Poor Countries Have Become the Rich World’s Toilet.

Germany was largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025, sending 810,000 tons overseas, analysis finds.

So says a Guardian headline, and one can but cheer those who analyze. Without them, those of us who flush our wickedness in the direction of the poor wouldn’t have a number to boast, much less a number to shame.

Germany’s 810,000 tons in 2025 didn’t scatter globally—it flowed mainly into Turkey plus a Southeast Asian corridor (Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam), with some still circulated inside Europe via countries like the Netherlands and Poland. So, I guess they’re not all poor. All is always (or mostly) an exaggeration.

But, the news is relentlessly sad as we stagger our way toward the end of another species…our own. Scientists at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity concluded that: “Every day, up to 150 species are lost.” That could be as much as 10 percent a decade. That’s an alarmingly fast decline to zero.

Those mammals and fishes and insects that are taken off-grid are mostly unaware that their number is up, but humanity has no such excuse.

We comfort ourselves that we even have a UN Convention on Biological Diversity, while keeping books on less diverse, less diverse and, finally, no diverse. Today’s newly married will have children who will, presumably, have children. Those grandchildren will look around and wonder where it all went. Darwin in reverse…quick-step.

Elon would have us trot on off to Mars, but it’s a long and incredibly expensive trot.

It would cost way too much, take way too long, and there’s no corner grocery. It’s also a boring piece of rock, without enough gravity, and saving this lovely planet we happen to already live on is a far cheaper bet, if we’d actually do something useful right here before it’s too late.

But we won’t. Because, with the greatest brainpower in the animal kingdom, we’re too stupid to save ourselves. Cognitive brainpower is pretty great, but stupid and self-serving goes clear to the bone. Let Elon Musk go, and send us a note back on how he likes it. Then leave him there, and take what’s left of his wealth to pay down just a smidge of the national debt.

Or don’t.

Just disappear as a species, and leave the planet alone to heal. It will be fine.

Give it a couple of million years to clean up our mess and decide upon another species to take up where Darwin left off. The Origin of Species will still be relevant with or without its author. Some things are simply true.

Trust me, the planet will shake us off like water off a dog, and really interesting things will happen. A couple million years is simply an eyewink on this gorgeous, beautiful, and livable planet.

I promise.

Sue me if I’m wrong.