Raising Awareness? Give me a fucking break.

I want to brace everyone before I get started here. I am not in fine spirits this morning, and with good reason. You may be stunned by the following hate-filled tirade, but everything I plan to say needs to be said desperately. I went to an event last night to raise awareness about the environmental plight and awareness was, indeed, raised. I am aware that people are fucking idiots.


WHAT IS THIS 'ENVIRONMENT' OF WHICH YOU SPEAK?

So....we're all clear on what pollution is, correct? We know what causes it? It's around 3 years of age that humans can distinguish between dirty and clean things; it's quite a rarity to see a grown person chow down on a handful of dirt. The environment is the same concept, yes? This is ridiculously simple shit. You know when you suck in a lungful of car exhaust that it is not a good, healthy thing. Everyone has seen a garbage dump before. You can see the gray clouds of smog that gather over major cities. Since we're all aware of these things, what awareness is it that one must raise with an event such as the Live Earth Concert?

"Oh, but Jillian, their hearts are in the right place! These rich rock stars and actors are at least doing SOMETHING for the environment!"

I know you're thinking it. You've been sucked into some bullshit, my friends. A giant steaming pile.
-First off, what exactly are these people doing for the environment? Are they raising money for scientific research in green technology? Ummmm, NO. They're raising motherfucking AWARENESS about an issue people are already real goddamn clear on. GREAT. FANTASTIC. How USEFUL!!! Have they collected this giant audience together to go clean up parks in blighted areas of the giant cities they're performing in? NO!!!!!! They've collected all these people to watch them spew out their particular brand of bullshit and inoffensive pop music.

-Secondly....celebrities, people? I want you all to pay close attention to this next statement as it it is vital:

IF YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT ACTORS OR MUSICIANS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT POLITICAL ISSUES, YOU ARE AN ASS.

Seriously, folks, that is so goddamn idiotic. These are people who do not live in any kind of reality. They earn outrageous sums of money and live in a world distorted by their fame and affluence. Still interested in arguing this one with me? How many actors do you know that have Ph.d's in environmental science? Hell, any kind of advanced degree that has nothing to do with acting. Yeah, I thought so.


THE REAL ISSUE


This is the bit that people don't love to chat about. This is the part that everyone makes excuses for. This is the real issue:

WE CHOOSE TO POLLUTE


We've established that we all know the causes of pollution, yet the U.S. is fighting a war in the Middle East to rape more fossil fuels from the environment over there to bring over here to cause more pollution in our air and water. DID YOU FUCKING HEAR THAT? People are dying so you can gas up your car.

Automobiles are the BIGGEST cause of pollution in the United States. Hands down, winner by a landslide. We know this (really, you absolutely cannot deny it), but we get in the car anyway.


ALLOW ME TO SET THE SCENE...

My sister proposed an evening out yesterday, attending the 'Party for the Planet' at The Butterfly Social Club (no, I didn't make that up). It was an event at a a bar to screen the Live Earth Asshole Fest and, I assumed, have some discourse on environmental issues and do something productive about them. I have many inflammatory and negative things to say about this scene, and you know I'm fond of lists. Here goes...

1.) BUTTERFLY SOCIAL CLUB
This bar is styled as an all organic and clean air smoke-free establishment, and it looks like something out of a hippies wet dream. The whole interior looks like it's sculpted out of mud (or feces), with organically designed seating and stupid ass fake butterflies hanging from the ceiling. The only thing missing was the pot smoke but, alas: smoke-free. All of the drinks served were organic, and one could enjoy their pesticide-free fruit gruel with some putrid vegan food being served. Out of disposable plastic containers. On disposable plastic plates. With disposable plastic flatware.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I am a black-hearted bastard anyway, but is it really necessary to be so motherfucking flagrant about your phoniness? Because that's truly what this Butterfly place illustrates so nicely: fake environmentalism. We'll get back to this.


2.) MoveOn.org

The event was thrown by MoveOn.org, so you know the useless bastards to blame for this mockery of activism.


3.) THE CROWD

I attended this event with my sister, and two other young women. I wasn't terribly shocked, however, when we arrived to find a room full of hippie-looking middle aged folks. Let's do a fun exercise. Imagine for me, if you will, your picture of an average environmentalist. Is it a middle age, peace and lovin' type, maybe with some long hair and clothes that say "I don't sweat fashion because I focus my energies on actual IMPORTANT things"? I'm ashamed to say that, like many others, this is the picture I have. And these were the people in attendance.


