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Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!!
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To: epicure who wrote (52079)8/19/1999 1:13:00 PM
From: The Philosopher  Read Replies (1) of 108807
 
You're not sure what point I'm making probably because I wasn't ready to make a point yet. Rather, I was refuting the concept that some people seem to hold that man is not really part of the environment or that he is unnatural. I think a lot of the arguments that we are destroying the environment or that we need to protect every species on earth are specious and fail to understand and accept the dymanic nature of the earth and ecosystems. Not everything nature does is benign; volcanos can spew ash into the air which cool the earth for years afterward; continents form and reform; species come and go. I the last hundred or so years we seem to be compressing the cycle of change, but I think the things we do are only as a pimple on the earth's surface -- ugly, temporarily scarring, but transient, and not affecting the organism much long term.

That said, I still consider myself a moderately strong ecologist. But not from an overriding principle to save the world as much as to keep the place I live in comfortable and pleasant to live in -- sort of like keeping my house neat and tidy. I vacuum and wash dishes and clean not out of any great principle of cleanliness, but because I enjoy life more in a clean home. Similarly, I live in a beautiful place, I enjoy that beauty, it enhances my life, so I make the effort and commitment to protect it.

Selfish -- but then selfishness is responsible for most good (and bad) human commitments.
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