Ishmael #4 Interview

Alana Espineli

Save the World Interview

May 17, 2009

My mom and I went to National City over the weekend to pick up a cart full of Filipino food staples. Since I try to avoid the fishy smell of Seafood City, I decided to wait for my mom at the Jollibee across the street. As I was enjoying my signature Jollibee spaghetti, I remember my Humanities assignment; I was given the task of interviewing someone about our planet. I pulled out my notebook and looked over the questions I had brainstormed in class. I took a look around the small fast-food restaurant and spotted a friendly-looking, elderly man sitting two tables down from me. I stood up, dropped off my (styrofoam) plate into the trashcan and went over to introduce myself. To protect his identity, I have changed his name to Meep, for this blog.

Alana: Hello

Meep: Hi

Alana: I’m Alana

Meep: Hi Alana

Alana: Hey, whats your name?

Meep: Im Meep.

Alana: Oh

Meep: Oh! But you cant reveal that.

Alana: Ok, well. What are your views on the state of our planet?

Meep: I think we are in very, very grave danger. I think that if we do not do anything now then r planet will … cause they say, many people they say that in 2012, that will be the end of our planet but I think it will be for different reasons. Because there will be so many green house gases, that our ozone layer will just spread apart and we can’t even go outside anymore it’s just to hot.

Alana: Do you think that humans have an obligation to take care of the earth?

Meep: Yes, because the planet was around long before we were around and so this planet is around 65 billion years old? I’m just guessing here but I’m going to guess 65. And we’re are as a species only 15 billion or 25 but even then… and now its not until we started trading and commerce and agriculture until maybe 250 thousand years ago and that is when we started changing like our natural…. the natural environment. Not our natural environment because it doesn’t belong to us. We were born into it we were not meant to be the king of it. So yes we do have an obligation because this is not ours. We were just born into it and now we are abusing it.

Alana: Do you think the planet needs saving?

Meep: Yes, as I stated before, if we don’t do anything now, then its just going to be very, very bad. And in time its just going to get worse and worse and worse and then it’s going to take us to the point of no return. Where no matter how hard we try, we can never get back to the state we once were. But on top of all this, I must add that this planet, it does have an end I regret. It’s just going to go into another ice age eventually. And so I think if you want to survive then you must expand to the last frontier, we must explore outer space.

Alana: So if we go to outer space, do you think humans will learn from their mistakes of putting a planet into danger?

Meep: Well I think the pessimist in me is going to say that things are going to happen and then were just going to lose and lose more of our history and culture and we’re just going to get to the point where we forget about planet earth and we don’t know what becomes of it. But the optimist in me is going to say yes, we will learn from our mistakes because as long as we keep our history alive and we inform newer generations and they apply it, then I’m very very optimistic about it.

Alana: You said earlier that you think the earth needs to be saved…how do you think humans can help save the planet?

Meep: BY CONSUMING LESS!!!

Alana: …or…

Meep: Oh, I’m sorry….

Alana: …. Or do you think it can be even saved?

Meep: Well I think it’s to the point where it can be saved but it’s going to take a lot of work. And it’s going to take a lot of work as the entire world, not just one person. Just maybe one person in their entire life contributing nothing isn’t going to effect much. But if we all work together, to just consume less and respect our environment, I believe that conditions will stabilize and we will see this planet to maybe a thousand more years then it should have been.

Alana: What are some steps are you willing to take to help the environment?

Meep: Why, lets go back to the Stone Age! We don’t need 2 always, you know, buy a cell phone you know or drive a car. Lets just go back to a simpler time where its just about brute strength or intelligence and none of this other things where…why do we need a car anyway? To go to work or to go to school? In the Stone Age, they didn’t have schools, they just learned from what they’re doing. Just learned from their survival. So, I guess if you want to actually get the job done then the best thing we could do is revert back to a simpler time where we didn’t need to consume so much.

**Note: This entire Jollibee scenario was entirely made up to really protect "Meep's" identity...