How do I put this nicely? I don't, that's how. I'M CALLING OUT YOU MIDDLE AGE ENVIRONMENTALISTS! Guess what, you fucking cunts, YOU DID THIS. Your generation and your parents generation. Glamorizing the automobile, creating demand for disposable everything and high-tech lab-created materials because 'it's the wave of the future' or some such nonsense. This is the legacy you have passed on to my generation, and you want to sit there with your gray ponytail and hemp shirt and tell me you care about the fucking environment. Well fuck you.

You people are worse than your peers that happily prowl the streets in their supersize SUVs and toss trash out the window. At least those motherfuckers know they're motherfuckers. You flit about, talking recycling of bottles and cans, and posture this image of earth-friendliness. Maybe you buy paper towels made out of recycled materials and organic produce, but you still get in your gas-guzzling automobile to go to the giant, corporate owned supermarket that lies about the organic produce anyway. You all go ahead and perpetuate this consumerist existence, and you only do the easy stuff when it comes to your 'politics'.


After that last bit, I expect a flurry of defensive tactics from anyone that may see themselves in those last few paragraphs. Here is my response: you've all been here on this earth roughly twice as long as I have. And what have you accomplished? The environment is wretchedly polluted, the most damage having been done in the last 50 years or so (and getting consistently worse). Hey shitheads - THIS WAS ON YOUR WATCH! And what do you have to show for all of your organic produce and criminalizing of aerosol hairspray? THE ENVIRONMENT IS WORSE AND THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THAT.


LET'S JUST GO BACK TO HATING ON EVERYBODY


As I mentioned before, the phenomenon is fake environmentalism. Putting on a real good show of caring and conserving because that's what's cool. It's not only my parents' generation doing this, young people are guilty too. Guilty of not caring enough, guilty of laziness, guilty of desire for instant gratification and the latest commodity. We all do it.

I'm getting really tired of the vanity environmentalists and their phony earth-saving antics. Here are two examples of not only wasted efforts, but activities in the name of environmentalism that actually hurt the environment:

PURE AIR!
At the event last night, this middle aged bitch was passing out cards that read "PURE AIR/ You Deserve It!" on the front and "Please TURN OFF Your Engine When Not Driving. /Thank You :)"
WELL, ISN'T THAT HELPFUL!! You mean, I shouldn't just leave my car running twenty-four hours a day? Huh, well if you say so! How stupid is this sentiment, people? It's not "Stop driving your car so much" or "Buy a hybrid vehicle that uses less fossil fuel". NO, this ass was telling people to turn their cars off when they aren't driving. Additionally, the cards that this woman was handing out to everyone attending are made out of heavy, unrecycled card stock with a plasticizing coating to make them water proof. Hey bitch, how pure is the air over the landfill these cards full of trite, useless sentiments will be resisting biodegradation in? Conveniently, she included her email address on the card, if you would care to send her a note telling her what a dumb cunt she is (elainelemx@aol.com). You're welcome to reference me, I'm the bitch in the pink dress that shouted at her at the bar.


LIVE EARTH!

"Hey everybody, let's have a super awesome concert so we can raise some awareness and stuff about, like, the environment and shit. It will be an excellent opportunity to have people look at us, because you know we celebrity types can't possibly get enough attention. Plus, everybody will think we're all, like, smart and responsible."

To recap, money was not raised for environmental ACTION. Nobody learned anything new about what we all, in our own lives, are doing to contribute to pollution. Let us investigate what actually was accomplished:
-Huge amounts of electricity were expended putting on this extravaganza. Power plants (you know, they make the electricity) are notorious pollution sources.
-Gas powered generators were used, pumping noxious fumes out into the air.
-An enormous crowd of people acquired disposable paper tickets for the event, drove their cars there, purchased engineered and hormone-filled fast food and beverages in disposable containers, which they then disposed of or merely dumped on the ground.
-Land that could be full of vegetation was full of people and machines.
All I see here is USE USE USE. The only thing accomplished was more trash, more energy expenditure. No action, only more pollution. And people sitting back and applauding these imbeciles for their good deeds. Fucking christ.


BITCH BITCH BITCH

It ain't all I do, folks. I try to do my bit for the environment, personally and socially. Now, this is my rant, and I hardly need to defend myself to you guys, but I'll go ahead and tell you about what I do to help the environment. I'm not trying to be self-righteous or claim that I'm not part of the problem like everybody else. The sad fact is that the little I do to improve our planet is a lot more than most people do, and I hope I can inspire people to revolt against laziness and despondency through my example. And also threat of violence, but we'll get to that.

