 |
|
WHAT PEOPLE ARE ASKING: Ecology
Questions on Ecology
Atila Sinke Guimarăes
 |
The effort to preserve animals in danger of extinction can be understood as the preservation of the image of God they represent.
|
1. Question: Do you have a special input on ecology?
Answer: This word is generally being understood today in only one sense, which is revolutionary. I think it is a duty for true Catholics to not permit this banner to be raised only by the wrong side. This is the presupposition I have when I face the topic of ecology.
2. Question: What are the good aspects of Ecology?
Answer: I can give you many:
A. The effort to preserve the natural environment, animals in danger of becoming extinct, etc. can be understood in a good way as the preservation of the Image of God reflected in innumerable aspects of Creation.
B. The efforts made to curb the bad effects of the Industrial Revolution on the natural environment also could be interpreted in a good way. In reality, the pollution from factories and motorized vehicles has caused problems for human health and even a certain disequilibrium in the natural elements themselves (the earth, water, air).
 |
It is worthwhile to preserve the purity of magnificent waterfalls.
|
In this sense, it is very worthwhile to preserve the earth from the problems caused by nuclear trash, the pollution of rivers and lakes by chemical elements coming from factories or sewers, the pollution of the oceans caused by oil spills, the degradation of the air of the whole planet caused by pollution and the very disputable theory about the ozone layer that would cause a global warming by raising the temperature in the North Pole and causing a general thaw.
C. If we had the preservation of the image of God in innumerable aspects of Creation (A), and if we had an environment free of the problems caused by the Industrial Revolution (B), we would have better conditions to restore Christendom on earth.
3. Question: What are the bad aspects of Ecology?
Answer: I also can give you various:
 |
The recent oil spill on the shores of Spain damaged many species of animals. In the photo, a bird found there.
|
A. In the fight against the negative aspects of the Industrial Revolution, today's ecologists employ a method that does not distinguish the remnants of organic society that have still remained in the Western social and economic establishment, such as the right of property, free initiative, the still existent intermediary societies - families, professional groups, universities, hospitals, charitable organizations, the army, etc. Along with the defense of the environment, the leaders of the ecology movement attack the ensemble of the Western society as evil. Doing this, they have harmed directly or indirectly these principles and these organic bodies.
 |
A technical failure in the Communist Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant caused radioactive fallout 400 times higher than what occurred at Hiroshima. Health problems among the population in the area will continue for decades.
|
B. In this way, in the name of ecology, the ideal of a new world society is being spread. The principal characteristic of this society is its global property. In the name of environmental protection, it is becoming common to declare this park, that island, this forest, that historic city as the patrimony of humanity. What is this declaration of common patrimony but the first step to establishing a single universal property? However, this characteristic carries within itself the same defects of state property that governed in Communist countries up until 1989, and that are still in force in many Communist countries that didn’t change their system. But there is the aggravating circumstance that this global property naturally tends to multiply the defects of state property.
C. With the metamorphosis of Communism after 1989, Communist Parties of various countries changed their names and adopted ecological programs. According to them, ecology would be the natural continuation of Communism. In fact, they are right because the state property of Communism presents itself as an intermediary phase for universal property, property shared by all in a system of self-management. One of the first articles of the Constitution of the old USSR said exactly this.
 |
The pollution from motorized vehicles has caused a certain disequilibrium in the natural elements.
|
D. Similarly, some of the principal Liberation Theology leaders have changed their emphasis in fighting for Communism. Today, without renouncing to that fight, many of them, like Brazilians Leonardo Boff and Friar Betto, have taken up the banner of ecology.
E. The ecology movement also presents itself as the natural outlet for the hippy movement. In this movement, which achieved greet notoriety in the '60s and '70s, there were two trajectories: First, the violent hippy path that wanted to destroy bourgeoisie establishment to install an anarchical society with Satanist hues. Its most characteristic expression could be found in Charles Manson and the famous Sharon Tate crime he committed. Second, there was the hippy pacifist trajectory: After having diluted itself and having penetrated into the customs of the whole West, it has reappeared in today's ecologic movements. In my opinion, the movement Greenpeace is a characteristic continuation of the hippy pacifist wave.
F. The defense of animals, plants, the natural elements of life (air, earth, water) can have and frequently has a pantheist substractum. The Pantheism affirms that there is not an individual God, transcendent to all creatures, but a collective and immanent god. According to this doctrine, god would be present substantially in everything. All things would partially be divine and would merit a certain degree of adoration. It is common today to hear the expression “Mother Nature,” or Gaia, which is the name the nature considered as a divinity. One of the best known expressions of this Pantheism is Buddhism, which is finding increasing acceptance in the West. Thus, ecology is also a vehicle for a conception of the universe and a cult of nature different from what we are accustomed to. These conceptions are highly revolutionary. If you go in the Internet to the Global Ecovillage Network you can see that along with ecology it is promoting Buddhism.
 |
A kind of altar divinizing the earth was set up at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Actualite des Religions, October 2002
|
Related Articles of Interest:
Ecoterrorism shows up in California: A violent face of the Green Movement
|
Questions | Index | Home | Books | Tapes | Contact Us
©2002 - 2005 Tradition In Action, Inc. All Rights Reserved
|
|
|