Climate change, deforestation, mass extinction...

[Gxg (G²)]

Evironmental politics are at their worst when they rely on poor people continuing to live miserably.

There was actually an excellent presentation on the subject recently that discussed the ways in which environmental destruction ends up leading to revolts in time:

 

[Alla27]

I don't worry about climate change. I believe that humans will exist on Earth until Christ is coming.
But I also believe that we should take good care of this Earth. Don't we all love our Mama Earth?

 

[GrowingSmaller]

"Get back to work, losers."

I dont know who said that.

 

[GrowingSmaller]

(1) Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." They said: "Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?" He said: "I know what ye know not."

***

(2) O David! We did indeed make thee a vicegerent on earth: so judge thou between men in truth (and justice): Nor follow thou the lusts (of thy heart), for they will mislead thee from the Path of Allah: for those who wander astray from the Path of Allah, is a Penalty Grievous, for that they forget the Day of Account.

 

[smaneck]

Cornell West, awesome! Had the privilege of meeting him a couple of years back.

There was actually an excellent presentation on the subject recently that discussed the ways in which environmental destruction ends up leading to revolts in time:

 

[Gxg (G²)]

Cornell West, awesome! Had the privilege of meeting him a couple of years back.

The man is truly a godsend on multiple levels One of my heroes!!

 

[dlamberth]

There was actually an excellent presentation on the subject recently that discussed the ways in which environmental destruction ends up leading to revolts in time:

Thank You. I very much enjoyed the video.

 

[Gxg (G²)]

On a side note, seeing how the world operates and what is going on is indeed unfortunate. Paying attention to your soil which other creatures irrigate (such as ants/moles for example) an in order for it to be healthy and you end up sacrificing your trees giving you air oxygen to breathe - thus meaning they go on strike/die along with the soil when we demean it and we lose our lives as payment for the debt we owned to the land. Take your world seriously..



The dirt on soil: Underground biodiversity holds key to ecosystems
AMERICA.ALJAZEERA.COM

"From dust you are and from dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19 ) - amazing how much we forget to value the ground we were made from and walk on, even though neglecting it will harm us when seeing how the air we breath (from trees in the soil) and the water we drink (recycled via evaporation when it rains) are impacted by it. Glad to be in touch with what God made outside..


Satish Kumar: the link between soil, soul and society
THEGUARDIAN.COM|BY SATISH KUMAR

On a side note, what follows shows why I've often saidit has ALWAYS BEEN THE ENVIRONMENT driving the political wars - and that is something being ignored, just as it has been the case with world wars waged over natural resources. As another noted:

• IRIN Middle East | SYRIA: Why the water shortages?
• Middle East faces water shortages for the next 25 years ...
• 'Water war' threatens Syria lifeline - Al Jazeera English
• Syria climate study warned Assad of drought dangers in 2010
• Drought Helped Spark Syria's Civil War -- Is it One of Many
• Mideast Water Crisis Brings Misery, Uncertainty
• Syria: Water as a weapon of war | International Committee of the Red Cross...

Drought and water shortages in Syria likely contributed to the unrest that stoked the country’s 2011 civil war. Dwindling water resources and chronic mismanagement forced 1.5 million people, primarily farmers and herders, to lose their livelihoods and leave their land (http://www.wri.org/blog/2015/11/beyond-conflict-water-stress-contributed-europe’s-migration-crisis ).

Beyond Conflict, Water Stress Contributed to Europe’s Migration Crisis | World Resources Institute

or sure water is a huge issue -- from Bolivia (Bechtel), to forcible relocation of smallholder farmers, to re-allocation of shared water resources when agribusiness commodity crops are embraced, to the Palestinian issue ... and it's an essential focus in any sort of real democracy, for real equality. Now that oil has tanked to below 30 a barrel, the "new oil" (water) may well be the new crisis (and one that the Mennonites have been discussing for decades iirc). I will try again re: CF; it's frustrating, but as time has been short I've ignored the matter. This site is linked of grain.org, but in case you haven't visited: http://www.bilaterals.org/


bilaterals.org | Home​

And for other places for reference:

