Ideology III: Faith, Fervour and Environmentalism

Some people are approaching environmentalism with the fervour of religion. What are the parallels between religious belief and devotion to the environment?

GUESTS

Lionel Tiger is the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University and the author of God's Brain (with Michael McGuire), Men in Groups, The Imperial Animal (with Robin Fox), The Pursuit of Pleasure, Optimism: The Biology of Hope, and The Decline of Males. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Harvard Business Review, and Brain and Behavioral Science.

Paul Rubin is a professor of economics at Emory University in Atlanta.

Elizabeth May is the leader of the Green Party of Canada.

Stephen Drakeford is an Anglican Minister at Saint Matthews in Toronto and is the head of the Environmental working group at the Diocese of Toronto.

Josh Laughren is director of communications, and former marine conservation director, with WWF-Canada.

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[S1lv3rblad3]

@nubbs: Polluting resources with materials that harm my family today, or ones that harm us over 50 years are both not within your right. To obfuscate the argument with selfish & short-sighted squabbles shows lack of concern & respect for all life.

Global warming is not the only form of environmental impact; saying that humans are not alone in affecting the planet doesn't detract from the argument, but encourages intervention to curtail negative impacts, whether caused by nature or humans.

[nubbs]

religion and environmentalism: both driven in a quest for man's salvation through proselytization

[nubbs]

25:00

the question is not "weather" there is debate concerning man's influence on climate change. the debate concerns the degree (figuratively and literally) and the most efficacious means of addressing it. maybe the globe will only warm another degree. if so, so what. the fact is, the climate will change with or without us. we can't stop the plates from moving.

and as a purely academic discussion on ethics, why is this generation beholding to future generations? i owe the future nothing

[MarmaladeINFP]

The real argument became clear at the 23:00 mark. He was saying the main problem with environmentalists is that they want govt regulation which of course leads to the dreaded fascism. Basically, it's conservative ideology that worships capitalism.

[MarmaladeINFP]

I haven't finished watching the video, but so far they've ignored an obvious element. Many people who protest environmentalism do so specificially on a religious basis. I'm willing to bet there are more atheists among environmentalists than among those who oppose environmentalism. Near the beginning, this indirectly was touched upon when one of the panelists stated that anything can be treated religiously. Those who see environmentalism as a religion are probably projecting.

[MarmaladeINFP]

Nuclear isn't clean or cheap. We still don't know how to safely store the byproducts of nuclear plants. Also, the operating costs are more expensive than any other energy source.