The Importance of Recycling, Current Social Mentality of Recycling, and A Dream Game That Could Change That Mentality

I decided to blog about recycling because I think that is one of the most important issue today. While I was growing up I was shown so many videos about recycling in class that it made me sick, but that doesn't change the fact that waste is a huge problem. Barges of trash are floating all over the world, garbage piles up on land, and all of these release CFC's when they degrade and they build up in Earth's atmosphere trapping in radiation from the sun. That radiation warms the planet which causes skin cancer in humans, adverse changes in other animals' migratory patterns, and plants to bloom either too late or too early. Plastics and styrofoam get thrown away every day and they are non-biodegradable causing birds and aquatic life to get tangled up in beer can nets for example. Oil spills in the water kill birds and fish as well. I remember reading that the coral reefs in the ocean are being 'bleeched' or dying due to warming seas, human waste blocking out sunlight, and in some cases an unknown disease. If our reeves are gone then our planet's ecosystem will collapse or so I've heard. Every organism on Earth relies on other organisms in order to survive. It is a delicate balance that we disturb far too often. Another statistic I remember hearing is that if the temperature of the Earth goes up a measly 2 degrees Fahrenheit then icebergs will melt causing global flooding. They are already melting fast enough as it is. That 2 degrees is a 'point of no return' for our planet if remember hearing correctly. We must take a stand by recycling paper, plastics, glass, and metal.

I'm pretty sure global warming is happening because of human interference with nature by annihilating forest for resources and building CFC emmiting vehicles. If I jog next to traffic like on route 60 until I can't anymore then I can't really breathe for the rest of the day. I cough and wheeze at least until the next day. After that if I breathe my lungs hurt and my breathes will be too short. I don't think that is a bad thing because that seems like a message from my body to me telling me to get away from the poison being spewed out of cars. The same is true if I am around cigarette smoke for too long.

My mother as well as other people I know around her age have told me that the blizzard we had in 1994 (or 93 if I'm wrong) in our area was nothing compared to the amount of snow that they received every year growing up. We have almost no snow at all now. That is a frightening indication that global warming is happening. I have faith in some things, but I don't imagine that everyone in our country will willingly start to ONLY recycle after they wake up one morning. Recycling is something on a list of tragedies that the average person tries to ignore.

Recycling, poverty, STD's, cancer, diabetes, and war seem to be something the everyday person thinks about as they walk by a poor part of town or see saddening advertisements on TV but they do nothing about it. According to the news impending doom seems to be something that can't be averted and therefore is constantly ignored because its an everyday fact of life; people die, species go extinct, murderers wander everywhere, everyone does a drug or drinks alcohol, and our planet dying from human filth. The average person accepts this. This mentality is sickening to me and I hate that everyone thinks things will be alright if they mind their own business, not worry, have a beer, buy the newest Super Smash Brothers, light a joint, and set their Tivo to ignore a commercialized plee for helping out. I give a buck or two to charities when I see the Salvation Army or other groups or to some organization members asking for money (assuming its not for something absurd), I recycle by throwing stuff in the recycling bins when I see them (that and we recycle were I live), I avoid drugs and alcohol, and I try to relax every once in a while. Relaxing is a good thing to do. I try not to worry, but I can't help seeing or hearing all of these terrible things happening. Perhaps I subscribe to that part of that mentality that I shouldn't worry all of the time. I can't cure cancer, aids, diabetes, make murderers stop killing, or convince druggies of all sorts to stop doing drugs, but I can recycle and will do so when able.

Society relies on television, movies, magazines, video games, and the internet to entertain them in an attempt to distract them from their troubles as well the state of things. Their have been movies that captivated audiences only to slap them in the face with real problems that the world is having; movies like Lord of War, Blood Diamond, Super Size Me, and An Inconvenient Truth. With video games slowly taking the lead over television and movies then its only a matter of time before someone comes along with the same idea for a video game. I don't mean just a flash game mind you, I mean an actual game that people would line up for around Gamestop at 7 P.M. for the 12 A.M. release of the game (I did that with Halo 3 at 7:30 and ended up being 3rd in line). I'm referring to a game that would shut down the box office for a weekend like Halo 3 did. I'm referring to a high budget video game that is addicting gameplay, an interesting story, fantastic multiplayer, and hours of replay value while all the while teaching the player about a social issue. I hope to be apart of something like that later both for fun and to inform the masses of the importance of a social issue. I think its possible to make a game like that about recycling, but for now I'll stick to a low budget 2D flash game about the issue. Hopefully that dream game about recycling comes true and if it does, then I want to see some changes in how people ACT on carbon emissions and recycling.