In case you missed it there was a huge oil spill, one that is still spilling this minute.
There are a lot of fingers being pointed. And while everyone claims not I, one thing is very clear. Shortcuts were made. Warning signs were repeatedly overlooked and carelessly dismissed, all just so BP could turn a quick profit.
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And this got me thinking. Where aren’t shortcuts being made? Hasn’t it almost become the American way to push for profit? To take shortcuts to make things easier, more convenient, more profitable?
We have been genetically modifying our food for years. We pump our livestock full of hormones, feed them food they wouldn’t naturally eat, just to plump them faster. To turn a quicker profit. Our watermelons don’t even have seeds anymore….
Have you bought a t-shirt lately? Say from Target or Old Navy? The material is ridiculously thin, so thin that you now have to buy an undershirt to go under your t-shirt. Yet, they are still charging the same, and now you have to buy 2 shirts….
McDonalds recalled 13.4 million Shrek glasses that are coated in cadmium. Tylenol recalled 40 of its over the counter pain, fever, and allergy medications for infants and children. Toyota recalls 1,000’s of potentially life threatening vehicles. And baby finger chomping strollers are allowed to be sold….
Airlines now charge you to take your luggage, which you can’t very well travel with out…..
The government and big oil killed the first electric car in the mid 90’s that would have lessened our dependency on oil, and helped the environment….
They have made it cheaper to feed your family of four through a drive-thru, than provide a healthy home cooked meal. Fueling our obesity epidemic….
Big companies like Wal-Mart, Walt Disney, Procter and Gamble even go so far as to take out “dead peasant” life insurance policies on employees. So that they are even profiting in the event of an employees death.
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The sad thing is, I could go on and on with examples. Big companies are making huge profits by the minute, and turning out less than quality products. Products that don’t make the grade, products that can make you sick, products that are killing our eco-system, products that can even potentially kill you.
Sure, I enjoy many of these conveniences, more than I care to admit. But I have to wonder at what cost is all of this convenience and profit coming to us at?
How long will it be before we are all pointing fingers at each other, covered in our own toxic filth?
So what do we do? How can we help?
We can cut back on our own consumption.
Shop second hand, carpool, recycle, support local farmers and businesses, reuse.
Stop keeping up with the Joneses. Stop equating happiness with material items.
Be informed.
Remember who we are passing this world on to……
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