Jonathan Zasloff at the Legal Planet blog writes:
Do Religion and Environmentalism Mix?
I’m in Ohio this week for the biennial "Kallah" of ALEPH, the organizational home of the Jewish Renewal movement. This has led to an interesting question about the relation of religion and environmentalism.
I’m taking a class given by Arthur Waskow on what he calls "eco-Judaism," which is a pretty self-explanatory phrase: Waskow believes that Jewish theology in general (and Biblical theology in particular) strongly tilts in favor of ecological consciousness.
But I’m taking the class because at this stage, I am somewhat skeptical of the general notion that religion can add much to environmental policy debates.
First, it seems to me that many of the crucial issues of modern environmentalism are not amenable to broad-based moral reasoning and intuition that religion can provide. Religious thinking has little to say about, for example, what is the appropriate amount of particulates that should be in the air, or whether climate change should be tackled by cap-and-trade, or a carbon tax, or command-and-control regulation.
Second, it concerns me to suggest that one cannot be a good Jew/Christian/Muslim/anything else and have a particular position on the environment. The environment is a political issue, and it should be. But that begins to move us toward a political test of religious commitment.
That said, I don’t want to reject the notion entirely because it also seems to me that there are good counter-arguments ... |
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The rescue begins below and continues in the jump. (If you haven't already, consider joining DK GreenRoots, the new Google Group for environmentally active bloggers.)
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ChangeToWin wrote about Good Green Jobs: Moving from Rhetoric to Reality: "You’ve probably heard lots of buzz about ‘green jobs’ lately. But, you may have wondered, what does all that buzz translate to in the real world? How is the green jobs movement affecting real people and real communities? And are new green jobs being created in ways that make them good jobs -- jobs that can help a worker achieve the American Dream -- too? After the jump, stories and video of how one union is working from coast to coast to get workers ready for the green jobs of today and tomorrow -- and how communities are working with them to ensure that those green jobs are good jobs too."
In the DK GreenRoots-tagged diary: The Insanity of Bottled Water, Asinus Asinum Fricat lamented: "Most concerned citizens find that it is increasingly hard to argue against the fact that waste management has become a gigantic problem in the world, with landfills growing to the size of small counties, oceans being used as dumps and recycling habits remaining dismally low on the radar. The number of plastic bottles produced by the bottled water industry and subsequently discarded by careless consumers has not just exacerbated this problem but added on extra detritus to an already polluted planet, the majority of which is not bio-degradable."
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The Overnight News Digest is posted. Included is the story Major Military Operation Under Way in Afghanistan
Schedule for DK GreenRoots Week
All listed times are PDT.
Thursday July 2:
9am: jeremybloom on climate
11 am: Muskegon Critic
3 pm: Bruce Nilles
5 pm: boatsie on social networking
7 pm: rb137 on "blood minerals"
9 pm: Jill Richardson on food
Thursday Series:
Morning Feature by NCrissieB; Labor Diary Rescue by djtyg, Considered Forthwith by Casual Wednesday; Thursday Night Health Care by TheFatLadySings; Top Comments by Elise; Write On! by SensibleShoes; Overnight News Digest by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
Friday July 3:
11 am: Meteor Blades
3 pm: TXsharon
7 pm: Land of Enchantment on energy
Friday Series:
Morning Feature by NCrissieB; Mojo Friday by rbutters; Frugal Fridays by sarahnity; Friday Night at the Movies by Land of Enchantment; Overnight News Digest by Oke
Saturday July 4:
11 am: Jerome a Paris on wind power
3 pm: buhdydharma
5 pm: Land of Enchantment on climate
7 pm: Stranded Wind
Saturday Series:
Morning Feature by NCrissieB; Daily Kos University by plf515; Dawn Chorus Birdblog by lineatus; Saturday Morning Garden Blogging by Frankenoid; Saturday Morning Home Repair Blogging by boatgeek; Top Comments by carolita
Plus there'll be music on environmental themes in jotter's High Impact Diaries every morning, along with schedule updates. Additional diaries will be filled in from amongst the following: faithfull, The Cunctator, and Turkana. And we'll make more slots as needed - anyone who has an environmentally-related story they want to post this week, we'll create a place on the schedule for you.
