It seems like with each day there’s a new story about a looming environmental crisis being discussed. On our TVs, sharply dressed anchors tell us about the newest possibility of extinction and the harm facing the environment.
While these are certainly frightening topics, these are the pressing issues that need to be acknowledged and responded to with the fullest level of solemnity and immediacy.
Unfortunately, the stirring reporting of these problems seem to be ignored or balked at by the average person perhaps due to the naive idea that such gross defilement and corruption of nature is reserved only for the distant future. This is the moment where such naive people need the most drastic of reality checks to see that the conveniences they use with utter abandon are the fruits of industrialization and that this reckless usage is exacerbating the disgusting degradation of nature and this degradation can be seen, heard, and felt throughout all of New Orleans.
I’m sure that everyone has been noticing the torturous heat that we have been having to bear all summer, just the other day it was a high of 102°, a direct result of carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses facilitating the Earth’s rapidly growing temperature and prevalence of extreme weather.
Pollution is almost a mainstay throughout New Orleans with litter being found embedded in every crevice both natural and man-made in the city. Items of convenience like cars, snacks, bottled drinks, smokes, and even the notebooks we use all contribute to excessive waste and harmful behavior that act as a detriment to the beautiful and bountiful havens of nature that can be found throughout our city.
A most poignant memory of my own is when I was going with a relative to Dat Dog off of Freret Street. It was a regular day full of sun and blessed with a lovely breeze, utter tranquility. Out of nowhere, I heard this irritating noise reminiscent of a car alarm. I looked around and could find no immediate source of this terrible disturbance. It was only when I noticed a mockingbird fluttering around that I came to a horrifying realization. The natural sounds produced by this lovely and complex little creature had been completely overridden by the virulent sound of automotives.
Like a virus unique to our place in time, that which normally made the natural sounds of this animal utterly tranquil was now infected by our convenience of transportation. A corrupted effigy of our natural world, a constant reminder of how our actions and our technologized world are immediately contributing to the spoiling of that which should remain unspoiled.
Engage in a gardening or farming co-op, take up composting, reduce the time you spend in the shower, reduce your average screen time spent on your digital devices, reduce your consumption of beef, bike or walk when presented with the opportunity, help pick up litter, or volunteer at one of the many reserves and parks found throughout our city and state. What is important is that direct action is taken with the greatest sense of urgency.
Nature has been giving its all to us our entire lives and the least we can do is try to give back and fight for it in any way we can. This is why it is of such dire importance that we come to grips with how urgent these issues are and make the necessary changes to each help the environment in our own way so that by way of collective change we can turn the tide and ensure that our beautiful natural world, our own piece of Eden is provided for, respected, protected, and allowed to remain prosperous so that all can bask in its natural splendor and not have to fear the gross corruption that our industrialized society of convenience desperately tries violate it with.
““…You can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus…” – Edward Abbey
