Saruman is not our Leader

I want to get one thing straight. We’re not secretly evil. (1) It’s not like Canadians are trying to create Orthanc in the Boreal Forest… it’s just kind of… happening.

You know, you can basically have the Global Warming/Climate Change/Environmental Pollution conversation with any five-year-old caught in the middle of trashing his room…
“Augh! What are you doing?!”
“What?”
“This room! It’s a disaster!”
“No it’s not.”
“Look! There’s stuff all over the floor!”
“It’s not that bad!”
“Your pillow’s in the closet! And where are the rest of your clothes?”
“I don’t know. Maybe my sister did it.”
“Your sister isn’t even here. She’s at school.”
“Well, maybe she did it before she left?”
“Look, I don’t care who did it, I just want it cleaned up.”
“But (bursts into tears) I didn’t *mean* to!”

(Then, being a good mother, I come to my senses, deal with the tears, put him on track to get the room tidied up, and eventually read everybody a story, probably without tipping to his sister that he tried to blame her.)

Maybe what we really need in this conversation is some Good Mothering. “There, there, Industrial Civilization. I know you don’t want to destroy the planet… but maybe we could do something about this need to boss everybody around and take all their toys? And while we’re at it, why don’t we do something about the mess in here?”

1. At least I hope we’re not secretly evil. If you are secretly evil, could you please let me know in the comments?