"Despite China’s recent attempts to clean up the pollution, it will be a long time before the air is clean again. We should have kept our environment clean to begin with instead of trying to fix it after the damage is done." - Wenqing Yan (Yuumei)

Yuumei's thought relates to George Carlin's Saving the Planet ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W33HRc1A6c ).

I guess campaigns entitled or with ambitions set on saving the planet may become more effective if they target humans instead.

I remember from school days of stuff like the earth day as noted on Carlin's video and I think it doesn't really accomplish the desired effect. I guess the younger kids will remember it as something for the earth and maybe the other animals inhabiting it but not the humans. And, if it isn't about them nor affecting them directly: "why bother?".

The unfortunate "why bother?" attitude triggered by others' issues is also referred in Carlin's video as a first problem to tackle in order to actually make change and thrive. How so?

From Complex Systems Theory we have phenomena as emergence where some spontaneous order seems to arise from self-interested individuals. As noted by Fernando Pessoa in "The only social reality is the individual" ( http://arquivopessoa.net/textos/1767 ) - Aristoteles said that "The society exists for the individual, not the individual for the society" - in the words of Pessoa:

"Being the individual the only social reality, the egoism is the only real quality, although, by many disguises and artifices, in the course of social evolution (I don't say of progress, because I don't know - nor does anyone know - whether there is progress) altruistic feelings, tuning of the instincts.

So that the individual may have a social life that is a development element, or, in other words, so that the society is a favorable environment to his development, it is mandatory to settle such society in a egoistic concept. Therefore, nations are naturally formed. A nation is the second primary social element. Humanity doesn't group fraternally other than by opposition. We always unite so we can oppose. This is, actually, a logic principle: define is to limit.".

Later on the same text: "Composed of humans, the society, whatever it is in essence, will forcibly manifest the same qualities than the humans involved." - Fernando Pessoa

We can just deduce that a change on the egoistic nature of the individual is the only way of start making an actual change. Otherwise the system will just converge back to its original center. It is essential for the human species to learn taking care of one another. Rather than save the planet campaigns we need a very well designed education system capable of giving an important social and philosophical education starting on very early stage.

Fernando Pessoa in "(II)F. Any civilized society is characterized..." ( http://arquivopessoa.net/textos/1767 ) states: "Progress is the rebellion against the specie.".

I believe a general rebellion to those negative traits of our own specie is the only way to propagate a change through this complex system and consequently benefit *every* _individual_. https://loadaverage.org/attachment/5168197