Getting people to care about things is very difficult.

Especially if they can’t see it.

If you haven’t studied the importance of the environment and nature as a whole, do not bother now. Because at this point, I’m guessing you’ll only want a summary, the CliffsNotes to the situation. Listed below are a few selfish reasons as to why we (you) should care about the state of our earth.

1. We are nothing without the earth. It provides free economic services that would cost us millions upon millions to replace (think bees and their pollination). Many people are against big government spending; a ruining earth would result in almost everyone becoming rather infuriated. And broke.
2.  We would die without it. Most of the water on earth is not potable, and the slim 3% that is available is in the form of ice. If we ruin the small percentage of water accessible to us, well… think the purge, but with nations sacking each other for something to drink besides saltwater. (See reason one for how these would leave the common people.)
3. We would be actual heroes if we saved it. Now, I know a few people would argue that it is our responsibility to leave the earth as good and clean as we found it. The truth is, this mess is not really our fault. Sure, we contribute to industries that use gallons upon gallons of water to produce a product intended for a single person, continually giving money to these corporations. But that’s exactly the point: it’s their fault. Companies, factories, and industries are the leading reason as to why our environment continues to not only grow worse but also is void of any positive change. These big businesses do not want people to know the damage they cause, the resources they waste, the ruination under their hands. They profit off the destruction of the planet, and if we could stop them, we would be proper superheroes.
4. Finally, it can grant us more peace than we realize. This reason specifically is why I wanted to write this post. People spend a lot of time indoors—in a house, office, or maybe a gym—and will continue to do so. We have detached ourselves from the environment (exotic places on a phone screen don’t count) and have consequently built ourselves into compact vessels of suffocating isolation. It is not wonder as to why we continue to grow more anxious, depressed, and cynical. Lack of spending time with nature, according to science, is a sure-fire way to becoming a more melancholic person. We can use nature, the calming presence of the environment, to mold ourselves into happier, more positive people. It is the most selfish reason of all to care: that’s why it is the most important.

The situation in the Amazon is one that troubles me greatly and is why I have been thinking about the environment more and more. Apathy and ignorance will be the destruction of earth and humanity alike. Our planet, if not us, deserves better.