I love when I hear of some of the ideas people have to save the earth.
It reminds me of a scene in the movie Brewster's Millions, where a man is pitching Richard Pryor an idea to put engines in huge icebergs and drive them to the Middle East to cut down on the price of ice water.
I love that scene now more than ever, because art has become the reality.
To get an idea of what I mean, one idea on the table requires the use of jumbo jets and military artillery to shoot one million metric tons of microparticles into the stratosphere.
This brainchild is supposed to reflect some of the sunlight entering our atmosphere, thus reducing the effects of global warming.
Now get me if I'm wrong, but I thought going green was about reducing the amount of trash we put in our air.
Likewise, another brainchild is the suggestion we send sixty thousand shiny spacecrafts into space and put them into orbit.
This will result in the reflection of sunlight just the same as the microparticles mentioned earlier.
If put into action, it will only cost about one hundred billion dollars a year and thus mark the Universe's largest salvage yard.
I'm not sure we were going for that record, but we would definitely have a few extra parts if Han Solo should come flying through.
The most hilarious suggestion of all pertains to the amount of methane production in cattle flatulence, which one cow fart has about the same amount of greenhouse emissions as a long country drive in a gas guzzling hog.
So, a reasonable idea was offered to start influencing farmers to put more garlic in their cow's diet.
I'd go for that.
With my beef pre-seasoned, who wouldn't? But, some other brainchild came up with an even better idea.
If we made every cow carry around its own fart tank, we could greatly reduce methane emissions which are right up there with carbon dioxide.
The tank is attached with a tube through the cow's stomach so that the methane goes right into the tank.
Then, what do they do at the end of the day? Is there a storage idea for the gas or a use some mad scientist might have? These are some extreme ideas and I really had fun reading through them.
But, they lack focus on the problem at hand.
There is nothing that can be fixed in one year or a couple of years that took us decades and centuries to produce.
The reverse of the earth's damage begins at the home with a commitment to recycle and reduce the amount of consumption of unrecyclable resources.
Then, the next move is to the community to provide for greener industrial measures and convenient conservation solutions.
If each community provided local industries with assistance in finding more conservative methods for meeting consumer needs, we could greatly reduce the waste and discover viable solutions for disposal.
If each community started to provide its residents with effective recycling incentives, it would cut down on the need for more and more landfills while significantly enhancing further community involvement.
Finally, if each individual did one thing every day to recycle or conserve, it would reverse the massive strain being placed on our environment.
It wouldn't be too little too late.
It would be just what the world needs.