Help! the Environment

     Pull up The Beatles’ “Help.” Play it.

Help!–I need somebody–Help!–not just anybody–Help!–you know I need someone–Help!

     Pretend the Earth is singing it. Mother Earth. The Planet. The Environment. However you call it.

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way… but now these days are gone, I’m not so self-assured.

     Once upon a time, the earth was fresh and clean and new, untarnished by people and their damage. Those days, as the song says, are long gone, and now, the planet needs us.

Help me if you can–I’m feeling down–and I do appreciate you being ‘round; Help me get my feet back on the ground.

     Environmentalism has exploded in the past decade, tote-bag-shopping and silicone ziplocs and carbon neutrality becoming more popular (and important) than ever. We’re learning, as a species, how to help the world our parents and grandparents neglected. It’s like Letakots-Lesa, Pawnee Eagle Chief, said: “[God] did not speak directly to humans… He showed himself through the beasts, and from them and from the stars, the sun, and the moon should humans learn.” We’re learning. We’ve seen Sweet Tooth. 

     And so, amidst all the other chaos of the world, we’re fighting a slew of other horrors: environmental ones. We’re fighting climate change, fresh water scarcity, demand for animal products, emissions, and an astronomical collection of waste.

     Climate change is considered the biggest problem that faces humanity today, threatening to irreparably damage the ecosystems, habitats, and atmosphere of the planet we depend so madly on. I, myself, just searched “climate change” and found over 50 (I stopped after that, but there are likely double that number) articles from the past day alone. What does that tell you? WAKE UP is what it tells you.

     Only 39% of each Uganda and Ethiopia, countries in eastern Africa, have access to basic water services. And they aren’t even the least fortunate: Etitria, a small country just north of Ethiopia, only has access to basic water services in 19% of the country. Less than one fifth of the country! What’s more, over 60 million Americans are exposed to unsafe water each year. Remember Flint?

     People who eat meat cause seven times more greenhouse emissions than vegans, and food-related greenhouse gases would drop 70% if everyone were vegan. Plus, (on average) people who eat meat require over 4000 gallons each day in production, while vegans only require 300 gallons. And hey, Italy has had the fastest-growing vegan population for a while… and everyone loves Italians, right? Go Italian vegans! Ti vogliamo bene!

     If you keep an eye on your television, you’ll see commercials by Amazon, Starbucks, and more about their mission to reduce their carbon footprint. And here’s why: your carbon footprint is caused by the amount of greenhouse gases you emit, so the less you emit, the smaller your carbon footprint, the cleaner and better you’re leaving the environment. (And big companies are known for having colossal footprints.) (But you do too, probably.) (But you can work on it.) (Protect our planet from further climate change.)

     Almost one third of people recycle. Adversely, over one third of people oppose a total ban on single-use plastics. So in a way, they negate each other, and where does that leave us? With smelly, hideous, hazardous landfills littering our homes; with turtles, strangled; with waste building upon waste upon more waste… until there’s no room left to store it all. Stop it now.

     The environment needs us now. It’s crying out, screaming,

Won’t you please, please help me?

     At NobleCanni, we’re helping. Will you?