I ain't no hippie... BUT...

I'm not a tree hugger by an means but this article really got me thinking.

Coming from a third world country, the Philippines, and having lived in various developing countries in Southeast Asia all throughout my life, I never really paid much attention to environmental issues. I've always been a more "help the poor" type of person more than anything. I always sort of "forgave" developing countries who have relatively high pollution levels because in the back of my head I thought, "they have bigger problems on their minds." You know, such as corruption, poverty and terrorism. Whatever.

However, I was really shook up about how much we don't really care about enviromental issues! I was shocked to learn that, at the rate we are all going with overfishing and pollution, we could loose an alarming proportion of our fish population by 2048! I'd like to think I'll still be alive by then. You know, with grandkids, a porche and a large rest house by the sea. (IF THERE EVEN IS A SEA LEFT BY THEN.) How weird would it be to say, "you know... back in my day, Pluto was still a planet and we ate fish and lobsters- you know, those things you saw in the museum of natual history the other day."

And how about all those people whose lives depend on the fishing industry? I think this really hits home for me because just three generations ago, my great grandathers were fishermen! My name, in old skool Spanish, means "the fish"-> la pez. Pez... pescados. My family owns a few resorts in one of the 2,707 islands in the Philippines... just think, out of the 2,707 islands.. how many people's livelihoods depend on the fishing industry??? Hundreds upon thousands- if not millions of people will be affected on the most basic level.

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"Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world's ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems... I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are -- beyond anything we suspected..."-Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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This guy obviously had some idea of the damage we are all doing to the environment... but the mere fact that a scientist can be SHOCKED about this trend is pretty crazy.

Shit, now I have to do something about this... UGH not enough time to be a good person!!!

More later, I can't think!