There's Pygmy Elephants in Borneo. I just found this out, and it filled me with delight. They're not tiny or anything. They're pretty big. They're elephants. But knowing that they exist buoyed me in in the present vail of tears. And then... you know the rest. They're threatened. Their home is being raped. Such a fleeting moment of joy. But wait. What's that I see on the horizon?
Consumers!
No shit. Not the Rodeo Drive maniacs. They're beyond salvation. Consumers of fast food. See. It's all about palm oil. No trans fat in palm oil, and it acts like butter. Melts when it should, stays solid when it's useful. The burger boys are all over the stuff. The demand is unrelentingly on the rise. Jungles in Borneo are falling like tenpins when the Dude's at the line.
But... oh I love this... consumers are catching on. They're learning that the monoculture that makes palm oil is destroying the jungle, and the Pygmy Elephant of Borneo's hangout, not to mention a garden of diversity and life beyond measure and certainly human understanding, and some of them are getting pissed about it. This is wonderful, and it is important.
The legions of ignorance and greed who've been driving the bus for the last couple decades have always turned to the relatively innocent and confused citizen in time of crisis and said...
"Consume! Shop us out of this."
Consume. The American answer to everything. But lo... the worm turns. The consumers are starting to think. They're asking questions. Smart questions. Like...
"Why am I buying this shit?"
Praise Him and Glory Be! Let this wind blow hard and long. There are myriad organizations, like Earth Watch, Greenpeace, you guys know where to go. The thing is, consumer is a fraught word. Hated and lionized. Why? It's likely the only power that, thinking straight and organized, could bring the bastards that brought us to this unspeakable financial and human tragedy to their knees.
And offer some peace and prosperity to the pygmy elephants of Borneo.