Religion and Environmental Ethics – Flashcards

-According to Bill McKibben, true nature, which was independent of human influence, has been replaced by an artificial nature in whose processes human beings play a part. End of the natural world that has been untouched by humans. Everything has now been affected or seen by others, so true wildness is extinct. -Feedback loops: environmental degradation leads to more env. Degradation. Ex: ice melting. -Gaia hypothesis is the idea that the earth and all her natural components are one self-regulating organism

-Kaza delineates what she calls a lifeway practice of green living based on clear intention, community engagement, and shared wisdom. This means looking in every situation for the green alternative that makes the most environmental sense. It means examining the ethical dimensions of your food choices, your buying patterns, your energy use, and your commitment to the greening of your community. This is not an easy path. -If we engage green living in more depth, it becomes an expression of our deepest moral values. The "work" of green living becomes less a chore and more a locus of ethical development. We conserve water not because we should be frugal but because we respect the Earth's resources. -Green Zeal: Sustainable practices. Begin by asking question about the environment and focusing on stimulating your thought through your senses. Living Mindfully. Three lenses of viewing suffering (individual, ecosystem, personal). Choosing how to act (appropriate, affective, doable). Walk with others

-McKibben's premise that we're already on a new and different planet just as surely as if we'd boarded a spaceship en masse and arrived at a new world, is presented convincingly. This new world is less friendly, less accommodating, less commodious, just when we needed the old Earth to be more benign.

food: small scale farming, redistribution, sustainable agriculture, resilience energy: localized and dispersed energy production, energy conservation internet: Mobilizing campaigns and awareness

-The carbon dioxide spike-concentration of CO2 gas in the atmosphere -the consumption spike- trillions of dollars of gross world product or purchasing equivalent -the extinction spike- number of species eliminated worldwide -the population spike- billions of people Tells us what human beings are doing that is harming the Earth

-They are, as it were, the intermediaries between the human community and the more-than-human community — the animals, the plants, the trees, even whole forests are considered to be living, intelligent forces. -Abram means that there are forces, some would say supernatural or magical forces, at play within the environment that many humans have shut themselves off from.

-we live in the earth not on it -who we really need to save is us -"come back to our senses" -We can't live apart from nature and its services

-Centric Structure. center=good peripheral=bad -She identifies the human/nature dualism as part of a series of problematic, gendered dualisms, including "human/animal, mind/body... male/female, reason/emotion, [and] civilized/primitive."She argues for abandoning these dualisms, and correspondingly the traditional Western notion of a rational, unitary, Cartesian self, in favor of an ecological ethic based on empathy for the other. -humans are part of the food chain as well, and that our culture's human-centric view is disconnected from the reality that we also are food for animals

-Human cultures emerged from Earth's ecosystems and remain tethered to them. The sole moral species has a duty to do something les self interested than count all the products of an evolutionary ecosystem as nothing but human resources. -Ralston means that we must learn to appreciate the Earth not just for its value to people, but value it for its creative process of bringing life. -Appreciate the Earth as a singular and independent entity, and not for what it provides to the human race

-Our stories of the land, the more than human dimension of our being, should be true sacraments- outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace. The notion of the sacred gives way to the notion of sacramental practice, walking in a sacred manner. -We should view our land as sacred, this will cause us to treat it respectfully, turns into a practice

-Gottlieb believes that "the environmental crisis requires a profound shift in religion's understanding of human existence". -New "ecotheology" that reinterprets sacred texts (the Bible and Qu'ran), criticizes the way religions previously approached nature, and contributes to the creative evolution of religion. -Religious environmentalism should be viewed as a progressive political movement, as it requires individuals to expand their moral code. -In focusing on a more ecological sense of the relationship between human and nature, this movement challenges people and institutions to fight against racism, sexism, and economic inequality.

you can own the property rights but you can never truly own the beauty and wildness of the land

-An ethic ecologically is a limitation on freedom of action in the struggle for existence. There is not yet any land ethic to man because the land relation is still strictly economical, entailing privileges but not obligations -Leopold explains that ethics must be extended to the land and all its singular parts such as soils, waters, plants, and animals. Land ethics are important because they consider the land as part of the community, and preserves the integrity, and stability of the biotic community. We need to change role of humans from conquerers to mere citizens with other creatures and nature. -cooperate with the land like it is a part of your community.

-Death and rebirth gives us a chance to be better. Kings turn into ants, we must realize that we could become an ant. We are but one ant in a parade of ants. -Karma

-Translate ideals into action -God's ownership and the terms of our lease- this is God's world, not ours. We are borrowers of the earth and we cannot have lowered its value by the end of our term -The unity of creation- there is no action that is not recorded and without consequence, will eventually come back to haunt us -The pursuit of seamless justice- we must seek justice both when it is to our advantage and when it is not -A conventional trust- stewardship is of responsibility rather than of unlimited privilege -Communal responsibilities vs individual rights- the good of the community overrules individual rights. Coerce good actions and prohibit bad action -Societal goals, Sabbath peace- do not lose sight of the ultimate goal of peace, greed shouldn't run our resources and humanity, don't worship the idol of consumption

-Buddhism is a religion of this world, this life, and the present moment; it teaches us to treasure and conserve nature because humans are actively a part of it. -Awareness leads to preservation

-If what we are doing to the env. Grows out of a sense of entitlement that we are free to manipulate this b/c of our scientific and tech knowledge and that sacred text is read to believe that we can, then the blame is on ourselves. -A lot of the scientific and religious thinking has come from misreading of text. A lot of the things that we believe and have acted on are a lot of the reasons that we have the env. Issues we are now in. He says we need to go back and reread these texts based on the science and knowledge we have today b/c science and tech and religion got it wrong. What we have been doing has lead to the env. Crisis we have today, we have to read the text through a new lense that leads to a diff kind of action. -What was seen as being anti-religion in 1968 was really just the opposite with bad interpretation.

- Kosher= meat killed in most humane way possible or meat killed in front of a rabbi. Expanding the kosher to the whole way of life, not just what we eat. Whether we are jewish or not, ecokosher thiking is applicapl to all of us. Take into account the most ecologically humane way of living (ex: building windows that keep in air conditioning) -by "eco-kosher" we mean a broader sense of "good practice" in everyday life that draws on the deep well-springs of Jewish wisdom and tradition about the relationships between human beings and the earth

-Through meditative self-awareness we can get out of our own light and respond positively and openly to what the situation requires of us, we can apply it to our intellectual and organizational endeavors, both enable us to work for a Green Liberation that is our own liberation as well. -Jones explains that in the Buddhist tradition, 'getting out of our own light' tells us to stop overanalyzing and experience the moment. We need to focus on the world around us instead of focusing on ourselves. Buddhism isn't about asking questions, its about looking for answers in the world around you.

-Moyers explains that Doomsdayers believe that there is no point in preserving the land because it is already doomed to be destroyed during the Rapture. The rapture story tells that one day all people who have been loyal to Christ will be taken to heaven, and others will be left on the Earth which will unleash terrors upon itself. Doomsdayers believe that they will go up to heaven, so there is no point in environmentalism. - "The world cannot be saved." It leads to "appalling ethics," she reasons, because the faithful are relieved of concern for the environment, violence, and everything else except their personal salvation. The earth suffers the same fate as the unsaved. All are destroyed.

-He see's the laws that the Bush administration want to work on and how detrimental they were to the environment and cannot believe that people would do that even though they have children. -Why don't we feel strongly enough about the Earth to save it for our future generations

-For God so loved the COSMOS that he gave his only son -Cosmos implies the whole earth, not just the people living on it