And that is all that love's about, and we'll recall when time runs out

So here's the thing.

Given my current responsiblities at work, I probably should be a bit more conscientious about saving the planet, and ensuring that we preserve this world for the future. The problem is, I don't really care. It's not that I'm actively trying to destroy the world - it's a very pretty place, and I would be sad if it was rendered unlivable. Or at least, I would be sad if I weren't dead because of the unlivable state of the world.

It's just that I'm fundamentally lazy, cheap, and selfish. This is the reason why I work in a green sea of empty V bottles on my desk. I never used to accumulate empty V bottles, because I used to have a rubbish bin by my desk that I could throw things into. It was easy to keep my desk clear of rubbish, and I did so. (This meant the only things I accumulated on my desk were several days worth of used dishes that I couldn't be bothered taking to the dishwasher and couldn't throw away.) But then they took my bin away, instead expecting me to use the various recycling bins by the kitchen to dispose of my rubbish. That's a full 24 steps for me to take to reach the rubbish bin, and another 24 steps back to my desk. 48 steps! And that's an intolerable distance for a lazy person to go. So I only gather up my empty V bottles and make that trip once my manager has told me for the third time this week to get rid of the bottles. Now, once I'm there, yes, I dispose of my bottles in the glass recycling bin, because it's no more effort to throw the bottles in that bin than the general rubbish bin (well, you do have to wash the bottles, but I don't mind that because playing with water is fun), but in general, if they didn't force me to recycle, I probably wouldn't bother.

Honestly, yes, I should recycle, yes, I could care about the extinction of the whales, yes, I should eat free-range eggs and chickens. But recycling is a big effort, I'm actually a little curious what whale-meat tastes like, and while I'll admit free-range eggs and chicken do taste better, it's not the three-times improvement required by the price increase, and since I'm not the person being hunted to extinction or kept in a tiny cage, I'm not really bothered. It's so much effort to do the right thing, especially when it's so easy to do the wrong thing. I mean, why bother going to a rubbish bin when it's so simple to wind down my car window and drop things out as I drive along. Hell, with electric windows, I don't even need to go to all the effort of manually winding the windows down, I just press a button and whoosh, the rubbish is gone.

So, yes, I guess I am destroying the Earth. Oh well, it's not like I'm the only guilty party - there are lots of other people that are doing much worse than me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go and watch Wall-E, because those Pixar films are very good. In the meantime, I found this week's Basic Instructions strip particularly funny.