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RE: [RC] Why "Naturalists" are Doomed - heidi

The "other side" of this line of logic is that humas ARE a "natural" part of this planet (we surely didn't come from anywhere else!) and that therefore what they do is a part of nature.
 
The idea that there is some "natural" state apart from humans that is a constant is a fallacy--and IMO it is that misconception that dooms the environmental extremist.  We surely have a responsibility to be good stewards--not to the planet, but to ourselves.  WE are the ones who will become extinct if we are foolhardy in how we care for the planet.  Likewise, earth will change whether we are here or not--there is no such thing as a "pristine" state of nature in which some ideal never changes.  One of my favorite bumper stickers reads:  "Mother Earth is Not a Virgin."
 
There is a great poem by a "realistic environmentalist" (which, like Joe, I consider myself to be--but I don't use the label anymore because of the connotations from the extreme) entitled something like "Don't Weep for Me."  Tried to find it yesterday, but will have to do a "deep cleaning" on my ecologically-unappetizing desk to find it, apparently.  It is about "Mother Earth"--and it states that truly, Earth does not care if we rearrange her chemicals in such a way that we destroy ourselves.  She will still be here, and green meadows and wastelands are all the same to her.  Anyway, the poem basically says don't weep for the earth, but weep instead for your children who will no longer be here if you destroy the habitat necessary for your own existence.
 
Heidi
 

 



Angie Fura said:

> I think it stems from how I define "environment."
> In my opinion, its the natural state of the planet.
> Its not human centric where man has dominion
> over the earth and animals.  I view humankind's
> industrialization and development of the planet
> as not natural and therefore a burden to the planet.

It is statements like this that demonstrate why so many self-proclaimed
naturalists or environmentalists are doomed to frustration and failure.
Being human themselves, there is nothing they (or any other human for
that matter) can do that is "natural."  In this case, the only "natural"
solution would be the extinction of humans.

However, I have yet to hear a single environmentalists suggest this as
an alternative, despite the fact that it is the logical conclusion to be
drawn from the above (and oft) stated opinion.

I find this hilariously funny.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
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