Reflection on the Environment

Reflection on the Environment

It is never too late to do something for the environment

We all know what happens to fish if we never wash their fish tank: cloudy water full of dirt weakens them, they get sick and soon die, victims of an inhospitable, neglected environment. This experience, common to young children, is a good metaphor to describe the way we relate to the environment. And even if we are not as fragile as those store-bought minnows, we will suffer much the same fate if we indulge in laziness and carelessness in environmental matters.

There is no life that is not related to its environment: useful substances are taken from it and waste substances are returned to it, which others organisms They take advantage of themselves, and the cycle repeats itself. It's something they even do our cells: we breathe oxygen, we exhale carbon dioxide; the plants They take the latter and expel oxygen. That is the balance of nature, a state of precarious, delicate equilibrium, which for more than two centuries we have been systematically violating.

I mean, of course, pollution. And specifically to industrial pollution, a novel dynamic in earthly times, if we consider that the Industrial Revolution occurred just three centuries ago, but endowed with a devastating effect on the environment, since it introduces substances highly reactive, toxic, even poisonous, or solid waste that takes thousands of years to decompose. A suicidal dynamic, equivalent to the fish in the initial example devoting themselves to poisoning the water in which they swim.

In fact, we threw the toxic gases of our industries and our vehicles in the same air we breathe; We throw substances and residues in the water that surrounds us and in which we then bathe and drink; we dump plastic waste everywhere, and now its tiny fragments (known as microplastics) are found everywhere, even in our own food. It does not take a genius to guess the future that awaits us along this path: the same one that hundreds of thousands of people are already paying in our place. species that march at a forced pace towards extinction.

The evidence is there: photographs, reports, entire documentaries about the destruction of the habitats natural resources and the poisoning of resources. How is it, then, that this reality does not alarm us? How is it that we do not see the correlation between this crazy dynamic of pollution and the diseases that afflict us and that will afflict our descendants?

We seem too distracted by consumption and by our own inventions to understand that our legacy as a species may well be dire. Not only because we have led countless others to their deaths, but because we could be destroying the very habitat that sustains us, little by little breaking the glass of our fish tank.

But the filthy water of our planet Earth, unlike the fish tank of our childhood, cannot be easily changed. At least not for us. It will take the planet thousands of years to repair the damage we have done in a few centuries, and it will most likely do so when we are no longer here to witness it. A future outlook that may not be immediate, but that seems more likely every day.

So it is time to ask yourself: Is this the impasse that we want to pass on to future generations? Are we really willing to pay the infamous price of being the generations that destroyed the climate, that poisoned the water, that produced like crazy without caring about tomorrow? Is it not in the future, perhaps not so distant, that attitude understood as an irresponsible, harmful, immoral existence in the face of its terrible consequences?

An action is required, the people in the streets demand it. A change must take place, if not immediately, at least in a sustained way. There is no spare planet. It's never too late. Let's act for the environment.

References:

• "Reflection" in Wikipedia.
• "What is the environment and why is it key to life?" on BBVA.
• "Caring for nature is caring for people" in the United Nations (UN).
• "Reflections for young people on the environment" in The universal (Mexico).

What is a reflection?

When we refer to a reflection, or we say that someone should reflect, we are referring to the fact of thinking carefully, deeply and sincerely about a topic of particular interest. A reflection is thus a meditation or a dissertation that is shared with third parties to invite them to think about the same ideas or to evaluate the same point of view.

People can reflect on any possible topic, including their own existence or about the way they have lived their lives, or about current issues, the importance of which is universal. But all reflection starts from an individual, personal, subjective point of view, and addresses the ideas of that same point of view. way, in a free way, which may or may not have a certain argumentative rigor, but which always aims to obtain some kind of conclusion.

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