Environmental Views

Denial is a threat to environmental sustainability. I say this because I am guilty of it. “Out of sight, out of mind”, seems like the appropriate quote for this topic. As with most issues people face, if it does not directly affect the person then there is a sense of denial that it is not happening. We will take Global Warming as an example. According to environmental-action.org, “more scientists (97% in fact) pile on to the position that climate change is real, caused by humans, and its past time to do something about it” (2014). However, there are many that deny that is it happening, including Congress. When we deny that environmental issues are happening, there is no effort to try to stop it or at the very least, slow it down. A root cause that I would have to disagree with is religious teachings. The correlation between religion and environmental sustainability does not make sense to me. In our text it quotes Genesis 1:28 that directs humankind to “fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing”. As with most passages in the Holy Bible, many things are open to interpretation. I do not believe this means that nature was created by God to serve man, but as to say that take control and take care of all living creatures. Not to abuse and destroy them. Using religion as a theory as to why mankind is wasteful is shifting blame and not owning the reality that mankind is wasteful and abuses the resources provided to us. References: www.environmental-action.org. (2014). Retrieved September 11, 2014 from http://www.environmental-action.org/blog/huckabee-inhofe-together-and-still-crazy-after-all- these-years Chiras. Environmental Science (9th ed.). (Jones & Bartlett Learning).

Opotow, S., & Weiss, L. (2000). Denial and the process of moral exclusion in environmental conflict. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 475-490.

References: www.environmental-action.org. (2014). Retrieved September 11, 2014 from http://www.environmental-action.org/blog/huckabee-inhofe-together-and-still-crazy-after-all- these-years Chiras. Environmental Science (9th ed.). (Jones & Bartlett Learning). Opotow, S., & Weiss, L. (2000). Denial and the process of moral exclusion in environmental conflict. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 475-490.