I keep finding myself more and more upset with our present government in Canada. Of course my current readings aren't helping! This semester I'm doing two courses in Ethics, one is a history of ethics and the other is more of a liberationist course on ethics and economy in a globalized world. Personally I find much of what happens in classic moral philosophy (ethics) becomes so focused on a particular ideology (deontology, teleology, etc.) that it is unable to cope adequately with the complexity of life. But that is to be expected from my background in liberation theology.
What kills me is that we continually work for solutions that are potentially worse than the problems! Take the new light bulb plan of the Harpur government. I haven't found any of these new light bulbs that do not contain mercury. Mercury is nasty shit! So how about one of these lights breaking in your kids room? It happens. Plus they might last a long time, but what do we do with burnt out mercury filled lights? I agree that we need to cut our power consumption, in fact I am planning on doing all I can to ensure we cut our usage at least by 10% this summer. But we have to step back and really think through the problems. That is where the liberation theology methodology really helps.
An easy way to understand LT methodology is with the slogan: see - judge - act. But this is not to be mistaken with an immediate response to a percieved need. LT is self-critical of its own responses. The problem with shortsighted responses is that they come back to bite us in the future - like those mercury filled bulbs! See is the most important part of this, you need to understand, really understand what is going on, what are the implications and who stands where in the situation. Obviously the government has a lot of balls to keep balanced in the air. I appreciate that, and that is why we elect a government. But we also expect them to think it through. It isn't about trying to make the least amount of voters pissed so you can get re-elected. It is about doing what it right for Canada and the world. Harpur and his Conservatives fail on both accounts.
LT methodology also adds another component. There is no LT without action, and we realize that actions sometimes create different injustices. That is why the cycle starts again and again. I wish our government would be more self-critical than trying to tread water until the poles seem to be in their favour. I really want a government that is willing to do what is right instead of what they can get away with.
I offer you the site EcoFraud, the Suzuki video alone is worth the browse.
2 comments:
"I really want a government that is willing to do what is right instead of what they can get away with."
This is a very noble statement. However, in the history of polotics, you don't see (or very rarely see) an elected body do things that way. I think the real problem is all those balls that they have to juggle.
Really, the beest way to save the planet is to go back to where we were hundreds of years ago. It is pretty much impossible without something drastic happenning. It is a very difficult thing to think about, simply because...we are so screwed!!!
I am not convinced that going back we would have done much differently. I don't buy the myth of progress carte blanche but there are certain aspects of life that are much better in our day and age. What gets me though is that these "advances" are usually only available to the privileged minority while billions live in conditions worse than hundreds of years ago.
I believe there is hope for the future, but it only comes once we acknowledge how bad things are now. The problem most have at approaching ecological issues is that they depend on the methods and technologies that got us into the mess in the first place. It will take a massive change of attitude to make a difference. Until then the prophetic voice of the Church for the environment has to be like John the Baptist, crying out from the wasteland.
Post a Comment