Two things I liked about Carson’s argument was her ability to show that the picture is much more complex than the pesticide industry would have you believe, and just how easy it is to legislate that false ‘standard’ of safety - and we buy it wholesale. Because of our capitalistic industry, I believe such industries are prone to smooth out those sharp edges and meliorate the rhetoric (i.e., from ‘poison’ to ‘apply treatment’, etc.) to create the perception that something inherently unnatural and dangerous is OK for everyone to spray liberally around their living quarters. If there are any Hugh Nibley fans out there, I suggest reading (in connection with Silent Spring) "Man's Dominion, Or Subduing the Earth" in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints by Hugh Nibley, Don E. Norton, Shirley S. Ricks (eds.). It also appeared as "Man's Dominion," New Era 2 (October 1972).
Our complacency and carelessness of the environment might come from a misunderstanding of the Bible (?)
Adam, please elaborate (or maybe provide a scanned attachment of the article you are referencing!). How can a misunderstanding of the bible lead to complacency/carelessness of our environment?
Although I haven't read the articles you are referring to Adam, I think I may know where you are headed with the Bible argument. I think a lot of Christians (including some LDS folks) think that being stewards over the Earth means that we can do whatever we want with it --meaning perhaps use it and manipulate it to a point of irreversible destruction. There is actually a family in my ward back home who justifies that they don't need to recycle because the Lord promised that the Earth would never be destroyed. Como, what?! Maybe this is why so many conservative Christians don't support environmentally friendly policies and choose not to believe in scientific facts like global warming . . .
I think we are so "civilized" and industrialized these days that we forget (and that's what marketers want) what things are natural and we start to expect spray painted putting green lawns as the norm.
As for Carson's question, I think we are getting to the point where we are trying to live an artificial existence that we've come to believe is normal. At some point, we won't be able to create any more separation between the "natural" world and the everyday world. i don't know that this will necessarily destroy us, but the trend can't continue forever.
Going back to Blair's/Carson's question, I think we (humans) are destroying ourselves while waging war on insects, etc. that are just too "inconvenient" for us to deal with. Reading example after example of the effects of DDT I kept thinking that it's amazing we weren't all killed off before its use was banned.
And maybe we aren't being killed off right now, but who knows what the effects will be on future generations... hardly a week goes by when you don't hear of someone being diagnosed with cancer and often the causes are from what we are, or aren't, putting into our bodies.
Blair, your comment about the family in our home ward (oh, I really want to know who it is!) not needing to recycle because the Lord promised the earth will never be destroyed makes me sick. That's like saying we don't need to take care of our bodies because we're going to be resurrected and have perfect bodies some day anyway... gross.
But I do think people misinterpret that section of the Bible--God didn't just give man the earth for him to trash. But maybe that's a reason why He's going to have to burn the earth to cleanse it anyway... hmmm....
5 comments:
Two things I liked about Carson’s argument was her ability to show that the picture is much more complex than the pesticide industry would have you believe, and just how easy it is to legislate that false ‘standard’ of safety - and we buy it wholesale. Because of our capitalistic industry, I believe such industries are prone to smooth out those sharp edges and meliorate the rhetoric (i.e., from ‘poison’ to ‘apply treatment’, etc.) to create the perception that something inherently unnatural and dangerous is OK for everyone to spray liberally around their living quarters.
If there are any Hugh Nibley fans out there, I suggest reading (in connection with Silent Spring) "Man's Dominion, Or Subduing the Earth" in Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints by Hugh Nibley, Don E. Norton, Shirley S. Ricks (eds.). It also appeared as "Man's Dominion," New Era 2 (October 1972).
Our complacency and carelessness of the environment might come from a misunderstanding of the Bible (?)
Adam, please elaborate (or maybe provide a scanned attachment of the article you are referencing!). How can a misunderstanding of the bible lead to complacency/carelessness of our environment?
Although I haven't read the articles you are referring to Adam, I think I may know where you are headed with the Bible argument. I think a lot of Christians (including some LDS folks) think that being stewards over the Earth means that we can do whatever we want with it --meaning perhaps use it and manipulate it to a point of irreversible destruction. There is actually a family in my ward back home who justifies that they don't need to recycle because the Lord promised that the Earth would never be destroyed. Como, what?! Maybe this is why so many conservative Christians don't support environmentally friendly policies and choose not to believe in scientific facts like global warming . . .
I think we are so "civilized" and industrialized these days that we forget (and that's what marketers want) what things are natural and we start to expect spray painted putting green lawns as the norm.
As for Carson's question, I think we are getting to the point where we are trying to live an artificial existence that we've come to believe is normal. At some point, we won't be able to create any more separation between the "natural" world and the everyday world. i don't know that this will necessarily destroy us, but the trend can't continue forever.
Going back to Blair's/Carson's question, I think we (humans) are destroying ourselves while waging war on insects, etc. that are just too "inconvenient" for us to deal with. Reading example after example of the effects of DDT I kept thinking that it's amazing we weren't all killed off before its use was banned.
And maybe we aren't being killed off right now, but who knows what the effects will be on future generations... hardly a week goes by when you don't hear of someone being diagnosed with cancer and often the causes are from what we are, or aren't, putting into our bodies.
Blair, your comment about the family in our home ward (oh, I really want to know who it is!) not needing to recycle because the Lord promised the earth will never be destroyed makes me sick. That's like saying we don't need to take care of our bodies because we're going to be resurrected and have perfect bodies some day anyway... gross.
But I do think people misinterpret that section of the Bible--God didn't just give man the earth for him to trash. But maybe that's a reason why He's going to have to burn the earth to cleanse it anyway... hmmm....
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