Environmentalism

"... Acts against the environment are not perpetrated solely by the world's uncaring, nor by the profiteers and/or misguidedly self-interested. The taxes we impose upon Nature are being levied by all of us—intentions, ideals, and political allegiances aside. The damages that environmentalism seeks to address stem from the very basis and structuring of our modern cultures and societies as a whole. Our demands of this Earth are hidden behind the most common, and passively accepted, ways in which we think, act, expend, consume, and live..."

Credit Douglas Balmain, via Harper's inside back cover.

Addendum:

 

A photo of the formerly pristine Atacama Desert in Chile:

How much is there? At least 39,000 tons worth of accumulated cloth waste in a tiny area in a free trade zone – the equivalent of 390 million average cheap T-shirts by weight to give you an idea.

Why? Chile is Latin America's largest importer of second-hand garments (59,000 tons worth per year). Apparently up to half of the imports aren't sold and are dumped illegally nearby by the companies involved in the trade after the local landfill started refusing to take in the waste because there was too much of it and it was deemed too toxic.

Details and lots of photos at La Nacion.