Are You a Culprit Too?

It all began with the controversial trial when music labels sued Napster, the first well known site where people could dowload pirated music. Suddenly, people were aware of the fact that they didn't need to buy CDs that they felt were overpriced, instead they could turn to the internet. Now, downloading is no longer a secret, retaillers even sell pirated movies publicly without the fright of being caught. Our society is open to the idea of downloading music illegally, just because it's free. People feel that it is not necessary to go to the movies or to buy DVDs from Best Buy when they could get a pirated copy for half the price.
Personally, I am on both sides of the argument. I download music and am guilty of being a criminal, no matter how smooth I feel while listening to my free music. Although it has become such a normal routine that nobody really feels guilty, sometimes my conscience will kick in. I believe that I am a responsible dowloader, if that even makes sense. I will download music to listen to as a sample for an artist or a band's CD. If I like their music, I feel that they deserve the royalties and will go and buy their CDs. I don't feel the need to buy a whole CD if I only want to listen to a single song. I also try to listen to the radio as much as possible to decrease the amount of songs I download. I use the same practice for movies. I will watch a movie online, but if I like it, I will go out and buy the DVD. I feel that at their current price, CDs and DVDs are worth buying to own forever. I do not own a single pirated DVD bought off a random vendor and feel that if I'm going to own a copy of a movie, both the movie makers and I deserve the real thing.
Because I am guilty of pirating, I will not go about commenting on other people and their habits. Even if people feel that it is okay to pirate, we must always remember that it truly isn't. Pirating is an illegal act that morally, no matter if we're going to get caught or not, we should not be doing. Trying to say that you are not a criminal even though you download would by lying and it is important to be aware of what you are doing before you act.

Can This Be Our Future?

(New hybrid Porsche Panamera)
According to the website, my ecological footprint is 5.4, pretty good compared to our nation's average footprint which is 8.8. However, if everyone lived like me, it would take three Earth's to sustain the population. I find that this information is unacceptable since the average Canadian footprint is almost double mine. My family tries our best to be eco-friendly in many ways by using a manual lawn mower, owning only one car, taking the public transit, turning off lights and using energy efficient light bulbs, all of which have not greatly affected our lives other than by helping the planet. Although it seems like I am doing a lot, it is clearly not enough to stop Global Warming in any way. The only reason its not working is because there are still BILLIONS of people taking our Earth's problems for granted. Even though there is obvious evidence of how humans are the direct cause of Global Warming on our Earth, people still do little unnecessary things like littering because there's no garbage can near by. HAVE WE NO MORALS, PEOPLE? If everyone stopped littering, soon our world could be much cleaner. I believe each action taken will make a difference.
I can continue my crusade to a cleaner environment by buying products with less packaging. It is a pet peeve that I cannot avoid heavy packaging since everything in our society is made to have an attractive appearance. I actually hope that someday I will own a hybrid car, which will ultimately lead to a cleaner world, but for now I will continue to choose a greener approach to life.
I think that the Earth Day website is helpful because it takes everyday things that we do and puts them into focus by showing how everything we do has a cause and effect outcome. The website is helpful in making us realize how things we take for granted like running water and electricity affect the Earth. It is also helpful in showing how we can change our lifestyle to improve the Earth.