Earth Day, 2011: Pandas are Cute, but Let's Get a Grip

Today is Earth Day: a day "intended to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment," as a Wikipedia article puts it.

I live on Earth, and I like breathing clean air. I also think pandas are cute.

And one of my favorite quotes is this, from an early advocate of wilderness preservation:

"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe."
John Muir, "My First Summer in the Sierra" (1911)
(Apathetic Lemming of the North (October 17, 2010)

That said, I think that much of what passes for 'environmental awareness' has gotten dangerously silly.

I don't think that:

• Humanity is 'killing Earth'
• All change since about 1800 is somebody's fault
• The world needs fewer Africans

That is not the same as thinking that we can do anything we want - and let somebody else's kids clean up the mess.

I'm a practicing Catholic - and there are rules against that sort of thing. (48, "Caritas in Veritate") Which I've discussed before. (April 12, 2011)

I'll probably be back to sane environmental awareness (it's not an oxymoron), but not today. Besides, I've posted on the topic before, in this and another bolg:

• " 'Frail, Delicate Little Mother Nature?!' (or, getting a grip)"
  (April 15, 2011)
  Not the same as
  • "Frail, Delicate Little Mother Nature?!"
    Apathetic Lemming of the North (December 20, 2009)
• "Earth Day, Captain Planet, and Getting a Grip"
  (April 11, 2011)
• "Saving the Planet, Saving Haitians"
  (September 1, 2010)
• "Sustainable African Development: And Swift's Modest Proposal"
  (May 6, 2010)
• "Earth Day, 2010 - or - We Won: Deal With It"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (April 22, 2010)

More links:

• "Earth Day, 2011: Environmental Concerns, Catholic Faith, and Me"

Another blogger's take on yet another Earth Day:

• "YUP IT'S EARTH DAY AGAIN!"
  Left-footer (April 22, 2011)

I don't think anybody really wants tangy air and turbid water. But I also think that folks who push 'environmental awareness' might profitably consider cranking back the rhetoric. That, and paying attention to facts, might make a difference.