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by simiones 308 days ago
"Save the planet? The planet's fine - it's us that are fucked."

-- George Carlin

2 comments

George Carlin is a comedian. That line is a joke, not an actual serious retort to somebody using the phrase "save the planet" to talk about stopping climate change.
Yes, I always found environmental protection kind of funny, nature does not need protection, it will survive until Earth becomes finally uninhabitable [0], it's us that might not make it that long if we don't take enough care.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_far_future

What we call environmentalism is actually 5 different concerns:

- human health, pollution

- preservation of natural resources useful for humans

- preservation of biodiversity, nature in its original state

- concern for animal suffering

- aesthetic concern for human habitat

These things typically overlap, but sometimes they even contradict.

And how many other species will we take down with us?
Most probably, but nature doesn't care. We will probably destabilize many eco systems with our behavior and make them collapse.