by Shyann Cherokee

Created on: May 04, 2009   Last Updated: May 07, 2009

Thinking about the future, that can indeed be a scary thought. I remember the years of my childhood, my teens, my 20's and 30's and that all seems so very long ago. During those years, there was no mention of global warming, no thought of pandemics or killer virus, no dread of starvation or depletion of fresh drinking water. We, of course had the threat of nuclear bombs, but we still have that threat and at this point in time, this is a bigger threat now than it was 20 or 30 years ago. Now, we have more terrorist countries that have the capability of creating a nuclear bomb and carrying the destruction of mankind to its ultimate end.

As I ponder all of the advances that mankind has created, I also ponder the cost of these same advances. How many species has mankind driven to extinction due to his never ending quest for more, more, more? Are we truly leaving a better world for our children, our grandchildren and their children? To me the scariest thought of all is the ignorance in which our society lives. We as a species, take it for granted that our beautiful planet will always provide us with food, fresh air and fresh water. We have taken no precautions to preserve the natural resources that has been provided to us by our planet, rather we take, take and then take some more. WE even expect it to be there forever! WE see the depletion of our rivers that provide fresh water for drinking, we see the depletion of our top soil that allows for crops to grow, we can look back at history and see the results of mankind's constant ill use of the natural resources and still we continue to take. Do we actually believe these things will be ours for the taking forever? Do we actually believe that one day, we will terra firm the planet Mars or the Moon so that once our Earth can no longer sustain our population, we'll just ship everyone to live in bubbles on Mars or the Moon?

We continue to populate our planet, take no measures to conserve or to engineer new methods to deter the amount of pollution we create in our air, water and earth. Consider if you will for just a moment, the volume of trash alone that is dumped into landfills, oceans and other waterways. Consider the amount of trash that we generate that will forever be buried deep within our soil. Just for one moment, think about the depletion of soil and water as we constantly destroy our forest, rivers and lakes, only to build more houses, stores, malls, and on and on. During the gas crunch when the average price

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>