The Hiking Boot

I don’t know if you saw, but recently the EPA in the United States reached a decision to overturn a report that set the precedent for creating laws which protect the environment from corporate greed which often leads to environmental degradation and pollution.

Although I’m Canadian, I understand that rivers, air and animals do not obey borders. The decisions that the U.S makes regarding their responsibility to protect the environment have a cascading effect that will impact wildlife the continent over. Our lives and those of the animals we share this planet with are no longer considered important to the current administration. The only concern they have are monetary ones. Going forward, when the EPA creates a guideline for lawmakers to follow they will no longer look at how the law will protect life, but rather how the law will negatively impact the profit potential of applicable companies or industries.

It is a slap in the face. It is a kick in the teeth. To have such disregard for the planet is stomach churning. The corruption the states right now is unparalleled. They’re giving up any sense of responsibility they have as human beings for the planet. Ive always held the belief that unfettered capitalism not only breeds sociopathy or apathy, but it actively rewards it.

In this system, the fewer morals you have..the greater your potential to get rich. Or so it seems.

I want to acknowledge that things here in Ontario are not much better. Doug Ford is running his own version of a corrupted democracy, and his actions on environmental laws as of late have been abhorrent as well.

Im writing this as a way to vent. Im trying not to be a pessimist in my daily life, but things like this really do bring me down. We have a responsibility to this green earth to protect it. I believe we need to live measured lives, we need to learn how to balance satisfying our desires and needs while also taking into account the ripple effect on the planet that our decisions create.