Why do I care about the Environment?

Ok, so you may ask yourselves, why does she flip her nuggets with giddy glee every time someone mentions an environmental buzzword? Answer: everything we do matters.

First and foremost, environmental issues affect health. Pollution and toxic chemicals exist in every waterway, every breath of air, your mattress, your clothes, your electronics, even your food. If you think this sounds alarmist, start looking up some of the ingredients in those long lists of ingredients, and see what you find. Behind most diseases exists environmental causes or contributors.

Secondly, environmental issues affect quality of life. People are happier and healthier in well-planned neighborhoods. By that, I mean that people are happier when they have green spaces, community gathering spaces, and strollable neighborhoods. Sprawl kills community and decentralizes vibrant downtowns and neighborhoods (and adds to pollution through increased driving, chemicals, loss of open land, etc.). I grew up not knowing my neighbors, for pete's sake.


Thirdly, I love the outdoors and want to keep this:



from turning into this:






Not that I'm against cities, because I think that cities could be possibly our most sustainable way of housing all our population, but I'm against development that is unhindered, unplanned, unattractive, unsustainable and environmentally and public health degrading.



Fourth, I'm a Christian. Please don't run away screaming "AHHH!!!" To my sadness, certain facets of Christianity have been really slow to adopt, or are even against, environmental-friendly outlooks. The Catholic Bishops, and to a certain extent, the Evangelicals, have started to change this. The Catholic Bishops have released several treatises on the environment which plead for industries and the government to be socially responsible by changing environmentally damaging actions.

Now, I'm not Catholic, but I agree with much of what the Bishops are doing in this respect. Jesus calls us to live a simple life, in service of others. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to be stewards of the earth. Instead, we pollute, we partake in extreme consumption patterns, we release toxic chemicals, we put polluting industries in poor neighborhoods, we treat meat-animals as no more than factory items. I do not see the glory of God in rivers filled with trash, people dying of cancer caused by pollutants, or clearcutting.

People of all faiths have come out against these atrocities that we humans have done. From the Buddhists to the Catholics, the Hindus to the Muslims, people of faith join in solidarity saying this should not happen to our fellow man or to us or to the animals or to the earth.


Fifth, protecting the environment can be profitable and smart. I'm serious. I am definitely not a socialist nor am I a libertarian. I believe in free market and I think Adam Smith is a smart dude (although not a great writer, Wealth of Nations is really annoying to read).

Our current system, of global food production, for example, is plagued by inefficiency that needlessly expends fossil fuels, produces less-nutritious food, and creates health problems in a myriad of ways. By going back to local food production, we rely less on other nations for our food supply, we rely less on fossil fuels, and we have real connection with our food. Typically, food that is produced locally using sustainable methods is more nutritious, due to the increased emphasis on healthy soil. More nutritious food and eating habits will lessen our spending on health care, which is the highest in the world. If the burgeoning organic movement is any key (although, of course, the organic movement by agribusiness is hotly debated), profitable models of business are increasingly available and attractive to the consumer.

For too long we have subsidized socially irresponsible businesses, and then we taxpayers pay the price in clean-up and health costs, whilst the perpetrators pay nothing. (look up Superfund as an example). Yes, some subsidies are necessary, but not to the extent that they exist today.


Sixth.. I guess that's it, really. But my caring about the environment not because I'm anti-business, anti-growth, anti-cities, anti-people, anti-industry, anti-government. All of these are necessary and can be good things. The problem is, with "great power comes great responsibility", and we've been shirking our responsibilities. All of us contribute to the problem, from George W. Bush to me.


So, I support the environment out of a love for people, the outdoors and God. Why do you?