Color on the Columbia

We walked along the Marine Drive dike and the shore of the Columbia on our way to Costco. Spring is on its way.
But, nothing makes sense, nothing seems manageable as we joined the throngs of over-consumers after watching Scaups feeding on the river. 
Scaups are common and widespread across this country. But, while there are 340 million people in the US today, there are only 116 million Scaups. Fifty years ago it was more like 203 million people to - well, darn it, I don’t have the patience to figure out a similar comparison of Scaups; the numbers are all over the place. Plus, this is apples and oranges. But, I’m trying to make a point: we greatly outnumber them and consume so much more.
If only, if only, if only the things we did would be improving our planet instead of using it up.