But first, a few words from Pope Francis & Naomi Oreskes in his encyclical Laudato Si and her Introduction thereto (and then MacIntosh, et. al.):
The pope calls for an “integral ecology,” by which he means a vision of the world founded fundamentally on respect for Creation, and a renewed emphasis on our mutual interconnection with one another and with nature in all its complexity. This ecology must necessarily include science and technology, but a science that moves past reductionism and a technology that is more focused on authentic needs. As the pope puts it: “We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”
(Location 213)
An integral ecology must also include also good governance, including “the establishment of a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems.” It must replace a culture of rampant individualism with a culture of care rooted in “love for society and commitment to the common good.” And it must not only reclaim the idea of the common good, but also recognize it as the centerpiece of civil society, environmental protection, religious communion, and, finally, human dignity, happiness, and love. Loc. 223
Crucially, this culture of care must include not just those of us alive today, but also future generations—a point the pope makes more than once, in both economic and moral terms. Our current economic models literally dis-count the future, insofar as damage in the future is counted as costing less than damage today, but what sort of a calculus is it that concludes that our needs are greater than our children’s? The notion of the common good, the pope concludes, also extends to future generations: “We can no longer speak of sustainable development apart from intergenerational solidarity … Intergenerational solidarity is not optional, but rather a basic question of justice, since the world we have received also belongs to those who will follow us.” Loc. 224.
And now to give the Pope a rest:
Within the realm of politics, the ascendency of modernism has created the cultural pressure that has helped consolidate most of America’s divergent religious outlooks into a coherent political block that often stands in opposition to modernity. This loosely affiliated cultural segment of American society embraces many religious communities, including Evangelical Protestants, Conservative Catholics, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, and many similar subcultures.
“Resist,” I advise Theaetetus. “There may be political reasons to claim that transgender women of color initiated the 1969 Stonewall riot, or that American colonists declared their independence in order to protect the institution of slavery, or that a Black man invented the light bulb, or any number of other factually challenged propositions. Fight the temptation. George Orwell (a socialist) understood that subordinating truth to politics is a game which tyrants and bullies always win. In the reality-based community, accuracy is the only game in town. It is our common denominator and the taproot of our integrity.”
The reason liberals like laws is because they give us more time for everything in life that isn’t law-like. When we aren’t fighting every minute for minimal rights, or reasserting our territory, or worrying about the next clan’s claims, we can look at the stars and taste new cheeses and make love, sometimes with the wrong person. The special virtue of freedom is not that it makes you richer and more powerful but that it gives you more time to understand what it means to be alive.
The [Native American] tribes attributed their vigorous health to a medicine, what [19th-century lawyer, painter, & traveler George] Catlin called the “great secret of life.” The secret was breathing. The Native Americans explained to Catlin that breath inhaled through the mouth sapped the body of strength, deformed the face, and caused stress and disease. On the other hand, breath inhaled through the nose kept the body strong, made the face beautiful, and prevented disease.
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