oct 2019
Essay #2 POLS 326
Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are both interrelated environmental issues that need to be addressed. The increased levels of carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels have lead to increased change within the earth's atmosphere. Man made emissions cause changes within the earth's climate system resulting in new weather patterns that remain in place for an extended period of time.
These climate changes in the earth's weather systems affect the variety and variability of life on earth. The biodiversity of all life on the planet are directly impacted by the earth's climate system and mankindʻs impact on the environment. In summary our emissions are being trapped in the earth's atmosphere causing a complex and ever increasing change in our planet. Humanity is the one responsible for these increasing changes in our climate.
Some examples include; Japanʻs Nuclear waste struggle that are affecting local fishermen, islands disappearing such as Tuvaluʻs sinking islands, and the desecration of the island of Kaʻaholawe. Each of these examples have a direct connection to man's struggle to care for this sacred earth and all of the sacred creations within it. Each of these are examples of greed, selfishness, and apathy that bring out the fruits of destruction and theft. The problem that Adam and Eve faced in the garden of choosing to eat from the tree of good and evil instead of choosing the tree of life is the problem that humanity is still facing today. Should man only choose what is beneficial to him?, or will he choose abundant life for all?
In the April 2002 IPCC Climate Change and Biodiversity paper, some of the summaries include that at the global level human activities have caused and will continue to cause a loss in biodiversity. Many species will move poleward or upward from their current locations due to climate change, and globally by the year 2080, about 20% of coastal wetlands could be lost due to sea-level rise. Event further, the risk of extinction will increase for many species that are already vulnerable. This paper by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gives us a tangible report that our globe is changing. The data is in, the reports have been made, and humanity's power is at an all time high. In these reports it has been shown, man is still choosing only to benefit himself.
In the paper “The Historical Roots of Western European Environmental Attitudes and Values” Callicott gives us some insight on how humanities disregard for earth might have come to be. Here he analyzes the early chapters of the book of Genesis and the actions in the garden of eden and how three different interpretations are given to influence man. In one interpretation called the “Despotic Interpretation”, man is master, and nature is its slave. Here earth's natural resources and environment are unruly and need to be conquered. In this kind of interpretation creation is just another tool needed for survival, therefore any means necessary is justified. In another interpretation called the “Stewardship Interpretation” man has special duties and responsibilities given to by God. To abuse the earth is to violate the trust God has placed to mankind. Here this interpretation is closer the idea that he should care for the earth. And finally the third interoperation called the “Citizenship” interpretation mankind was once a part of the community of Godʻs creation. But because of His disobedience he chose to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. What was useful to him was called good, what was less comfortable he called evil. Thus the imbalance of Godʻs creation created by mans ability to choose himself over the environment.
Climate change and the loss of biodiversity can be seen to the connection that was first seen in the garden of eden. That old temptation from the snake that man could be indeed like God, deciding good from evil paired up with the idea of the despotic interoperation (mostly in modern times), that since now there is no God, he is master. And thus started the first hundred thousand years of cultivation of his brokenness taking earth's ecological systems for his own benefit and good, and in more modern times the rise of industries and private organizations calling their own interest “good” and everything else “evil”. But what can stop this generational disconnect and man's lust for power?
Thomas Berry gives us a new story a paradigm shift in his writing “Earth as Sacred Community”. Here Berry brings us back to a “bio-spiritual” consciousness that calls all of humanity to reflect within and see themselves not only as characters (or subjects) within a story, but in reality they (we) are the story of the universe. Berry talks about how tiny elements such as atoms to the universe itself is all moving and living in a particular flow and dance interdependent on one another. He challenges us to take the issues in climate change and loss of biodiversity as something personal. As if your physical body was sick with a kind of cancer, or with a kind of high fever. He likens even humanity to all of creation as one family unity under one body. As if one part of our globe was ill, each of the members of the body would have been affected.
The challenge here is for people of all professions, cultures, and nations to acknowledge this kind of knowing. This kind of knowing and awareness that everything is sacred and everything is spiritual. That if you were to harm the earth it would be like harming your own body. It would come with a perspective of no one should be harmed, and so should our planet. What would you do if you saw your mother being attacked by a stranger wanting to use her for personal gain? And thus feeling those same kind of emotions when corporate private organizations and industries want to harm our mother earth for their own gain should be a natural reaction. We need the majority having this kind of emotional experience and reaction to speak to these large companies that are harming our environment. Within the area of loss of biodiversity. When likened to the human race, we are full of culture, languages, and types. For humans to only prefer one race would be a loss to humanity. Each culture has generations of wisdom to pass down, loaded with knowledge and information for us to share and delight in. It is the same with the biodiversity of plants, animals, and terrain. Each distinction subtle or unsubtle can teach us more than we will ever know.
In conclusion, we need to bridge the head knowledge with the heart. The dialog between the sciences and the humanities should happen filling out industries, government, and educational institutions. With this kind of education the science of climate change will become a more personal one.
Intergovernmental Pannel On Climate Change. “Handling the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity.” Climate Change
Berry, T. (2006). Chapter 4/Earth as a Sacred Community. In Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as a Sacred Community (1st ed., pp. 43–58). San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club
Books.Callicott, J. B. (1994). Chapter 2/The Historical Roots of Western European Attitudes and Values. In Earth's Insights (pp. 14–43). Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.
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