Overwhelmed

I just finished reading the chapter "How will we heal ourselves" from the book, Biomimicry and am now feeling completely overwhelmed.  I want to scream to the world...."STOP!"  I wish I had a million hands that could reach out to all the various problems we have created and fix them.  How did we become so content with being ....idle.  Why do we, as a western culture, gorge ourselves on foods that are so awful for us?  Not only do most of these foods lack the nutrition we need, but our overproduction of these monoculture crops are destroying our beautiful natural environment.  We are depending on energy resources that are not only nonrenewable, but are foreign and unreliable.  We are facing a world that will have the highest rate of extinction (by 2025, it is speculated that 1/4 of species will become extinct) and losing the chance to study these species for possible human benefits.   All so we can all over-indulge as a society...while the rest of the world falls apart.  I feel completely frustrated at the lack of knowledge, as a society, that we have about our natural environment.

I know that I sounds horribly dramatic and extreme--two things I tend to avoid, but how can we all just sit here while all these horrible things are happening.  Why isn't the average American being educated about what our footprint is doing to the earth and to the species who live here with us?  Why are we letting greed control the world we live in?  Is that really how we want to be defined?  As a society that was greedy to the point that we destroyed all of our natural resources?

I'm skeptical that government or business will be able to change anything.  I really believe that the only way to make a difference is from the bottom up....from the people.    We have to start educating ourselves.  Start reading.  Start attending lectures and meetings.  Turn of the TV, because Charlie Sheen has nothing to offer you.  And when I talk of change, I look to myself too, because I am just as guilty as the rest of society.  I only hope, that overtime, as I become more knowledge, that I can shape my lifestyle to a more sustainable and healthy one.   This will only come from the commitment to educate myself on issues everyday.  To not  make excuses in order to live lazily.