It might not be enough to go green in order to save the earth

Forty years ago today, Neil Armstrong took a small step and humanity a giant leap.

NASA landed astronauts on the moon, fulfilling a pledge made by the late President John F. Kennedy.

Since then, we've gone back several times, constructed space stations, landed a rover on Mars and peered into the deepest depths of the galaxy through telescopes on Earth and those attached to satellites.

And Russian capitalists (yeah, there's an oxymoron) have made space tourism a reality for the very, very wealthy.

So, by now you're probably wondering what this has to do with Elgin and South Elgin.

No, the Gail Borden Public Library isn't planning another space exhibit. But our leaders - and those in other countries - should be planning together how to get off this planet for good.

For real.

We need to think long, long term here.

Let's think locally for a second. Elgin has launched a citywide sustainability effort and wants people to think beyond fluorescent light bulbs and recycling. To be more green. Think globally and all that.

In a perfect world, every community would do this. But even 6 billion people did this overnight, my question is: can humans be truly sustainable?

The answer is no.

No matter how "green" we are, how much we recycle, shop locally and only print e-mails when necessary, human beings will eventually exhaust all our resources here.

If it's not oil reserves drying up, then it's no more room for landfills, more melting ice caps or a lack of freshwater or an even larger hole in the ozone layer.

It's like the evil Agent Smith in "The Matrix" saying the human race just continues to multiply, using up all the resources as it spreads to a new area.

That is, if we don't have a nuclear holocaust first and destroy ourselves.

But the inevitable truth is we're going to use up Mother Earth and all that she has to give us.

We've been taking and taking for so long, it's impossible to undo. Even if we take just a little bit, the Earth will run out.

One of these days - probably not in any of our lifetimes - scarcity of resources will become a reality so harsh that humans will have no other option other than to look elsewhere to live.

And that doesn't mean another city, state or country.

It's another planet, in my opinion.

Slow down, pass the Advil

Beginning today and lasting nine weeks, street crews will totally shut down access on Wing Street at Route 31 in Elgin as part of a construction project to add a left turn lane there. Motorists will be directed to use detours at McLean Boulevard and Big Timber Road instead. Only Wing Street will be closed at the intersection; traffic will still flow north and south on Route 31.

The project is supposed to be done this fall.