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Over the course of our human lifespan (let us use the age of 85) every minute that passes is longer (1.2 human lifetimes/minute) than a human’s existence relative to our earth’s age (if we can all agree that our planet is 4.6 billion years old). This is often an incredibly perplexing concept to envision but this means relative to the earth’s known lifespan, a human life is a mere minute in the context of our lifespan. Imagine a single cell in your body (many others follow suit strictly out of apathy) naively and fundamentally altering everything you came to know about humans as an organism and creating an unparalleled toxic environment over the course of a single minute. Relative to our earth’s history (the planet as the body), we are those apathetic cells contributing to the destruction of the human body in less than a minute. This same concept may be applied to the history of modern man (believed to have come into existence less than 200,000 years ago) to produce a figure of less than two weeks in a human life relative to the span of a human’s existence within those years since man, as we know it, came into existence.
Through the written theories left behind from authors, economists and environmentalists over the course of written history, it is possible to find persons who predicted, in attempt to caution the populace, the development of a materialistic society: such as we find ourselves in today. Presently, anthropologists, with the help of scientists, are able to scrupulously examine societies from the past and the decisions they were faced with. Accompanied with the gift of retrospection, we are able to study the actions of such pre-modern societies and their respective consequences. Some choices ultimately lead to natural prosperity while others have lead to the illusion of prosperity: only to eventually lead to an absolute collapse of an entire civilization. The indirect causes effectively leading to the destruction of societies from the past vary greatly but there is a common theme observed when one researches this topic: none of the societies’ origins lie in the conscious desire to disrupt or destroy their surrounding environment. However, ultimately such destructive actions appear as a primary rationale for a collapse.
Throughout much of history, success appears to have been measured by the amount of superfluous material possessions one acquires as well as the resulting social status associated with such materials. It is because of these illusions instilled upon us at an early age by many influential figures that persons who do not possess a passion for luxurious designer materials but instead for the wondrous natural beauty of the earth’s diverse landscapes and the animal kingdom inhabiting it are disregarded. These people were delusional environmentalist hippies who smoked pot. They preached a unity between every organism and humans; every action we make produces a consequent reaction somewhere, at some point in time on our planet. More than enough research has been conducted to reinforce this theory. Voices of environmentalists must no longer be ignored if we are to have any hope. It is in the present moment, in this generation: our generation, in which we can no longer afford to overlook these concerns regarding environmental principles. The constant improvements seen in technology have generated the gift of comprehension of human mistakes in the past. We are presently aware of the reasons many previous societies have fallen and if we continue on in an apathetic manner, the collapse of the present global society is imminent. Each and every one of us consumes much more than what is necessary in terms of not only material possessions but food as well. Many of us also indirectly consume en route to purchase these materialistic goods. This indirect or unintentional consumption takes on various forms: the fuel in which our vehicles guzzle taking us to and from a shopping mall or the plastic bags we often receive to hold our purchased goods. Perhaps only a very small step towards progression: we must learn to hold the concept of bringing a bag to hold our purchases as high of a priority as that new pair of shoes we are on our way to buy. All of us can improve and contribute to this desperately needed transformation as an environmentally aware society.
In 2009, a French man named Yann Arthus-Bertrand accomplished the feat of releasing a documentary on the subject of environmental conservation entirely free of cost to any person who desired to view it: an unprecedented event in documentary history. Bertrand was also told that releasing such a film free to the public could not be done. After gathering funding from various wealthy renowned consumer businesses, he was able to achieve this goal. This man likely persevered because he believed the majority of persons with access to a television or media player are unlikely to spend money on informational documentaries while films created solely to entertain exist. The film was released with the optimistic hope that a free documentary on the subject may inspire more individuals to become concerned about the fate in which our society appears to be in a perpetual strive towards.