So, today at work, they're celebrating Earth Day with a big 'ol shindig which is akin to having an anti-pornography conference at a strip joint.
See, they've trucked in a live band, catered food, and have had a bazillion flyers printed up to remind you to recycle. The energy wasted on such a lavish event is not insignificant – at least not insignificant when compared to how most people consider saving the Earth. When you think about exactly how little time left the Earth has anyway, it doesn't really amount to much.
In about 5 billion years, Sol, our star, will enter its red giant phase, and engulf the orbit of the earth. After this event, the universe will continue for at least 10^100 years. Well prior to that, Earth's atmosphere will boil away. Earth will be entirely, 100% destroyed, down to the last molecule, taking humanity with it.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em, then!
No, true conservation doesn't entail parties. It doesn't entail printing flyers or watching "EARTH – The Final, Dying Gasps of a Once Beautiful World" on the Discovery Channel. It's not enjoyed best in clothing imported from the farthest reaches of the globe, regardless of the amount of hemp used. It also doesn't mean doing without 100% of everything and sitting naked in your own feces, crying about how your very existence saps Mother Gaia of angular velocity.
No, somewhere there's a happy balance in between the extremes that accepts that human kind is the dominant species on the planet, be it through evolution (there is no artificial – everything is a natural progression) or by the will of God, and that our impact on the Earth can be lessened without sacrificing the quality of life we expect.
Now, if you pardon me, I'm going to find a baby seal to strangle with the plastic rings from a 6 pack while I dump used motor oil on a sparrow's nest.