Saving the World, In Spite of Ourselves

THE FATE OF EARTH'S ENVIRONEMENT hangs in the balance, as the world's wealthy powerful few decide what to do about the rest of us, and about the world. A group of GreenPeace activists arrested by the Russians for protesting Russian drilling in the North Sea, received fair treatment from Mr Putin. Mr Putin called their case noble, but said that they broke the law. Fair and balanced. If Valdimir Putin thinks enviromental preservation is a noble cause, then perhaps the environment has a chance! The nations of the earth cannot agree on carbon emission restrictions. The developing countries, like India, Brazil, and China, want the already developed countries, like the United States, Japan, and Europe, to absorb the cost of environmental clean up. The United States seems to want every other country to pay for it, except the United States. The big loser in all this is the environment itself, getting pushed aside in the midst of all this human squabbling. The human race is going to use every last drop of oil in the ground, every whiff of natural gas, and every chunk of coal. Who're we trying to kid? The answer is to reinvest at least some of the profit from fossil fuel exploitation into the development of sustainable energy systems, solar, wind, geothermal, etc. Give the Chinese crdeit; even though they are developing coal reserves at a sufficient rate to suffocate all of us, they are simultaneously heavily researching and developing sustainable energy systems. So there is hope! What can the rest of us,the billions of little people do? Plant trees, that's what! If all of us planted one tree, it would make a difference. A trillion trees, and we could save the world. We the people of the planet earth, independent of any government or corporation, can unite, and plant trees! Thus we can take over the world, by saving it.