The Root of the Matter
When I was in second grade, I went to Yosemite National Park with my family and fell through thin ice. It sounds like a very serious situation that must have been a freak accident, but in truth, I was just being stupid. My family and I had been walking along a random trail near our cabin when my dad pointed out a patch of thin ice and specifically told me not to go anywhere near it. Of course, that basically guaranteed that I’d go over and check it out. Before my parents could react, I ran over and not only stood on top of the ice, but also stomped on it. I really don’t know what I thought would happen. Anyway, the ice broke and my whole leg suddenly sank into the freezing water beneath. Luckily, my dad knew I would do something stupid like that and promptly caught me by the arm and fished me out. I had to finish the rest of the hike with one wet leg and my parents laughing at me the whole time, but I learned two things that day: 1) my mom and dad are jerks who find amusement in my embarrassment and 2) it is important to always respect nature.
Over a decade has passed since then, but I still have a very strong respect for the environment. I now major in environmental science and still regularly go hiking, except now I have more common sense and don’t go around stomping on thin ice anymore. My story sounds ridiculous given that it should be common knowledge not to mess with something as uncertain as nature, but apparently common sense is not so common and people all around the world are still incredibly unaware of their surroundings. Whether it is through scientific illiteracy, misinformation, or pure selfishness, people today are astonishingly ignorant of the earth. This lack of appreciation can be seen all over the place. Politicians such as Donald Trump don’t believe in climate change (side note: the nice thing about hard evidence is that it still exists whether you believe in it or not), unchecked industrialization in China spews out thousands of pounds of waste, the United States’ recycling program is a joke — all of these things are examples of how little we as a human race know or care about our environment, our home.
It is against our own self-interest to choose to remain ignorant of such an important issue, yet, in the same way that I stomped on thin ice without thinking, people continue to pollute without considering the consequences. It is this disrespect towards our home that is so appalling, but how did it come to be this way? Is it our poor education system? Is it our willful denial of well-supported evidence? Is it our inherent selfishness? There is no one definite answer, and while this may sound like an exaggeration, there is one definite outcome: the destruction of our environment. Politics, economic growth, and education aside, the fact remains that we as a human race need to get it together.
