In My Mind’s Zen Garden

Should the average person really be concerned about our planet? The environment? The waste and pollution we humans are producing and throwing out into the sky, the oceans and the land?

I never really considered myself an enivronmentalist, because frankly, my previous days have been spent just trying to survive and to thrive in this society… this world.

It’s perfectly understandable that we want to primarily take care of ourselves.

“Winning is no good when the whole planet is losing.”
—David Wolfe

But I’m beginning to wonder…

Are we being hidden from the truth?

I mean, big corporations, like the Oil Companies (for instance) have an incredible amount power and influence in government and in the media. General Electric owns NBC. Money and influence IS power.

So I’m always wondering if someone or some corporation is hiding something from us that we should know, and would affect all of us as well as our planet.

Take cellphones, for example.

With all the new technology coming out in cellular phones, I often wonder if these phones are dangerous to us. I personally seldom use my cellphone. If someone calls me I don’t normally talk for hours on end. I always keep the conversation short when it comes to cellphones because I’m still leary about the potential dangers involved.

Some years ago, some experts were saying that those older cellphones were hazardous to one’s health and the amount of time spent using cellphones was connected to a growing occurence of brain tumors and brain cancer.

Have the latest cellphones been tested for a given amount of years on people to see if they cause brain tumors? How would one test that? On laboratory rats? Is it not prudent to question this technology?

“The US contains 4% of the world’s population but produces about 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions. By comparison, Britain emits 3% - about the same as India which has 15 times as many people” —BBC: The U.S. and Climate Change

So, recently I was wondering why hasn’t there been any studies on pollution caused by automobiles and other petrol-dependent vehicles?

When you think about it, more and more people are on the roads driving around. Our population is growing and our freeways and highways are getting more and more congested.

Could the big Oil Companies have enough influence and sway to put a hault to the people who are investigating the potential threat of pollution on the environment?

It just seemed a while back that many people out there were voicing their concerns over the environment and how pollution was affecting our air quality and thus, our lives.

Or do people just don’t care anymore, and would be just content talking on their iPhones or going to the movie theaters? Or watching the NFL game.

Well, I have noticed a movement to Go Green and to improve one’s Ecological Footprint.

We have recycling programs in and around our neighborhood, sure. I’m just wondering if enough is being done to help the environment.

I guess one of the things that inspired me to become a vegetarian and vegan was a concern for the entire meat industry, and the raising of millions of cattle, chickens and pigs on grains and feed for the sole purpose of providing meat products for us to consume. France Moore Lappe’s A Diet For a Small Planet suggests that the entire meat industry has gone out-of-control and is a backwards system for insuring adequate protein, when most (if not all) of our protein needs can be found in plant foods.

Many people (including myself) may have been brainwashed (through the media, advertising and other sources) to believe that certain foods are okay to eat. But movies like SuperSize Me have shown us that foods from fast food restaurants are extremely unhealthy for human consumption and can result to catastrophic illnesses. But, advertising and continued bombardment of the potential joys of eating fast food just keep on showing up on our TV sets.

In the movie Sicko, the old british man comes to mind. He was saying something about the rich always keeping the poor uninformed and uneducated… I mean, people in general can decide if they want to learn, but I’m thinking that overall the masses are “left in the dark” about certain things.

An educated, healthy and confident nation is harder to govern.
—Tony Benn

Yes, it all makes sense now. Keep people in the dark and don’t tell them about any bad things happening to the environment because of the products we are pushing, and all will be fine.

Also…

Keeping people hopeless and pessimistic - see I think there are two ways in which people are controlled - first of all frighten people and secondly demoralize them.
—Tony Benn

Does that above quote sound familiar? Well it should.

When a nation is scared and hopeless (as in, Terrorism) people can be controlled, and it may be that we even end up losing some or all of our civil rights as human beings and citizens of planet Earth!

Are big powerful corporations hiding something from us that we should be made aware of? I’m sure they are. It could be anything, like petroleum leaking into the earth and finding its way into our water system, and causing cancer. Or even excessive cellphone usage causing brain tumors.

Companies don’t want you to know the potential hazards. They just want you to buy their products. And you just take your chances. The Big Corporations want you to become a consumer. But are they really looking out for your best interests? Your health and well-being?

Well I don’t mean to sound like I’m bashing the big corporations. But, I just wonder if we should question things, that’s all. And shouldn’t we question everything? And make sure food, electronics, etc are truly safe for us?

Knowledge truly is power. And I just feeling we all should empower ourselves.