We all hear about the stereotypic radical environmentalists in the news who do crazy things like throw cans of paint at fur coats or chain themselves to trees to prevent them from being cut down. And at some level, this makes sense to me. We should do everything we can to prevent further degradation of the environment by humans. Ideally, we should do what will benefit the most people in the future, whether or not it's good for us; whether or not we'll go to jail, or in other ways negatively impact our own lives or living conditions.
But, although I'm pretty idealistic, I don't think I'm THAT idealistic. Besides, I've come to realize that we view everything through the lens of our own humanity. That means that while we're working to save the environment and fighting to maintain a feeling of connection with the natural world around us, we can't forget that we are human, and we also have a responsibility to our own kind.
So, although we should work to stop wetland destruction and to find alternative fuel cells, there are more important issues at stake. People are dying by the millions. And while some of their problems can be fixed by fixing environmental issues, we should work on saving the humans first.
People feel this desire to feel connected to the Earth around them. Through the Earth, we can find God; we can view Creation in all its glory and get a feeling for just how small and insignificant we really are. Well, that's all well and good, and I think that we should work at expanding our horizons and realizing that we as humans are not the only things with intrinsic value. However, I think that some people take this feeling too far and forget to see the value in the people around them. Instead of looking to find God (or worth, for those of us who aren't sure about the whole God thing) in the snowflakes falling outside the window right now or the trees in a forest, what about the worth of your annoying roommate? Or that person who just ALWAYS says something annoying in class? Or the poor who don't have enough to eat, or enough money to buy their children Christmas presents?
The point I'm trying to make is that people can take radical environmentalism too far. While it is good to care for the environment and to find truth and beauty and God in the world around us, we should also search for the same truth and beauty and love in the people around us. We should realize that while we are connected to the natural world, that same connection connects to all the other people around the world, and we should do our best to care for them too.
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2 comments:
It's always ironic when maintenance issues come up in the dorms. I wonder why people are out to save the whales when they're not yet willing to take responsibility for cleaning up after themselves, not considering that if they won't do it, someone else will. Ah, idealism without follow-through...
I feel like our whole generation does that...we wear shirts that say how much we want to save the world, or write about in blogs, but we're not actually willing to do anything about it. And here I am, being such a hypocrite and doing exactly what makes me angry, writing about the state of the world in a blog while wearing a free-trade t-shirt (or, at least, I was wearing one earlier today...). ^_^
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