webranding posted photos and text about My Trip To The Smoky Mountains National Park: "Generally speaking the trip could not have been more perfect. We had 2-3 days of thunderstorms in the afternoon forecast, we got nothing, although it was a little overcast most days so pics were tough. We spend most of our time in the Park on weekdays, so we avoided the weekend traffic, and maybe best of all we didn't have TV, an Internet connection, nor newspapers so I didn't have to endure what I expect was 24/7 coverage of the death of Michael Jackson."
BoxNDox was skeptical and chose to Run the numbers on electricity: "I was very pleased to learn of Ken Salazar's proposal to fast-track solar energy initiatives. It's definitely a step in the right direction. But how big a step is it, really? Let's look at the numbers."
In his DK Greenroots-tagged diary, Beware the Silver Bullet ..., A Siegel wrote: "I am a techno-optimist. I believe that scientists and engineers provide part of our solution paths forward. I believe (know) that there are tremendous things being developed in laboratories and garages around the world that will help us (the US) deal with the challenges we face. Yet (that ‘but’), I am leary of leaping upon the latest news, the item from the laboratory, the newest press release that screams ‘PROBLEM SOLVED’ because, for whatever reasons, those miraculous answers all too often head back to the laboratory, turn out to be more difficult and costly than first described, and end up doing less than imagined. This is the ‘Silver Bullet’ solution concept, the idea that there is something magical out there, one single path toward solving all our problems. Silver Bullets are often thrown out when it comes to Peak Oil."
In her latest installment compiling "Siglines," Wee Mama joined the DK GreenRoots Eco Week of diaries in Caring for the environment:
Mountaintop Removal Mining: trading our purple mountain majesties for central air.
by demotarian
"Clean coal is like a healthy cigarette." -Blan Holman, Southern Environmental Law Center
by Laurdet
In his DK GreenRoots-tagged diary, FishOutofWater posted The Video that Could Save Your Life: "The roots of environmentalism are survival and self protection. Urbanization, development and specialization have created the illusion that humans exist apart from the environment. The illusion is dangerous. Every year beginning around the Fourth of July weekend in millions of people rush like lemmings to the beaches blissfully unaware of the basic flow of water in the surf zone. Every year in the United States over a hundred people drown and thousands are rescued because they are caught in rip currents. ...Never turn your back on the ocean. Conditions can change in seconds."
RLMiller sought federal help for California in Go Ahead, NPS, Seize These Cal State Parks, Please!: "If you haven't been reading Calitics or Paul Krugman, here's the FAQs: California has a huge budget crisis. Tomorrow it'll start issuing IOUs to pay its vendors, and it's running a $24 billion deficit. Gross oversimplification: 51% of the (Democratic) legislature can promise worthwhile causes, a world class education system, a functioning infrastructure, and ponies to voters, but, thanks to Prop 13, 67% of the legislature must agree to pay for the causes, schools, roads, and ponies; we can never round up 67%, so for the last 30 years we've been borrowing to pay for ponies we've already ridden, we've used up all our good credit and then some, our credit ranking has dropped like a paralyzed falcon, and this year we're borrowing from loan sharks. To save $140 million, or less than 1% of the deficit, Schwarzenegger proposes to close 80% of the state parks. Two classes of parks are being eyed by the NPS."