Here's the thing about activism, and it's a good one, so pay attention: People who've not been heavily involved in grassroots activism have trouble sometimes seeing the point of it all. What can one tiny person do to make a difference? How will my one tiny act make any difference at all? These are the fallacies that people are working under when they decide to drop that gum wrapper on the ground or use a paper plate when they have proper dishes available. The honest truth, the reality of the situation, is that every single person and every single act makes a huge difference. I hate to get poetic on you, but the culmination of millions of tiny raindrops is a raging storm. So don't give me that "what difference does it make" horse shit.

A DISCOURSE ON GARBAGE

Garbage is bad. Some garbage is more bad than other garbage. If you take some garbage and sit it in water for a few days and, when removed, it hasn't changed in any respect? That's some bad garbage. It doesn't disappear when it leaves your home in a tidy plastic hefty sack. It goes to a landfill, where it gets buried in the ground, and it sits there. In the environment.

HEY EVERYBODY, MAKE LESS FUCKING GARBAGE!
Don't buy paper plates and plastic flatware. Washing dishes won't kill you, you lazy fuckers. Use a real towels and reusable sponges whenever you can instead of going through rolls of paper towels. DON'T BUY INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED FOOD PRODUCTS! This seems like a no-brainer, but people just adore convenience foods in tidy, easy little packages. Do you mean to tell me that you don't have the 20 seconds it requires to drop your crackers or prunes or chips or whatever into a tupperware container? Come on, you ain't that important. And yes, you heard me correctly: Tupperware! Not disposable baggies which, if you must use them, can be reused quite easily numerous times.

I'm not going to be like that shitbag, Sheryl Crowe, and tell you to only use one square of toilet paper. I'm telling you to pay attention to the garbage you create and cut out as much of it as you can. Again, we're talking tiny raindrops. Instead of that pre-washed lettuce at the grocery store in it's thick and shiny colored plastic bag, put an unwrapped head of lettuce in the ultrathin plastic produce bags available. If you think that's a trivial thing, get yourself a sample of each bag and wad them up as tight as you can: the shiny colored plastic bag is about 4 times the size. That's only one example of things you may have never considered making unnecessary waste. Really, all it takes to makes a giant impact on how much garbage you produce is thinking about this stuff and making better, more responsible choices. So do it already.

SPEAKING OF GARBAGE...NEVER LITTER
Never ever ever ever ever ever litter. Ever. I hit people for littering. If I am unable to do any physical damage to litterers or their property, they can most certainly expect a loud and furious indictment of their character. I'm crazy and I will step up to anybody, and littering is abominable. Intolerable, in fact, and I do not tolerate it.

Aside from my rather unhinged but proactive stance on littering, I also pick up garbage on the streets and put it in a receptacle.

"Ewwwwwwwww, Jillian! That is so gross! It's dirty and icky and I'm a delicate sissy!"

You know what I say to that? Man up, you little primadonnas. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure of gazing upon my lovely visage, I'm an awfully fancy woman. Dresses, make-up, high heels, the works. While my personality doesn't lend itself to many typically feminine attributes, I'm all girl on the outside (and well turned out to boot). So, if I can bend over and pick up a candy wrapper or an empty bag of chips outside in all of my finery, you most certainly can too.
THIS IS ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING PROACTIVE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
Not the bullshit of signing petitions or talking about pesticides like you actually know how that shit works (lack of scientific knowledge in the populace is a rant for another day), here is an activity you can do every damn day to make an obvious difference in the cleanliness of your environment. People are less likely to litter in clean areas rather than places with litter everywhere; see all the good you can do by picking a few wrappers here and there? This makes a difference, my friends, and any talk similar to the quote above will be met with a furious thrashing. As always, if I have to take off the heels to beat you, you're getting twice the beating.


RECYCLE
You know what that is. If you have recycling programs in your area, use them.

We recently got exciting new blue bins in my neighborhood for a new recycling program the city is working out. I have harassed the living hell out of everyone I know in the neighborhood to use them, including strangers and purveyors of local businesses that I frequent. Some of you are really going to the effort, even hiking your bag of trash a half block away to the nearest blue bin (Marty, you're a champ). Some of you, you know who you are (and so do I, I'm smart like that), are too lazy to bother. So you don't bother because you've decided that the small effort it takes to set recyclable garbage aside and drop it into a different bin really isn't worth it to conserve materials and keep that extra crap out of the landfill. Your few seconds of time that you hold so dear....I hope you're curing cancer, because anything less just makes you a giant asshole.

