Save the Humans!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Page 15

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Save the Humans!

By J’AMY PACHECO

Who wants to be a superhero?

I do. While I’m certain the nature of an individual’s super powers determines how they get through life and how much fun they have, I can’t help thinking it would be pretty cool to be able to do things like fly over traffic jams, see and hear through walls, possess phenomenal strength, or simply be able to go invisible, make myself stretchy and bendy, or burst into flame at will.

Instead, I’m one of those people who needs glasses just to see beyond my car’s dashboard. Although I can still carry my 12-year-old, I’m not supremely strong, smart, bendy or stretchy. The closest I’ll ever get to bursting into flame is the occasional midlife hot flash – and I can’t even control those. Sheesh.

But when Earth Day rolls around, like it did this week, I start to think we homo sapiens might have more power than we give ourselves credit for.

There is a lot of talk these days about global warming, for example. As I understand it, this frightening process can be halted if we can find ways to change our habits – like cutting down on how much gas we release into the air, and by not cutting down things like trees and rain forests.

I gave up using aerosol cans a long time ago. My family has been recycling cans and bottles since my daughter learned she could keep the money she got at the recycler, and we’ve been separating our trash for years. We keep some pretty spectacular houseplants around to generate oxygen, and we substitute reusable plastic dishes for disposable baggies whenever possible.

I know there is a lot more my family can do to help protect this little planet we call home. In fact, I’m sure there is a great deal all of us can do.

We’ve become a society that loves to buy stuff. We buy so much stuff that mini-storage places are flourishing as we are forced to rent little “apartments” in which our excess stuff resides. A lot of our stuff — especially the electronic kind — becomes obsolete so fast that it becomes trash before we’ve even figured out how to properly dispose of it.

Sometimes, our consumerism scares me. I think about how much trash my family of three generates, then try to mentally multiply that by the number of people on my street, in my town, state and country. Forget about earthquakes; I think California will eventually fall into the ocean simply from the weight of all the cars, flat screen televisions and iPods.

I sometimes wonder how much of this our planet can take. When I was a child in the 1960s, I saw a program about the then-profound smog in the Los Angeles area. A newscaster predicted that by 1975, everybody in Southern California would have to wear a gas mask just to be able to breathe.

Decades have passed, and I still remember how frightened I was by that pronouncement. I remember wondering what kind of world I would inherit as a grown up. I don’t have to wear a gas mask, but I now wonder what kind of world my daughter will live in when she is my age.

Combine that with the crazy cost of gas, the number of people losing their jobs and houses today, and it’s enough to keep a body awake night after night. I should know.

I’m all for saving the whales, but who is going to save the humans?

The stark reality is that it’s up to us to save ourselves. The question is, how do we do this?

On Earth Day, Google went green by replacing its traditional logo with one made up of trees, rocks, grass, a waterfall and a cute little turtle. Time Magazine sent the week’s issue out with a green border and logo. I sent my daughter to school in an Earth Day shirt that sported a big blue whale on the front saying, “Save the humans!”

I’d say a good place to start would be to drive less, thereby emitting less vehicle exhaust. Since it now takes $57 to fill my Toyota — which used to require only $25 — I would hazard a guess that we’re all already driving as little as possible.

I think it’s going to take a massive change of mindset. I suspect that saving the planet is going to mean changing the way we think about what we as individuals put out there into the world — whether it’s toxic waste poured down the kitchen sink, an old big screen television dumped in a landfill, or yet another unnecessarily large house built over what was once a forest.

If we can learn to save ourselves from ourselves, saving the whales should be a walk in the proverbial park – which hopefully won’t be the only kind left.