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Humans 1 - Earth 0

Last year I took a very pleasant vacation in the south of England with my family. Newquay is a glorious and splendid example of everything that makes England great. Every turn produces another picture-postcard image of idyllic Britain.

It was while visiting the harbour that I made this startling discovery; The human race has completely given up on the environment.

That may sound overly dramatic, but I whole heartedly believe it to be true. Don't get me wrong, I know that there are many, many occupants of the blue planet who fight tooth and nail everyday to protect her and all that share her resources with us, but I'm beginning to think this may be an uphill battle that cannot be won.

While gazing out over the harbour towards the crystal clear Atlantic Ocean on a beautiful morning with my daughter, I noticed a seal swimming next to the fishing boats. This is obviously a regular occurrence and the fishermen seemed all too used to the sight. What was startling and frankly very sad about this scene was that, from a neighbouring boat, four guys in their early twenties were pouring lager onto the seal and into the surrounding water. I have no idea what the aim of this action was. Perhaps they were on a stag party and they had to come up with a drunk seal to dress in their mother's clothing in time for the full event that evening. We've all been there. Perhaps one of the guys had a seal fetish and took a shine to the elegant beast, wanting to take it back to Essex as his aquatic bride. I think fewer of us have been there.

Or perhaps they were just idiots, because it wasn't difficult for them to see the impact of their actions. Floating just ten feet away from their trans-species kegger was the body of a lifeless, bloated seal. I couldn't have juxtaposed it better myself.

The point is this. The guys on that boat had absolutely no thought about the impact this process might have beyond the immediate gratification of seeing a drunk seal (side note - the seal was having none of it. She looked more of a Pinot Grigio type and viewed the common brand lager with obvious disdain). I know that, compared with the CO2 emissions of North America, India and China, this event is just a drop in the ocean*, but it is important from the perspective of how difficult it will be to get civilians to change our behavioural patterns and lessen the impact we have each and every day. What chance do we have of getting the guys in the harbour to walk to work or recycle when they won't even desist from attempting to drag marine life back to their own pre-evolutionary level?

Plus, what a waste of beer.

*pun intended

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