THE BIG ONE

You didn't think I'd let you all slide about your fucking cars, did you? For the record, I do not have a car. I am more than content not having a car. I like to be able to read or do the crossword when in transit; when you drive, all you can do is pay attention to driving. Plus, I don't get sucked out to boring activities in the suburbs nearly as often as I would if I was...how shall I put it....part of the huge horrible planet-killing problem.

I actually do have a nice moment here and there, and I will exhibit some kindness here by allowing the cat I'm calling out for spewing transportation fallacies to remain anonymous. This person, who lives within the realm of Chicagoland, actually said that public transportation in this country is terrible. EXCUSE ME?! My problems with this statement:
1.) Public transportation in Chicago and throughout the suburbs is pretty damn fantastic. We're no Paris, but we do a damn good job here where public transportation is concerned. Regardless of what the situation is in the rest of the country, this person lives here.
2.) How exactly would this person have any idea about the quality of public transportation when they never employ it. Ever. Any number of excuses can be made as to why a car is necessary in the suburbs and for work purposes, but that's not really the point here. The point here is statements made about a subject on which that person is ignorant. You know I love ya, boo, but this is the unvarnished truth.

And why would someone make such a statement, not based on fact or personal experience? Because it's just another stock excuse. Something to roll off the tongues of socially responsible people when they get called out on their choice to pollute. This goes back to the real reason for how fucked the environment has gotten: we choose to pollute. Even people living in the city and working in the city opt to drive a car. WE KNOW THE DAMAGE THEY CAUSE. There are other options available, yet people will opt for more comfort and seclusion and convenience. Because that's what we do, we're all a bunch of selfish dickheads. It's merely human nature to be so self-involved, but human nature is a double edged sword.

We homo sapiens are a lucky bunch: we have all this terrific brain power to adapt to our environment and make complicated leaps of logic to see big pictures. So, as selfish as we are, we also know better than to be so self-serving. We can put two and motherfucking two together and realize that all this unnecessary vehicle use is going to result in everybody being supremely fucked.

I'm not saying that you should drive your cars into the sea, but be a bit more judicious about using it. If you need to go two blocks away, get your off your soft ass and walk there. If it's two miles, walk. It's not like Americans couldn't do with more exercise and you don't even have to pay for a gym membership. The worst offenders are in the suburbs, for the sole reason that there is parking for your pollution-machine anywhere you'd like to go. Anybody notice all that congestion on the expressways? Well, the next time your doughy suburban ass wants to come into the city on some sort of leisure expedition, take the train. It's clean, it's safe, and there are far fewer fumes to inhale than sitting in gridlock on the highway. If you work a job in the city that doesn't require constant travel during the day, take the train to work. Everyday. Every one of you that can.

For the love of all that is evil, DO NOT PURCHASE AN SUV!
I know you think they look cool, and everybody's got one, and you just have to be just like everyone else - but please, I beg you, do not buy a giant pollution-monster when you have absolutely no need for one. Here comes another harsh, but apt, judgement: PEOPLE WHO DRIVE SUVs TO LOOK COOL ARE THE WORST SORTS OF SCUM. Nope, I won't take it back. If you're reading this and thinking about your super-huge asshole-mobile sitting in the garage: you are a bad person. No getting around it, you suck. You've opted to trash the environment extra just so you can indulge your vanity. We can still be friends, but you need to know that you're an asshole.


WRAP IT UP ALREADY

I've blathered on even more than I usually do, but this is an important message. In a time where everyone wants to jump on the latest pet cause, keep your eyes on what's important and what you can do to actually make a difference. We don't get a second chance if we fuck this up.

I hope I've made you angry.

Oh, you're more than welcome to be angry with me for anything I've said. The line starts around the block. I hope you're angry with yourselves, too; I know I am. I could do more and do better. Imagine what we could accomplish if we all did more, if we all took a stand against trashing the environment and held ourselves and other people to this standard. Don't be quiet about it, take some action. Stop letting all this shit slide.


If you like anything I've said here, please repost it anywhere you like. Shove the shit in everyone's faces so they can get a good whiff of the horrible stench we've created.


Jillian