Save the Humans!

In a practical sense, I'm not much of an environmentalist. Theoretically I'm all about it: save the Earth, protect endangered species, conserve our finite resources! Who could argue with such noble sentiments?

When it comes down to it though, I'm at least as wasteful as the average American slob. I don't recycle if it takes any sort of effort on my part. I hate the airlines for several reasons, but none of them involves the massive carbon footprint of a 747. I come from a place where driving hundreds of miles a week is an accepted part of daily life and mass transit is more likely to be the name of a band than something you take to work. And I can't function for more than a day without consuming the sweet flesh of some factory farm raised pollution machine.

Notwithstanding the hypocrisy of my eco-actions, I am sympathetic to the cause of environmentalism. And I think the whole movement could gain a lot more traction with some simple re branding. The way I see it, we shouldn't simply advocate "saving the Earth" (or the whales, or the six spotted leather wing beetle which happens to live only in this one really small pond which would be a great location for a new Barnes & Noble). The "Earth" was here long before humans showed up, and she'll be around long after we're gone. At some point in the future, the Human race will no longer inhabit the Earth. Maybe we'll all don our metallic one-piece jumpsuits and head for the stars. More likely we'll be wiped out, possibly by blasting ourselves to kingdom come, or perhaps as the result of a horrible plague a la "I am Legend". Personally I'm betting on an asteroid impact. Good enough for the dinosaurs, good enough for us.

The point of all this is that the Earth will survive us. All the oil derricks and strip mining we can muster as as species will eventually fade away, the world will be cleansed of our influence, and new species will grow up in our place. So simply advocating that we "save the Earth" is a hollow rallying cry which too often falls on deaf ears. Instead, environmentalism should try this message on for size: "Save the Humans".

The reason we need to reach for sustainability is to ensure that our species continues to live as long as possible with an ever increasing quality of life, instead of cutting short our chance at survival. At it heart, that's what environmentalism really is: an effort to ensure that future generations 1) continue to exist on Earth and 2) have a decent quality of life. So that maybe we will advance to jumpsuits and hyperspace drives, or so when that asteroid comes calling we'll be ready to blast it into space dust. This is a purely selfish (and wholly rational!) motive which can appeal to even the thickest of car idling, motor oil dumping, spotted owl eating clods among us. Like me.