A Thinking Reed

"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal

Environment

  • What kind of Green Deal?

    Sharon Astyk critiques Al Gore’s climate change wish list for the next administration on the grounds that, among other things, it would require a huge up front investment in technology and infrastructure that may put us over a climate change tipping point because of the fossil fuels that would be required for such an undertaking. Read more

  • “A clear mandate for clean energy”

    Grist is hopeful about Obama’s energy plan: The key is the long game. Obama worked carefully, diligently, and adeptly to get elected on a clean energy agenda. Despite the many reasons he gave greens to recoil along the way, he got there. There is every reason to believe he will now work carefully, diligently, and Read more

  • Prop 2 in the news

    The NYT and the Washington Post both have articles this weekend on the Proposition 2 campaign in California. The Times profiles Wayne Pacelle, CEO of the Humane Society, who’s group has been spearheading the campaign. The Post article gives the lay of the land on both sides of the issue. I’m astonished by some of Read more

  • Production matters: the limits of locavorism

    Ezra Klein points out that eating locally is neither feasible for a lot of people, nor is it necessarily the best way to reduce carbon emissions with your food choices. (Granted, there are other reasons for eating locally.) Peter Singer and Jim Mason make a similar point in The Ethics of What We Eat (a Read more

  • Europe exporting its overfishing to Africa?

    This is terrible. It looks like European fleets, with the help of African governments selling lucrative fishing rights, are overfishing African waters and destroying the livelihood of small fishermen to boot. As a further consequence, many of these people, now deprived of a way to make a living, are coming to Europe as illegal immigrants. Read more

  • Jesus in the grocery store

    From Christianity Today: The local grocery store is the space where we gather the fruit of the earth — all of which come from God’s gracious hand — and distribute them to the creatures made in God’s image. Take away all the sophisticated marketing labels and bold two-for-one signs, and you have a place where Read more

  • Notes on human uniqueness and the Imago Dei

    In light of this post, here are some thoughts on what it might mean to affirm human uniqueness and to say that we’re created in the image of God: The Bible doesn’t give us much to go in when it says that human beings are created in God’s image: Then God said, “Let us make Read more

  • Pollan’s open letter to the next president

    On food, farming, and health–here. Read more

  • Humane Society steps up its religion and animals program

    A report from the Boston Globe (via Episcopal Cafe). With a rising concern about things like fair trade and global warming within a lot of churches, will animal welfare start to make inroads? My sense is that this is still not on most churches’ radar screens. Perhaps out of a concern that focusing on animals Read more

  • Groaning of Creation: Index of posts

    Thought it might be helpful to have links to all my posts on Christopher Southgate’s book on animal theodicy, The Groaning of Creation, in one place. 1. Intro 2. The only way? 3. God so loved the world 4. There’s a wideness in God’s mercy 5. Heaven can wait 6. Priests of creation 7. The Read more