I'm not one of these people who's worried about everything. You got people like this around you.
Country's full of them now. People walking around all day long every minute of the day
worried about everything, worried about the air worried about the water worried about the soil
worried about insecticides, pesticides, food additives, carcinogens, worried about radon gas,
worried about asbestos, worried about saving endangered species.
let me tell you about endangered species all right saving endangered species is just one more
arrogant attempt by humans to control nature it's arrogant meddling it's what got us in trouble in
the first place doesn't anybody understand that interfering with nature over 90 percent over way
over 90 of all the species that have ever lived on this planet ever lived are gone they're extinct
we didn't kill them all they just disappeared that's what nature does
they disappear these days at the rate of 25 a day and i mean regardless of our behavior
irrespective of how we act on this planet 25 species that were here today will be gone tomorrow
let them go gracefully leave nature alone haven't we done enough we're so self-important
so self-important everybody's going to save something now save the trees save the bees save
the whales save those snails and the greatest arrogance of all save the planet what are
these [ __ ] people kidding me save the planet we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet
we haven't learned how to care for one another we're gonna save the [ __ ] planet
i'm getting tired of that [ __ ] tired of that [ __ ] tired i'm tired of [ __ ] earth day i'm tired
of these self-righteous environmentalists these white bourgeois liberals who think the only thing
wrong with this country is there aren't enough bicycle paths people trying to make the world
safe for their volvos besides environmentalists don't give a [ __ ] about the planet they don't
care about the planet not in the abstract they don't not in the abstract they don't you know
what they're interested in a clean place to live their own habitat they're worried that someday in
the future they might be personally inconvenienced narrow unenlightened self-interest doesn't impress
me besides there is nothing wrong with the planet nothing wrong with the planet the planet is fine
the people are [ __ ] difference difference the planet is fine compared to the people
the planet is doing great it's been here four and a half billion years do you ever think about the
arithmetic planet has been here four and a half billion years we've been here what a hundred
thousand maybe two hundred thousand and we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over
200 years 200 years versus four and a half billion and we have to conceit to think that
somehow we're a threat that somehow we're going to put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue
green ball it's just a floating around the sun the planet has been through a lot worse than us
been through all kinds of things worse than us been through earthquakes volcanoes plate
tectonics continental drift solar flares sun spots magnetic storms the magnetic reversal of the poles
hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors worldwide floods
tidal waves worldwide fires erosion cosmic rays recurring ice ages and we think some plastic bags
and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference the planet the planet
the planet isn't going anywhere we are we're going away
pack your [ __ ] folks we're going away and we won't leave much of a trace either thank god
for that maybe a little styrofoam maybe a little styrofoam plant will be here we'll be long gone
just another failed mutation just another closed end biological mistake an evolutionary cul-de-sac
the planet will shake us off like a bad case of fleas a surface nuisance
you want to know how the planet's doing ask those people at pompeii who are frozen into position
from volcanic ash how the planet's doing one of the planets all right ask those people in mexico
city or armenia or 100 other places buried under thousands of tons of earthquake rubble if they
feel like a threat to the planet this week how about those people in kilauea hawaii who build
their homes right next to an active volcano and then wonder why they have lava in the living room
the planet will be here for a long long long time after we're gone and it will heal itself it will
cleanse itself because that's what it does it's a self-correcting system the air and the water will
recover the earth will be renewed and if it's true that plastic is not degradable well the
planet will simply incorporate plastic into a new paradigm the earth plus plastic the earth doesn't
share our prejudice towards plastic plastic came out of the earth the earth probably sees plastic
as just another one of its children could be the only reason the earth allowed us to be spawned
from it in the first place it wanted plastic for itself didn't know how to make it needed us
could be the answer to our age-old philosophical question why are we here plastic
[ __ ] so so the plastic is here our job is done we can be phased out now and i think that's really
started already don't you i mean to be fair the planet probably sees us as a mild threat
something to be dealt with and i'm sure the planet will defend itself in in in the manner
of a large organism like a beehive or an ant colony can muster a defense i'm sure the planet
will think of something what would you do if you were the planet trying to defend against this
pesky troublesome species let's see what my viruses viruses might be good they seem
vulnerable to viruses and viruses are tricky always mutating and forming new strains whenever
a vaccine is developed perhaps this first virus could be one that that compromises
the immune system of these creatures perhaps a human immunodeficiency virus making them
vulnerable to all sorts of other diseases and infections that might come along and maybe it
could be spread sexually making them a little reluctant to engage in the act of reproduction
well that's a poetic note and it's a start and i can dream can i i don't worry about the little
things bees trees whales snails i think we're part of a greater wisdom than we will ever understand
a higher order call it what you want know what i call it the big electron the big electron whoa
it doesn't punish it doesn't judge at all it just is
and so are we for a little while thanks for being here with me for a little while tonight
oh she's speaking spanish to me that [ __ ] changed my life