A view of our future?

So I went and saw the movie WALL-E today. It was a cute flick, though with very little spoken dialogue it seemed to lack something. Perhaps it's just that I'm used to lots of talking and plot divulging during movies, but it was still an enjoyable film. I'm always up for the latest Pixar flick. They do great work. Seeing the movie did make me think for a moment is that future portrayed in the film really that far off? It's no secret the human race is destroying this planet. As a species we suck rocks. We've completely taken ourselves out of the "survival of the fittest" equation. Without all our technology most of us humans wouldn't be here. I myself would have died in some accident or been taken by a predator. I've got poor eyesight without the aid of my contacts, and apparently now some of my hearing is gone. My left ear is basically deaf, so according to Darwin I'd not be "fit" to pass on my genes. Lots of us humans are overweight and lazy relying too much on technology to fix our problems. It would not surprise me when the day comes when humans kill off all life on Earth. When that day comes I won't feel sorry for the human race. Nope we brought it on our selves and should *finally* pay the price for our actions. No, the only things I'll feel sorry for will be the plants and animals that we mercilessly killed in our own pursuits of luxury.

As a Zookeeper I am frequently asked about my feelings of captive animals. The answer is not as simple as one would think. Sure I'd love to not need Zoos, but then I'd also be out of a job that I do love very much. I am ok with animals being in captivity, hell if some animals weren't in captivity they'd be extinct or close to. Pollution and human encroachment on their habitats among other factors have driven some species to be found only in captivity. That is a sad realization. I feel it's important to not only show the rich diversity of the planet but to also educate future generations about the animals plight at our own hand in the hope that they will become part of the solution. The problem cannot be fixed at this point we've grown too big, but we can stop it from getting worse. I'm against taking animals from the wild to be put into a Zoo or to become someones designer pet. Most Zoo animals now are captive breed either in house at that Zoo or as part of a breeding project. These animals are more accustomed to human contact and fair better in captivity with human caretakers.

There is nothing good or right about someone owning a wild animal as a pet. I've seen too many documentaries and shows about people with too much money buying a Tiger cub on the black market to have as a status symbol. These people have no idea what goes into raising a Tiger. It's not like a house cat where you can put down some food and be done wit it. Most of the time they don't realize how large the animal is going to become when it's grown. When they realize that they don't know what to do so of course the animal suffers. People that buy exotic snakes not knowing that it's going to grow to 20 feet think for some reason that they can just let the snake go and it'll be fine. It's a tropical snake from S. America oh yeah it'll do fine in the nearby woods in NY state or wherever.

We like to think that humans are the top species, but the ignorance of some of us only reinforces my doubts of that claim. Granted most of us humans are decent, intelligent people who would research any pet they are considering before buying it. It's that other percentage who apparently have never had to take responsibility in their lives that tarnish the species as a whole.

If we have any hope to avoid the future that was depicted in WALL-E we need to wake up and take a lil responsibility. There will always be those who don't care so the rest of us who do will have to pick up a little slack so those lazy idiots don't bring us all down.

Who knew a Disney/Pixar flick would have aroused all that right? Well most of this rant has been in my head for awhile but seeing what happened to Earth in that movie and knowing that that could actually happen stirred it all up. Still a cute movie and worth seeing.