• farmlandgrab.org | Home.... Governments and corporations are buying up farmland in other countries to grow their own food – or simply to make money.....farmlandgrab.org

• Risk of water wars rises with scarcity: Almost half of humanity will face water scarcity by 2030 and strategists from Israel to Central Asia prepare for strife.....aljazeera.com

• The New Nature | Boston Review: Opening the DebateRespondingJedediah Purdy:Today, in the Anthropocene epoch, it is impossible to divorce nature from human influence. But can that influence be made democratic?Jo GuldiRobert PaarlbergDavid KeithUgo MatteiPaul WaldauJairus GroveAndreas MalmAnna TsingVandana ShivaRoy Scranton Reply: J…..bostonreview.net

Joel Salatin: Can We Feed the World?
Estimates indicate that by 2050, at least 9 billion people will inhabit planet Earth. Food scientists, environmentalists, industry advocates, farmers, and po...
youtube.com

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[Gxg (G²)]

Thank You. I very much enjoyed the video.

Glad to know you were blessed by it

 

[Gxg (G²)]

In light of Standing Rock and films like the Revenant, I am thinking we need more awareness of environment

 

[DennisTate]

In light of Standing Rock and films like the Revenant, I am thinking we need more awareness of environment

I believe that the near death experience of Howard Storm, especially his book
My Descent Into Death, can help us to understand how we can do a better job
of agreeing with our adversaries........ .to the degree that they are probably
onto something important about reducing pollution and deforestation.


(near-death .com/experiences/notable/howard-storm.html#a04)

The image of the future that they gave me then, and it was their image, not one that I created, surprised me. My image had previously been sort of like Star Wars, where everything was space age, plastics, and technology.



The future that they showed me was almost no technology at all. What everybody, absolutely everybody, in this euphoric future spent most of their time doing was raising children. The chief concern of people was children, and everybody considered children to be the most precious commodity in the world.



And when a person became an adult, there was no sense of anxiety, nor hatred, nor competition.



There was this enormous sense of trust and mutual respect. If a person, in this view of the future, became disturbed, then the community of people all cared about the disturbed person falling away from the harmony of the group. Spiritually, through prayer and love, the others would elevate the afflicted person.



What people did with the rest of their time was that they gardened, with almost no physical effort. They showed me that plants, with prayer, would produce huge fruits and vegetables.



People, in unison, could control the climate of the planet through prayer. Everybody would work with mutual trust and the people would call the rain, when needed, and the sun to shine.

Animals lived with people, in harmony.

This sure does fit well with the predictions in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel about a world
where the Holy Spirit has been poured out so powerfully that wolves, lions and lambs can
be together...... and yet nothing hurts or destroys in all the earth!

 

[juvenissun]

Environmental issues may not be exactly a question of religion or faith - yet bizarrely enough, there are people out there who treat them as if they were. Bafflingly enough, conservative think tanks who feel that any change to the status quo would endanger their future profits have managed to convince a considerable portion of the population that it's all a big controversy, that the verdict is not yet in, and that those who'd call for an immediate response to these threats are loopy fanatics who don't know what's what.

And all the while, the rainforests keep on dwindling, the oceans are not only plagued by growing garbage patches but also subject to acidification, which may cause the entire marine ecosystem to collapse from the bottom up, species everywhere are disappearing at a rate that you'd otherwise associate with major natural catastrophes, our own species grows at an alarming rate, and we are using up natural resources at a pace that would require several planets at the same time to sustain.

The thing is: none of this is a controversy. The verdict of the scientific community (i.e. people who deal with these matters professionally and have all the data at hand) is virtually unanimous. To deny it and pretend that it's still nothing more than some wishy-washy hypothesis is the rough equivalent of putting your fingers in your ears and going "LALALA!!! I CANNOT HEAR YOU!!"

So... how does your religion relate to the devastating effect our post-industrial species has on the planet, and what does it have to say about combating the mess we've created?

Bad environment may kill some people 50 years later. But environmental protection acts will kill some people NOW.

YOU make the choice.
Unfortunately, it is too late to reverse this trend. Nobody wants to go back to a lower living standard.

 

[Cearbhall]

But environmental protection acts will kill some people NOW.

