In the vast figurative plain of self-imposed reprehensibility, I am guilty of the inexcusable folly of being a practicing Albuquerque-ian prairie dog watcher.

How is it that I have in such short time managed to implicate myself in this incorrigible foolishness? And with such fanatical glee? For surely there is no sense in searching, road-weary after the trip back from the faraway sands of base camp, bleary eyed, but determined, for the fat rump of a New Mexican rodent native to the grasslands of North America? Surely there are activities of greater practicality, if not importance, such as listening to music, daydreaming, or instigating conversation with the man behind the wheel? Would it not be wise to Walt Whitman my way with the people of this foreign state, learning, appreciating, adapting? But, as Hamlet says,”Aye, there’s the rub,” for the driver himself is guilty of the same crime! We are both peevishly enamored with the chub of a beast that is no more than half a foot top to toe! We watch them sit, stand, scurry, and dig, activities of absolutely arbitrary nature to them, but of utmost interest to us. And what does this get my driver friend and me? Does the prairie-dog wave hello? Does he shout salutations, or perhaps, a casual good-day? Does he rather bite his thumb at us? None and absolutely NONE of the above! He notices us not.

Assuming you, reader, are not yourself an obsessed voyeur, allow me to explain the greatest problem with the aforementioned activity. The ecology of Albuquerque is much different from that of my native Los Angeles, it is, literally, “in the water”. (The H20 in Albuquerque contains much more Calcium) This is desert, the plains, John Ford’s land. The animals, the air, the land, it’s all different. My furry-friend’s home, its contrast to other parts of the country, New York, LA, Boston, Alaska, or in fact, other countries, and simultaneously the similarities between all these places, remind me of the varying beauty of this planet, and the importance of keeping it alive and healthy.

However, people in New Mexico are saying the same thing that people in New York are, the same thing that I’ve noticed: the weather is behaving strangely. It’s hot when it should be cold, cold when it should be warm, and both temperatures last unnaturally long. What are we doing to our planet and what is it trying to tell us? WE MUST RESPECT THIS EARTH AND TAKE CARE OF IT, or there won’t be a place left for us, or the prairie-dogs.

And so, I think on my way back from work, as I watch them scuttle to and fro, dig their holes, and go about their daily business, it is our duty to this Earth for letting us inhabit it, that we take care of our environment. We encourage clean air facilities and electric vehicles, funding for research concerning these things; we take care of our parks and ecosystems, etc, because we must always remember: we SHARE this Earth with others, and even though they’re not watching us, it’s our duty to watch over them.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Anton is currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico shooting Terminator Salvation.