everything sucks and we're all gonna die -- by carissa

I wrote a paragraph-long blog post about spreading positivity and published it, and then deleted it because I wasn't feeling it. When I was thinking about things important to me to write about, I was thinking about positive things -- I could fake some stuff about music having a deeper meaning that it does, or say that my family is perfect and talk about how we all spend time together. But after some recent events of today I'm angry and tired so I'm writing about something that's important to me -- the fact that some people are just so horrible and get away with it.

Eight companies -- just eight -- are responsible for a third of oil and gas pollution, and a fifth of carbon dioxide pollution, since 1988 (source.) These companies pollute the atmosphere more than the whole United States, and nobody's stopping them. There are reports that Exxon has known about the extent of climate change for years, and has covered it up so they could continue making money, The fact is, all these old people voting in racist presidents, and big business owners who make a quick buck from chopping down a rainforest to drill for oil, these people don't care about what happens after they're gone. Everyone who is up to date on current news and is a rational human being is aware of just how quickly we are killing our planet, and many prefer to look the other way. Of course, there are people who fight hard to protect our environment and keep it clean, but they are silenced in the presence of all the money that's brought in by these planet-killing companies. Blame is put onto average everyday citizens, who are told to take shorter showers, use metal drinking straws, and recycle. All of these things are important and should be practiced, but are nothing compared to massive corporate pollution, which does't take as much of the blame.

Planet earth has gone through five major extinctions -- the earth freezing over, the asteroid killing the dinosaurs, and more. These all seem so far removed from us and our lifetimes, as they took place before human life fully evolved. Right? Wrong. Planet earth is now in its sixth mass extinction, and it's our fault. (source) Extinction naturally happens, with about 1 to 5 species going extinct a year -- but now we're upping that rate by up to 10,000 -- dozens of species go extinct every single day. Remember the movie Rio we all watched as kids, starring a blue macaw named Blu? The lesson of the movie is to end deforestation because animals lose their homes and their populations suffer. Guess what? We didn't listen, and as of this weekend, blue macaws went extinct. This mass deforestation, animals choking in the ocean on discarded plastic, some people in Flint, MI still not having clean water -- that's all our fault. And nothing is changing.

On a smaller scale, things are unfair sometimes. I used to believe strongly in karma but now I'm not so sure. I've seen some people screw others over and then go on to have the best times of their lives, while the good people are left at a loss. I know far too many people who think it's okay to drive drunk and endanger the lives of others, I know pathetic people who steal from their friends and peers in a gym locker room, and screw over their best friends after the friend did everything for them. I know people who lead on girls for months and end up lying about everything until they got what they want. And so many get away with it. It's absolutely infuriating that this is the world we live in, where the good will of the smaller people is no match against a check. I hate that this is the place and time we live in, I hate that the point of no return for global warming and climate change is in just eleven years (source). It makes me sad that there are so many people who want kids, but are afraid to bring them into this world because nobody knows what the future holds for America. It's really just sad.