YOU make the choice.

Examples?

 

[juvenissun]

Examples?

Close down the coal mining/burning will cause many death in the coal industry by various reasons.

And the oil pipeline construction will not kill anyone until it leaks some years in the future.

 

[Cearbhall]

There was actually an excellent presentation on the subject recently that discussed the ways in which environmental destruction ends up leading to revolts in time:

Evironmental politics are at their worst when they rely on poor people continuing to live miserably.

The first world is like a glutton who realizes that if everybody else treats the larder the same way they do, food will be depleted before they can burp - and then go on to tell the peasants that they ought to tighten their belts a few notches, while the fat guys continue to overeat.

Agreed. I like that the Catholic Church focuses on this aspect of climate change:

The effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people, whether at home or around the world.

Source

Around the world, these effects are even more severe. Catholic Relief Services is helping the most vulnerable people respond to increasing floods, droughts, food and water insecurity, and conflict over declining resources. All these are making the lives of the world's poorest people even more precarious. These standards are a vital first step to protecting the world's most vulnerable people and allow the United States to exercise critical leadership necessary for achieving and implementing a global agreement.

[...]

Pope Francis has long raised the moral imperative to reach an agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris that addresses the potentially catastrophic consequences of climate change and protects poor and vulnerable peoples and nations. In his Sunday, December 13 Angelus address, Pope Francis commended world leaders for reaching a historic agreement at the Paris climate talks, urging that its "implementation will require a concerted commitment and generous dedication by all", and reiterating that it must give "special attention to the most vulnerable populations."

[...]

National standards to reduce carbon pollution from power plants represent an important opportunity to protect the health and welfare of all people, especially children, the elderly and poor and vulnerable communities. In testimony offered on November 18, 2015 at an EPA public hearing, Archbishop Thomas Wenski and Bishop Oscar Cantú, Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, and Chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace, respectively, expressed support for a national standard to reduce carbon pollution and offered moral principles to guide the EPA and states as they take steps to reduce carbon pollution. These principles include: care for creation, promotion of the common good, respect for the human person, and a priority for those who are poor and vulnerable. In particular, the bishops urged that as these standards are implemented, workers negatively impacted should be assisted, and any increased utility costs should be distributed fairly, without undue burden on the poor.

[...]

As Pope Francis wrote: Poor developing nations "require the help of countries which have experienced great growth at the cost of the ongoing pollution of the planet" (172).

Source​

 

[dlamberth]

Bad environment may kill some people 50 years later. But environmental protection acts will kill some people NOW.

We don't have to wait 50 years, the earth, because of how poorly we have treated her, is killing a lot of people right now.

I started out my working life in a field that no longer exist and I didn't die. I took responsibility for my life and retrained.

YOU make the choice.
Unfortunately, it is too late to reverse this trend. Nobody wants to go back to a lower living standard.

The trend I want to follow is to leave as much of a pristine earth to my children and grandchildren and their children as possible. The earth is sacred and I truly be believe that we need to be treating her as such.

 

[dlamberth]

And the oil pipeline construction will not kill anyone until it leaks some years in the future.

I think there's a LOT more pipeline accidents than your aware of.
It's way pass time that we moved away from Fossil Fuels.

Here's a very long list of pipeline accidents just in this century.
List of pipeline accidents in the United States in the 21st century - Wikipedia

And here's a video of pipeline accidents between the years 1986 to 2013.

 

[juvenissun]

The trend I want to follow is to leave as much of a pristine earth to my children and grandchildren and their children as possible. The earth is sacred and I truly be believe that we need to be treating her as such.

I don't think you know what you need to do to achieve that. You won't do it and it won't happen.

 

[juvenissun]

And here's a video of pipeline accidents between the years 1986 to 2013.

This must include a lot water pipelines.
One just broke nearby my home day before.
I am always skeptical on this kind of statistics. Junks.

 

[dlamberth]

This must include a lot water pipelines.
One just broke nearby my home day before.
I am always skeptical on this kind of statistics. Junks.

There's a lot of data available...
Here's a very long list of pipeline accidents just in this century.
List of pipeline accidents in the United States in the 21st century - Wikipedia