When I think about the ecology, it is at that time, more than ever, that I feel as though women should probably be running the world. First of all, they are much neater than men, and also, they are more nurturing and concerned about the quality of life that their descendants will have. Men are pretty much short-sighted slobs, who care very little about the debris they leave in their wake. Rich men care even less. And mega-rich men don’t care at all. They are the most dangerous from an ecological standpoint. Global warming, the rain forest and ozone layer disappearing, oil spills, toxic waste... and the men in power shrug it off.

Me, I fall into that first category, just your average non-wealthy man-slob. Now, I’m guilty just like the rest of my gender. I have a problem with the whole “recycling” thing. Washing jars and plastic containers, separating them and putting them out in a bin, along with newspaper on trash day. All the while, that big fifty-five gallon trash container is half full, crying out to me like a siren who wants to seduce me to crash my boat of ecological consciousness against a submerged trash heap of apathy. Wow.

But it’s all so very annoying. They want me to stand in this line at the market with a basket full of empty bottles and cans, waiting impatiently for my turn to feed these things into machines and then wait again until it spits out a receipt for one dollar and sixty cents, while some men who own corporations are dumping poison by the tons into the air, the ground, the rivers, and the ocean. I sometimes leave the bottles in the cart for someone who thinks it is making a difference, or someone who could honestly use one dollar and sixty cents.

So, as I said earlier, I think women should be in charge of more major corporations, and better yet, more countries. There would be much more constructive dialogue because women will want to talk about their feelings, how the actions of another country have hurt their people. Sure, there might be some vengeful rhetoric at times if they feel another country has betrayed their trust in some way, statements that would imply that this country never really measured up to other countries they’ve dealt with in the past, or better yet, countries that they are currently dealing with behind the scenes. Everybody would be saying, “Did you hear that? Oooooooh, I can’t believe she said that. You go girl!” It would be kind of refreshing.

Men don’t want to talk about anybody’s feelings, work it all out, and maybe admit that they were wrong. It’s all about their ideas even if their ideas suck. It’s about power, testosterone and being more amazingly wealthy than anybody else. They don’t want painful, long dialogue about trust and treating another country as an equal. They’ll just keep it all inside and let it fester, believing that they must win at all costs, until it’s too much for them and they lash out in some way. “It’s my way or the high-way. I’ll show them who has a bigger military industrial complex. I’ll show them how many countries I can de-flower with my toxic waste! I’ll show them...” Blah blah blah.

And who pays for this swaggering foolishness? It’s all got to change somehow. Then maybe I’ll feel better about separating my stupid trash. And, I might just return those empty bottles, cash that receipt, and buy a sensitive greeting card. Maybe something with a picture of flowers or a puppy, send it to one of my good buddies just to say that I’m thinking of them. The world would be a much better place.

Michael McGan - 30th March 2007