The Planet Takes Care of Us, Not We of It

“The planet takes care of us, not we of it. ” One could say that the planet earth is a system, interacting with objects in space such as the sun and the moon. The mass and diameter of these objects, their distance from earth and the amount of heat they radiates makes the conditions on earth ideal for life to exist. Over the years, humans have begun to consume at a much faster rate than before. Yes, fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil are being used at a greedy rate, but the ground is busy making some more.
Yes, too many trees providing shade, oxygen, clean air and water, fruit and nuts are being cut down to produce wood products such as paper, furniture and housing, but it’s not like we’ve run out of oxygen… the world always seems to work itself out. A problem is detected, the loophole discovered, and our planet renovates and replenishes itself. The earth doesn’t need our help, and even if it did, I don’t think we are prepared to offer it. Humans are greedy little children, and we never had to grow up because Mother Nature was always there for us even when we are not there for her.
Saving the world is a grand gesture needs a large amount of energy and people, and it would never happen that all the people of the world come together with one goal, to save the planet. We don’t even know how to properly fend for ourselves, nor do we know how to keep peace with our neighbors, so how could we ever even attempt to take care of the biggest thing we know, our home, our planet, our earth, which had been standing tall as it still is, four and a half million years before mankind even existed?

This of course, is only one approach to a hugely controversial topic, and the other side says we must live green and “reduce, recycle and reuse”. I do believe a lot of people want to see that happen and admire the concept, but they are just too lazy to go through with it. Either way, here comes my question, if we were going to lend a hand and “take care” of our planet, would that truly be what we are doing?
Or is that phrase just a witty twist of words used as a facade to conceal our self-centered nature… Think about it, if we cease to reduce our carbon footprint and encourage global warming, say we melt the icecaps and increase the sea-level, ruin the soil with our chemicals and pollute every acre of the earth with our damned plastic bags to the point where the air is too dirty to breathe, the soil too tired to harvest on and the water too toxic to drink.
What happens? Mankind will die out, life as we know it will never be the same, but the planet? The earth will still be here, only we will not. So are we really trying to take care of the planet, or are we just taking care of ourselves? Is us trying to take care of the planet a selfless, humanitarian act or is it just more evidence to our self absorbed nature?