Earth Meanders by Dr. Glen Barry
October 20, 2006
Humanity desperately needs different ecologically based
spiritual and political systems to maximize the possibility of
the Earth and humanity surviving the torrent of industrial
pollutants emanating from humans breeding like bunnies. Dramatic
social, political and spiritual change centered upon green
principles will be required if humankind and our brother and
sister species with whom we share the Earth are to have any
prospect of a desirable and sustainable future.
These "Earth Meander" essays - meant to be read as a series -
examine issues like war and religion in relation to
environmental policy, because the old political and spiritual
frameworks threaten our ability to give the global ecological
crisis the attention, resources and focus it requires. As a
political ecologist I am delving into ecological, political and
spiritual responses adequate to save our species and our Earthly
habitat.
Nothing is sacred but the Earth and truth. Current belief and
political systems are inadequate to address converging climate,
water and extinction crises. We need to draw upon the world's
great but antiquated political and religious systems, as well as
recent advances in ecological, evolutionary and other sciences,
to develop new means to organize society and its demands upon
natural capital. Our very existence depends upon this new human
evolution.
There is nothing more fundamental than humanity's reliance upon
the Earth, and nothing as valuable or fragile as liberty to
rejoice in Gaia's bounteous opportunities. This essay is a call
to worship the Earth and embrace an ecologically informed
political vision of freedom, justice and sustainability.
Fundamentalist Paganism
I despise christian, islamic and judaic fundamentalists because
they blindly follow belief systems for another time and place,
inadequate to address contemporary ecological disintegration.
The endless feuding and warring between various blind faiths,
that view the Earth as being disposable and humans as supreme,
has caused much of the environmental damage and social problems
that now threaten to destroy us all.
A modern, secular world depends upon a minimum level of
acceptance of freedom, scientific truth, openness and diversity.
In our eagerness to be tolerant and politically correct, we must
not sanction militant fundamentalists of any stripe based upon
unknowable faith and opaque books. Clearly the route to divinity
and salvation for the Earth and her inhabitants was not pre-
ordained by prophet's millennia ago. We know so much more now
than they did then.
I began worshipping the Earth and her multitudes of Gods as I
saw my first clearcut in Papua New Guinea's rainforests. Never
have I seen something as obscene as mowing ancient rainforests
to make cardboard boxes. The cry of the then homeless birds of
paradise haunts me still to this day. I was devastated and have
never really recovered from the mental anguish and substance
abuse this caused. Here was evil incarnate. I came to realize
that because God is truth in the Ghandian tradition, and Earth
is truth in the ecological science perspective; then given
transitivity, the Earth must be, and is, God.
I have been hard in these writings upon organized religion. But
what could be more self-evident than our utter dependence upon
mother Earth and father Sun? Is there anything more awesome and
God like than the nurturing sun rays and water mixed with soil
growing our every need while consuming our waste? Contemporary
social and environmental ills are a result of alienation from
the Gods to be found in mountains, trees, rivers and all
species' life.
Pagans have been killed by all the major religions throughout
history. With the loss of Earth based polytheism has also gone
humanity's connection with the Earth, and recognition that we
exist upon her whims. Where does your food come from? Where does
your poop go? And what is the source of your drinking water? If
you do not know you are spiritually and ecologically lost.
There are many habits found in the faithful that follow ancient
prophets (but false messiahs) that are commendable. Worship of
Gaia, and living for her and all the human family's well-being,
needs to take the best of Islamic devotion, Christian love and
Jewish ambition and meld them with ecological science. Let us
bring forth a new Earth based faith that listens to many
prophets while recognizing creation in all its wondrous
biological, cultural and geographic beauty is the messiah.
Fundamentalism is dangerous when based upon unknowable faith.
But we know beyond scientific doubt that ecosystems sustain our
existence; and that healthy water, air, land and oceans free
from industrial pollutants are required to live and continue
our, and many other, species. To ignore the truthfulness of
fundamentalist paganism - that the Earth is God - is to be
superstitious and to follow false gods.
Green Libertarianism
As ecological systems begin to fail, inevitably there will be a
dramatic human response to try to fix the global ecological
system. An "Age of Ecological Restoration" will come, and the
sooner the more likely it will be successful. Humanity achieving
a state of just and equitable ecological sustainability will
require a mix of the best of both the conservative and liberal
political traditions.
Traditionally there have been very good reasons to be
conservative - change your agriculture too much or radically and
you starve, lose your morals and any number of tragedies can
befall. But conservatism has been ill suited to make dramatic
changes when they are needed. It has taken liberals to get equal
rights for women, laborers their just wage, and to end slavery.
And the state of the world's climate, water, oceans and land are
going to require similar liberal change.
Nonetheless, the most clear, truthful thinking coming out of
otherwise bereft political circles is being done by conservative
libertarians that recognize that government cannot save us.
Responses to terrorism, militarism, ecological collapse and
human injustice that depend overly upon taxing workers and
building government are repressive and will inevitably fail.
Government is already too big and has no right to dictate how to
live other than that we not undermine the potential for all to
continue living in ecological sustainability, liberty and
justice.
A prime libertarian failing has been an unwillingness to
acknowledge that there are ecological truths that require
enforced limits upon human activities to maintain ecosystems and
thus life. To understand we would not dump nuclear waste in Lake
Michigan is only different, in a matter of degree of ecological
insight, from knowing all species have rights and should be
maintained.
As a progressive, free thinker I am drawn to the liberal Green
platform of grassroots democracy, social justice and ecological
wisdom. Yet in my dealings with the Green political movement I
have observed a small group of self-absorbed, marginalized,
ineffective and often old hippies that are divorced from reality
and human aspirations to be free. Their policies seem by many to
be a return to communist policies that have largely failed. They
have identified many of the problems and solutions, but not how
they are to be sold and implemented.
Given the strengths and failures of Greens and Libertarians, I
would suggest that it is only a synthesis between these
traditions that holds the best chance of formulating a political
philosophy adequate to maintain free thinking human
civilizations and the natural world. There will be no existence
without green policies, and no opportunity to enjoy its bounty
without liberty.
Given that conservation is deeply conservative and liberty
profoundly liberal, I call upon all independent and free
thinkers to embrace a politics of Green Libertarianism.
In Closing
I have held an ambivalent yet keen interest in violence all my
life. This means I have gone back and forth between extremes -
excelling as an enlisted soldier, to considering being a
conscientious objector; despising war, yet drawn to war movies;
and have been both abused and an abuser. All while loving the
Earth with every ounce of my being, even as I failed miserably
to handle anger and depression over her and humanity's death.
If I were a young man again I would take the hills to wage war
in defense of Gaia. Instead I am working on a novel called
"Earth Revolution" (which may never be completed) imagining what
must be done. And though I am generally leery of "isms", I would
suggest Political Ecologism, Green Libertarianism and
Fundamentalist Paganism are keys to a fulfilling and sustained
future for the Earth and all her inhabitants. It is time for a
political and spiritual agenda that harmonizes and updates the
great traditions in these realms and is adequate to adjust to
the dire conditions in which humanity and the Earth find
themselves.
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