Maybe Tomorrow

“… we swear we’ll curb emissions, we promise to halt growth. We pledge to actively pursue an alternative energy policy. We don’t have a problem. We can stop anytime we want. Just not today.” – Sarah Nardi

I chose this quote because it shows how exceptionally well we’ve gotten at procrastinating when it comes to fixing a problem that has not reached its breaking point yet. If you don’t start today, then when will you start? How many more times will you say just not today? Now this does not mean that we can do everything to better our environment in one day. Instead, it indirectly suggests that we do the little things day by day in order to make progress. You don’t see a smoker drop his habits overnight. It takes time, going from a few cigarettes a day to one cigarette a day to none at all.

From this quote, I also take that it is hard for humans as a whole to admit they are at fault. We tend to think that we can easily summon the willpower to stop doing something that we’ve been doing for a while when that is not true. An alternative energy policy might not be as efficient as the one we currently have. We would get frustrated and go straight back to our old habits. It’s just like the cigarette smoker. He discards his full pack of cigarettes, claiming with sincerity that he will stop at that moment. By the next morning, he’s at the store, buying his new pack of Marlboro.