I came out of the post office the other day to find three apparently kind and concerned people worrying over the fate of a small dog barking away inside a parked car. The driver’s window was open a crack, the day was hot though not impossible, the car was no doubt steamy, and the dog seemed unhappy about his confinement, though frisky and not in distress.

These kind people were quite anxious about the fate of this dog, were ruminating about the callous and reckless nature of its owner, had called 9-1-1 and could not pull themselves away from this potential small tragedy unfolding until it was somehow resolved.

But here’s the thing that got me: two of them were sitting all the while in SUV’s with their motors running and the air conditioning on. (I am rather certain about that because they too had their driver’s side windows open just a crack to allow them to talk to one another.)

Species are dying, the ocean are being over-fished and oxygen-starved, natural habitats that are home for millions of animals are being cut down and these kind folks are spending their time, their money and their CO2 chits on one small dog.

Imagine how the world would be if they spent those personal, monetary and energy resources on saving the world, or just one region of it, or just one species, or just one regulation or law or bill that worked to improve the ways we lived.

I am glad someone was looking out for this little dog. But we need them to work just as hard, indeed harder, looking out for the world. Perhaps instead of using the Big Blue as the iconic photo of the earth we needed to save, we should mold the planet into the shape of a dog enclosed in a case of metal and glass baking in the sun with the temperature rising.

Perhaps that will get the message across.