“Save the Whales, Save those Snails”- George Carlin on Saving the Planet
Hi Everyone,
I hope you’re all well.
The following is a piece I just published on Jewish Climate Initiative’s Climate of Change. Hope you enjoy! Just as an update, Climate of Change has moved to a new site, http://climateofchange.wordpress.com. Hope to see you there!
And here’s the piece:
In memory of the late George Carlin, we’d like to present to you his take on environmental protection and, “Saving the Planet.” We’ll offer our take at the end, too. Happy Watching!
(If you can’t see the video player, click here)
Absurdities aside, Mr. Carlin makes some important points:
1. Environmentalists have often inspired people to worry, not to change. Those who aren’t worried find it hard to take them seriously.
We should be acknowledging crises without clouding them in doom. Awareness is a good thing! The chance to live better is a good thing!
2. Carlin’s right- “The planet’s not going anywhere. We are.” (If we don’t make some big changes.)
As my wife’s ecology professor likes to say, when we’re gone, “The roaches will still be here,” as will many of their friends. Our fight to control climate change, desertization, water-shortages, etc. are essentially fights for our survival.
I’d argue that environmentalists biggest mistake was to identify the cause as saving something called “The Environment.” When they did that, they made it external to us. By calling eco-crises “of the environment,” they were placed in a class with trees and bees, whales and snails. I’m a backpacker and love mountains and trees- and bees and snails. But the ecological challenges we face today are of a very different nature than protecting Nature.
3.. Plastic is one of earth’s children.
Okay, that part’s not true. Probably not, at least.
Plastic is very much a creation of our own. I’d part from Carlin Theory when he suggests how inconsequential we are in the world. We have a powerful role in earth’s ecosystem, and we can choose whether we want that role to be one of nurturing life or abuse and destruction.
I guess we’ll see which role we choose…Sure is fun to be at such an important junction in history, though.
A big thanks to Mr. Carlin. Rest in peace and good humor old man!
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