Optimism

Optimism demotivational posterThe other week I had an interesting discussion with my sister about different types of environmentalists. Unbeknownst to me, I was a light green environmentalist, someone who believed that industry and nature could coexist if the proper steps were taken to ensure sustainability. A deep green environmentalist is someone who believes that the steps required to preserve our planet will forever be unpopular to the masses, so the industry and government will never take the large steps needed to prevent climate collapse.

Essentially, deep green environmentalists are proponents of ecoterrorism if that becomes the only viable way to save Earth. That’s a pretty pessimistic view but I can buy into it, because very few people enjoy imagining what their lifestyle is doing to our home. I certainly don’t, and I care about the environment. I want to be the optimist; I want someone else to come along and worry about these problems for me, to make our society function better.

The ideal candidate would be the government, but they are too focused on appeasing citizens, when we should realize, as a people, that the government needs to make the difficult decisions that we won’t want to as individuals.

Our entire society and community functions on optimism, or the belief that everything is going to be alright and safe. I walk down the street and I don’t fear violence. I trust that my belongings are protected in my apartment. Were I a pessimist, I would start hoarding canned goods and stock up on ammunition. I would cease to do my part for the society, and once enough people start to act like me then everything falls apart.

Of course the optimism and faith in society that prevents me from turning into a paranoid hermit, is based on the knowledge that there are people (aka the police and military) that protect us. Security is a pessimistic creation, they believe that a small part of society will break the societal conventions and must be stopped or punished.

At this point, I have to hope that our government or the government of other countries realize that they need to do the right thing even if it makes many of the short-sited, selfish, and greedy people living on this planet unhappy.