In honor of tomorrow being the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, here’s a list of the top five things that you can do to help out Mother Earth. If you don’t realize that the environment is a crucial issue for humanity, then George W. Bush and his puppet-masters have pulled the wool over your eyes again.

Bush says there’s no evidence that global warming is a danger, but the scientific community says otherwise — the U.K. government’s chief scientific adviser has even said climate change is a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism. See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3381425.stm.

Bush claims that limits on carbon dioxide and other gases that warm the atmosphere like a greenhouse would seriously harm the U.S. economy. He used this claim to justify pulling the United States out of the international Kyoto Treaty, which is designed to mandate reductions in emissions. But the Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of Uncle Sam’s Energy Department, begs to differ. They say the proposed limits are manageable. See “Experts counter Bush on warming costs” at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7516514/.

Who do you trust more, Dubya or scientists? Without further ado, the list:

n No. 1 — Recycle, recycle, recycle! This is especially important for college students who drink a lot of beer. If you don’t recycle those cans and bottles, you are accumulating bad karma for perpetrating unneccesary pollution on the planet. See www.earth911.org for all your local recycling info and questions.

n No. 2 — Urge Detroit to make more fuel-efficient cars. Auto emissions are a primary culprit in the global warming problem. My brother, a number cruncher for General Motors, insists that if there’s enough public demand, Detroit will comply. I think Detroit is afraid the research will cut into their precious profit margins. Do we have to hit Peak Oil before we can get fuel-efficient cars? (See www.peakoil.org.) Ask for them now at www.40mpg.org.

n No. 3 — Boycott the major fast food corporations. They are among the worst environmental criminals on the planet. According to a 1996 study funded by the United Nations and World Bank, 72 acres of rainforest are destroyed every minute. The majority of that destruction is by impoverished peoples creating land to grow beef for export to the United States so that we can have 99 cent hamburgers.

When you buy those 99 cent burgers, you support this destruction and the acceleration of global warming. I’m not saying you have to go vegetarian, but a conscious consumer will only purchase high-quality meats.

n No. 4 — Eat organic foods when possible. They may cost a little more, but you get what you pay for — better-tasting food whose production hasn’t harmed the environment. The absence of artificial flavors, pesticides and preservatives is also better for your immune system. The government says it’s OK to eat foods with pesticides, but officials ignore empirical data on everything from global warming to WMDs, so there’s no reason to believe their dealings with agriculture are any different.

And despite misinformed claims in this forum last week, there is evidence to indicate that genetically-engineered “frankenfoods” aren’t good for either you or the planet. See “The Dangers of Genetically Engineered Crops” at www.organicconsumers.org/biod/ccof101404.cfm and “BioDemocracy Alliance” at www.organicconsumers.org/ge-free.htm. Such foods are a Pandora’s Box for which proper, long-term testing has not been done because companies such as Monsanto are too eager for immediate profit.

n No. 5 — Tell your elected representatives to put pressure on the increasingly compromised Environmental Protection Agency to start taking its mission seriously. Corruption at the EPA has been ongoing for decades and is growing worse as the Bush policies cause many employees who are really interested in environmentalism to quit in disgust. Now the EPA is blocking reports from its own scientists! See http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0331-13.htm.

Many indigenous prophecies around the world indicate that humanity’s environmental rape of the planet is going to force Mother Earth into bringing some heavy weather to clean things up.

But the future is never set — we can lessen the impact of impending Earth changes by cleaning up our environmental act now. A friend of mine used to joke, “One woman I don’t wanna screw is Mother Earth.” Uncle Sam needs to realize that messing with Mother Earth is no joke.

Greg M. Schwartz is a graduate student in journalism. Contact him at [email protected].