call me "tree-hugger"

It's true, I can't deny it any longer, I'm a hippie...a stinky, earth-loving, tree-hugger. I don't think it serves anyone or anything to stereotype, so I wouldn't say that I'm proud of my designation, but if someone really wanted to pigeon-hole me, that's probably where I'd end up. I'm one of those "ecocentrists" who believes that all life on earth was created equal and that the earth has intrinsic value. I struggle between thinking that humans have just gone and messed everything up (fine, call me a Social Green, too) and that we're just playing our part in an endlessly evolving game of Life. I appreciate simplicity, and feel that our eventual downfall will be that we've made everything too complicated: our social, economic and environmental spheres can no longer overlap because each is too entangled in its own web of confusion. But I'm way more moderate than a radical, I don't think humans are the end-all-be-all that have the power to destroy the planet...oh no, I'm quite confident that the planet will survive, regardless of human action. That gives me hope. What gives me motivation is the desire to not be that lame one in the group that messes it up for everyone else. Not just because I don't want to be lame, but because generations of people and plants and animals should have all the same privileges as I have. I think all creatures are greedy, but only humans are greedy for things that we don't need.