World Pollution Map
A few weeks ago I was talking to one of my American friends and I told him that I was thinking of getting a car some time this year after I get my driving license. He went on and on about carbon footprint and that I should get a bike instead. I was in a rather good mood that day so the conversation didn’t stimulate anger or frustration. Last week however, another friend of mine; this time from China told me to help him translate a ‘Save the Earth’ slogan.
Today, I checked my other email and found a petition invitation from him. He wants me to sign in and send it all to my friends because their aim is to get 1 billion people’s signature. This whole “Save the Earth” campaign is getting out of hand and it’s starting to piss me off. Not because I hate the earth…au contraire I have always believed in keeping the environment clean and whatnot.
Heck, I’ve been taking the bus and walking most of my life. If you’ve been to Mahe, you wouldn’t be telling me to ride a bike from one place to another. It’s just not feasible. Most of the roads here are curvy and steep.
It’s starting to piss me off because of the nationality of people who are telling me to get with the program: Americans and Chinese! Seriously? You really can’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk people. Americans and Chinese telling someone from the Seychelles to ride a bike instead of driving a car is hypocritical for one reason, and downright stupid for another reason. Hypocritical because their countries are heavily polluted and stupid because our clean environment is what helps our tourism industry (hence, economy).
That said, I would rather focus on a movement that will get 1 billion people on earth access to the internet rather than getting them to sign a petition online when they don’t even have an email address let alone access to the internet. Now that’s really ridiculous. Only people with a lot of things have the time and choice to have a much simpler life. They are the ones who have extravagant lifestyles anyway.
I’m glad that the US have come up with an anti-global warming movement and that China has followed suit. But what really bothers me is their lack of education when it comes to smaller countries. Here in Seychelles, we’ve always been pro-environment. They introduced and encouraged the use of solar panels decades ago here, and every year government employees gather up in groups during the “Clean Up The World” campaign to clean up the whole country. I don’t use aerosol cans, and I don’t wash anything in the rivers. My whole life here, I know a lot of people who do their part every day, even in a very small way. So it really is an insult to have people from bigger countries telling us how to live our lives when we have always been doing as much as we can in this aspect.
In fact, what they have been doing have severely influenced the drastic change in climate and this has affected smaller countries a great deal. This year in Seychelles we are experiencing severe drought (La Nina perhaps?). What’s causing this? I have no idea. But yeah, if it’s related to global warming then how much of that is our fault?
I don’t really care what people from the bigger countries do with their lives but when it comes to something environment-related, they are clearly not an example to follow so they really should be talking to their own people about their concerns, and not to people from pro-environment countries. It’s like telling a Singaporean to stop chewing gum without knowing their gum law.
