I love George Carlin.

If you don’t know him, get to know him. I’ve blogged him up many times on Elephant. Here’s a few.

But I truly, madly, deeply hate this George Carlin quote:

Nihilists love to share that quote, or drop it in conversation about climate change. I hate nihilism (here’s why): it’s facile—too easy. It’s lazy. It’s irresponsible.

People who recognize climate change is a thing but don’t give a sh!t about changing your habits, voting, activism? Stop saying “the Earth will be fine, we’ll die.” That’s incredibly callous—and false. The planet isn’t a cold hard rock. It’s alive. We’re causing the extinction of flora and fauna by the millions, every day.

Here’s our convo about it, with the editor who shared it (I have no problem with our sharing quotes I disagree with!):

omg I hate that Carlin quote with the fires of hell itself

12:29
that said, fine to have debate about it

K 12:29 PM

Oops
12:30
Sorry

Waylon H. Lewis 12:30 PM
ooh, that Maya Angelou link is doing well

K 12:30 PM
Welp, one thing goin’ for me

Waylon H. Lewis 12:30 PM
no, it’s okay! You can see my comment. The earth is not a rock. It is not okay. We’re in the midst of the 6th extinction! We are changing the climate on the entire planet!

12:31
that quote is nihilism: “the planet is fine, don’t worry about it, we’re the problem, we should die.” Nope. We are the problem, but we can learn to live in harmony, instead of giving up and pretending everything will be fine.

Don’t give up. Especially if you’re doing daily damage. Let’s learn to live in harmony with our environment. That’s a joyful path.