"The Problem with Earth Day"
Apr 21st, 2008 by ljkim
“If I want to drive an SUV why should that be anyone else’s business?” By the same token, “if I want to leave the water running, or leave my halogen lights on, create ten pounds of trash everyday – what’s that got to do with anyone else?”
One of the nice and comforting things about modernity is we have a culture in which some things are “private.” “What I drive is a PRIVATE decision and no one else’s business, no one has a right to butt-in or judge my decisions…” While some other things are “public,” forcing us for the good of society to take other people’s needs into consideration…like traffic laws or taxes or separation of church and state.
The problem with all the news on climate change is that it implies EVERYTHING has public implications… What I do in my home in “private” can indirectly hurt those who live on the other side of the planet…and by the same token, the “private” decisions of two billion people in Asia can have a devastating impact on the quality of life here in the U.S. Everything private is really public – and everything public is really private, we are all interconnected. Now part of me feels like these implications are intolerable. It wouldn’t be so bad if all YOUR private choices were public – but I don’t want to give up MY sovereignty… I sure wish the rest of the world would stop using petroleum so as not to raise gas prices for me…
Unfortunately all the data seems to point to the fact that our private lives are not as private as we’d like to believe… And from the Bible’s perspective, this is what God has been trying to tell us all along. Our “private” life is absolutely interconnected to the rest of the world… So the car we drive, where we build our houses, what we do, even the length of our showers and taste in junk food impacts the environment… The Bible even goes further to says that even super-private things like who we have sex with and what we really think in the deep recesses of our minds impacts the outside world. “For NOTHING is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” (Luke 8:18) I’m a preacher, so it figures I’d say this, but I think getting a handle on environmental problems means we have to get a handle on the sinful part of our human nature and learn to respect our interconnectedness…something about loving our neighbor rather than just living for ourselves.
[About the photo: A picture of Marsha, the caption could read: "You're taking a picture of...me?" Yess I know that's random - but I've been wanting to use a picture of Marsha, and this one is interesting - although hard to see...]
Related posts: