I don't disagree with the essence of what you're saying. So, my nitpicking is more because I enjoy the conversation than anything else.
Many people just use it as a speaking point but don't have a clue how to go about living right in the first place.
Yep. Education is part of it. I work for a heavy equipment manufacturer that takes a lot of flak from liberal environmental groups for building machines that pollute. What they don't seem to realize is that the machines we make now are cleaner than some cars that are still on the road. The old stuff - the 3rd world stuff - is what does much of the polluting and wasting now. The problem is that the poor can't afford clean machines. A clean world is very expensive and requires the sacrifice of some comfort.
Many people just use it as a speaking point but don't have a clue how to go about living right in the first place. It would help if the many had some contact with those that actually grow our food then they may get some better ideas on how to utilize what they have and conserve everything.
Yep. Like I said: education.
As far as I know this is part of what the Lord wants for us any way, independence and responsibility for our selves, and then of course we should help whom we can when we can while we can. All the country folk I grew up around were like this. Sadly the great migration into the cities has had a dampening effect on what used to be a normal way of life. It would be nice to see people get back to their roots and not stray away from God and His creation of which we should all be a part.
But don't idealize the "pastoral life." I come from a family of farmers. They're people just like other people. Some manage the land well. Some don't.
I don't think God expects us to be "independent." Rather, he wants us to be a community. The truth is, there isn't enough "power density" in human labor to feed the world, and once you turn to machines to augment human labor, big machines do it more efficiently.
So, like all things, it comes down to putting your faith in the right place.
Well I agree that the environment needs to be preserved and utilized as well. There needs to be a balance between use and preservation, however what Greenpeace does is flat out wrong in many ways.
So maybe this should be the question. If Greenpeace doesn't approach the environment in a God-pleasing manner, what would that manner be? I can think of some scripture that speaks to this, but not much. So maybe the details have been left to us (as a community) to figure out.
Given that, and given that it seems liberals have the high ground on this issue, how would a conservative approach to the environment distinguish itself?
