Dirt Is NOT Ethical

Dirt isn’t dirty. The thought that land is something that's alive and has rights, isn't solely ethical, it's beneficial. I remember growing up in the countryside near Warsaw, invariably fascinated with the nature around - gardening with my mom or going on hikes in the Polish mountains. Mountains on mountains of grass sprawled like a thick blanket on a jagged human form. I adored being awestruck with the endless beauty of the land around me. My dad would sit me and my sister down and perform magic tricks, making lollipops appear out of thin air. Times like those made me believe that anything was possible. I remember holding my dad’s hand on one of our walks, the smell of rain dripping off of soaring pine trees and the steaming air as the rain

I knew that if their wings got wet, they'd die then and there. Even once the animals were dead on grocery store shelves, I'd startle my mom with uncontrollable crying, because I could see the pictures of the meats on signs above the aisle and was able to associate that with the meat lying on the shelves - lifeless. She would avoid the meats altogether in order to get through the store with me. Sadly countless Americans continue to believe that their food replicates on grocery store shelves through mitosis. They miss the connection and responsibility they have for the Earth they live on and don't understand that they can live without plastic bags, bottled water, fluoride toothpaste, and a host of other items which drain and pollute our natural resources. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all have primal instincts and basic needs which take priority: oxygen, food and water which, contrary to popular belief, are not unlimited. In the long run, resources are always finite. A few fossils preserved in the bedrock of South America will not be enough. We know that the Earth’s ecology is extraordinarily complicated, and no animal lives in remoteness from the