Science has proven that there are many many worlds to explore and mine for resources (I get giddy just imagining what the proven oil reserves on some of those planets must be!). But there is only one global economy.

If there's one thing we know about the environment, it's that it is nigh impervious to mankind. We can burn it, drill it, grind it up, dump toxic waste on it, pave over it, and it still refuses to die. But what about today's global economic environment? I don't think any true environmentalist could ignore that environment. It is truly fragile! Despite decades of intense focus on the economy at the expense of everything else (life, liberty, freedom, social advancement --- a lot of things have been given up for the sake of the economy, and that's how you know how truly important it really is!), the economy remains perched on the edge of Death!

There's this thing that doctors do, on TV shows such as MASH and ER, called "triaging". That's where you sort out the patients into categories like "Not dying yet" and "Beyond all hope of saving." Then you order the patients by severity and frantically focus all your attention where it is most loudly begged for: on those patients with no hope of survival. And folks, right now that is the economy. Despite all the extreme measures we've done to try to artificially resuscitate it, it remains limp and listless and on its last breaths. Any fool can see, the only way to deal with that is to put more, more, forever more blood snot and tears into it. As long as we humans still have an ounce of blood flowing through our veins, we have blood to give to the economy in a hopeless attempt at giving it a fair shot at life.

Yes, the economy has no hope of survival, and demands all of our attention at the expense of all else. Meanwhile, scientists kinda mostly I guess agree that we haven't yet reached a final tipping point in the environment that will doom us all. That means that the environment is not yet dying beyond all hope of saving. We must focus on the hopeless patients first! We have a few years or at the very least months before the environment is ruined beyond saving. Then, and only then, would it be responsible for anyone to focus any attention on it. Doing anything now would be like having doctors waste their time on someone who isn't even almost dead yet. That's something that could only make sense to hippy democrats.

But even when we reach that environmental point of no return, even then as long as there is still an economy left, it is patient #1. The economy doesn't even seem able to survive despite focusing all our attention on it, so it would be irresponsible to give it any less than 100% of our effort. That unfortunately leaves 0% effort for the environment. Sorry hippies. We can worry about the ruined Earth after the sickly heart of the economy finally gives in, and we're all forced to live in caves and our stock portfolios are in tatters. I shudder at the thought.

The youngest among us have grown up never knowing a clean, healthy economic environment. For many, truly "we have always been in a global economic crisis" (I can't even remember which crisis it is we're in at the moment, or what started it). And it looks like we always will! And that gives me hope, because if there's one thing that can spur a young generation into action it is constant, nerve-racking crisis! For many of us older folks (17 and up) who were lucky enough to know the glory of war to get our hearts pumping, the global economic crisis is just a bonus. I myself always wound up bravely fighting and keeping the economy going from a spot right here on the home front but I can tell you I envy all of those living it up on the front lines.

Anyway in summary, kids listen up: The economy is in much worse condition than the environment, and that's why it is the economy that demands every last drop of blood that you have. Don't disappoint us more than you already have (eg. going into theatre or fine arts). Forget about the Earth. Save the economy!