Cleaning Up Chesapeake Bay Through Potty Training was terryhallinan’s provocative headline: "Just like people, plants and animals that live in rivers,lakes and bays need nutrients to grow. However, too many nutrients can be harmful.The Chesapeake Bay contains excess nutrients, making it and portions of its tidal rivers ‘impaired’ or unhealthy. This means that there are fewer fish, crabs and healthy habitats to support Virginia’s fishing and tourism industries, damaging a way of life for many people. It is so kind the way you put it, Virginia. Far too kind really. People would rather blame Monsanto and/or Republicans and/or capitalists or whoever the designated enemy is. All are guilty but it's mainly you and me and all those other people and their cows and hogs and chickens and horses - let's leave our horses out of this. We especially love horses too, Virginia."
it really is that important wowed us with photos and text in her DK GreenRoots-tagged diary about the Shenandoah National Park, Keep an eye out for bear: "Shenandoah National Park is a hiker's paradise: over 500 miles of trails lead up to peaks, or down to waterfalls and gorges tucked into cool corners of the park. Once the peak trails led to stunning vistas. Sadly, air pollution has reduced visibility dramatically, only one of its significant impacts on the park. More on that a little later ... Meanwhile, hike along with me ... but move gently along the trails. Listen to that bird-song. Be still for a moment; perhaps that butterfly will land nearby. Enjoy the flashes of color from wildflowers that attract them. Be careful not to spook the squirrels, chipmunks, and deer. Don't just rush to our destination - cherish the journey.
Vikingkingq took a look at what legislation comes next in Green Transit and Hybrids: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles: "Even given that Waxman-Markey is a first step, not a last step in the long road to actually dealing with the imperative of climate change reform, there is an enormous amoun of work that needs to be done in actually getting to where we need to go. Various groups have calculatedthat to just stabilize global temperatures at a reasonable level and ward off the worst effects of climate change, we’re talking about solutions that run from .5% to 3% of global GDP – even if we get lucky, and the number ends up being positive (i.e, more green jobs and industries created than costs imposed), we’re still talking about a tremendous transformation of our economies and societies – in which there will be vested interests who stand to lose big, and who will resist reform strongly. Given that, it seems to me that the answer is less one big bill, leaning on one policy lever, but tons of bills, and tons of executive action, leaning on every policy lever imaginable."
Mark H joined the DK GreenRoots diarists with the latest installment in his Marine Life SeriesResponsible Shrimp Buying: "So, what happens to the bycatch? In general, after all the shrimp have been picked out of the giant pile of biomass on the deck and quickly frozen to preserve them, the crew shovels or hose-sprays the rest of the catch overboard. Pretty much nothing survives. Of course, because the bycatch is left dead and dying at the bottom of the sea these animals are basically out of sight, out of mind. Imagine the outrage if a hunter searching for a deer killed nearly every bird, mammal, reptile and insect in his path. And simply left them lying dead on the ground. You get the picture. (The photo shows a sea turtle, along with hundreds of other species, lying dead on the deck of a shrimp boat.)
Soil organic carbon pools in the northern circumpolar permafrost region may sound a tad wonky, but shpilk explained why it matters: "While politicians quibble about how much to tax carbon, passing the American Clean Energy and Security Act and still the pseudo-science of denying wingnuts fills the airwaves and media, we [all of us, even the fools who deny what is happening to our planet] travel down the road. For all the racket, for an Inconvenient Truth, for Live Earth, nothing has changed. We as a supposedly civilized society travel pretty much down the road, oblivious to the bridge out ahead. The graphic shows ‘Methane levels rose in 2008 for the second consecutive year after a 10-year lull,’ CO2 up 2.1 ppm to highest levels on record ‘despite economic slump.’"
cfk looked at eco-books in the DK GreenRoots-tagged diary Bookflurries: Bookchat: The Setting as Character: "Tonight, Bookflurries is taking part in the environmental/nature diaries of Eco Week. Land of Enchantment suggested this week’s theme and I am happy to oblige. The land is important in many fiction and non-fiction books and essays."
mieprowan was happy because it rains! it rains!: "I spent some time last week reading the local newspaper Forum Topix, and catching up on previous threads about teh water rationing. Response was all over the place...and, that's good! Because previously it was kind of all ‘I LUVS me some lawn! (taunt, taunt)’ and ‘I PAY for the water and they will pry it out of my cold dead hose!’ Now it's: ‘We're in a DROUGHT here and what on earth are we talking about gardens for?’ and ‘Miep's suggestions about water conservation are good!’ and ‘How about all those people with golf courses? How about the Country Club?’"