creature would not compete to the fullest extent of their abilities to maximize their quality and quantity of life. When locusts are devouring crop fields by the swarms, they aren't chirping back and forth, "Hey guys let's take it easy, we are destroying Mother Earth". When viruses and bacteria ravage the very environments that they live in (our bodies), they aren't choked back by their own regulations but they are beaten back by our immune system and antibiotics. The population of any animal isn't limited by the animals themselves, but by the maximum amount of animals that can survive in that environment.

I encourage environmentalists to go and live in the environments that they want to protect without all of the modern-day amenities that our own intellect has created to combat our world. Only then will they realize that it is a massive step in the wrong direction to spread the ideas of environmentalism. I will end with a link to where you can buy a shirt to show your true sense of Earth Day. I bought one to show my support.

Later.