A Thinking Reed

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

Environment

  • HSUS for Obama-Biden

    Not that animal protection is likely to be high on the next President’s list of priorities, but, for what it’s worth, the Humane Society recently endorsed Obama-Biden. Interestingly, it seems this is the first time they’ve ever endorsed a presidential candidate (they routinely endorse congressional candidates), but were moved to this time in large part Read more

  • The Groaning of Creation 8: The ethics of the Ark

    Throughout this series we’ve seen two intertwining themes. First, death and suffering are necessary parts of the process–perhaps the only possible process–by which finite selves are brought into existence. Second, however, this process involves the (seemingly) permanent thwarting of many of those selves as well as the disappearance of entire ways of being (species). And Read more

  • The Groaning of Creation 6: Priests of creation

    Having offered an account of why God permits the suffering and frustated lives of so many non-human animals, Southgate turns to the question of what role humans might play in alleviating their plight. Key to his understanding once again is the notion of creation in travail, or “groaning.” Creation is good, but it’s destined to Read more

  • The Groaning of Creation 3: God so loved the world

    In Chapter 4, Southgate develops a trinitarian “theology of creation,” an admittedly speculative enterprise that seeks to shine some light on the relationship between the triune God and an evolutionary process that operates according to Darwinian principles. Taking up the theme of kenosis, Southgate suggests that God’s self-emptying love is foundational both to intra-trinitarian relationships Read more

  • Tragedy of the commons

    I picked up this little primer on climate policy at the library and it offers a very lucid, and surprisingly substantial given its length, introduction to the various tools for responding to climate change (carbon tax, cap-and-trade, renewable energy investment, etc.), their pros and cons, and which players support or oppose which policies. He convinced Read more

  • Where the wild things are

    I don’t know what I think of the idea, but this is the most interesting thing I’ve read in a while. (In other words, it’s not about the election.) “Re-wilding,” in the words of one of the scientists interviewed, is the “super-colliding superconducting experiment of ecology.” Read more

  • Food for the faithful

    Bls points us to an article from the Post on how religious believers are reflecting their faith in their food choices. I think the idea of having a church garden that supplies all the food for a seasonal picnic is fantastic. Not least because it resulted in an all-veggie potluck, about the opposite of most Read more

  • Myths we live by

    There’s been a lot of loose talk from both parties about “energy independence,” so I thought it’d be worth linking to this piece from Paul “The End of Oil” Roberts that appeared in Mother Jones a couple of months back: The Seven Myths of Energy Independence. Read more

  • The “empire of consumption” and Obamanomics

    John Wiener interviews Andrew Bacevich on our “empire of consumption” and the limits of Obama: But he’s not one of those radicals who argue there is no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans. “I call myself an Obama-con, Bacevich says, “a conservative who will vote for Obama – because of the Iraq war. He Read more

  • The end of (cheap) meat

    I’m agnostic, because under-informed, about whether “free-range” meat would result in higher meat prices than the factory farmed variety once you’ve taken into account all the hidden costs. But Paul Roberts, author of The End of Oil and The End of Food, contends that, even under the best circumstances, making the (necessary) switch to free-range Read more