Does respect for the former help the latter?

A while ago I posted about environmentalism and the religious worldview. I'm afraid that post was overbroad and led to a discussion about whether one can be a religious environmentalist (of course one can) and, more tediously, whether religion is "good" or "evil" overall.

But I had a more specific question in mind. Let me approach it from another direction.

This week Bush came out in favor of teaching "intelligent design" alongside evolution in school science classes.

I've been debating whether to post about this. This is an environmental blog. Is it an environmental issue?

I think it is, if only indirectly, if you accept the following three propositions:

Hustle and Flow

Montana and mining companies to fund massive river cleanup, restoration An historic financial settlement between the state of Montana and...

Umbra on oil subsidies

Dear Umbra, Grist keeps mentioning that the U.S. government gives large subsidies to oil companies, but doesn’t go further into...

Milenko Matanovic, community-based planner, answers questions

Milenko Matanovic. What work do you do? I run a nonprofit organization called Pomegranate Center. We specialize in involving people...

Preserving wild spaces

There's been some discussion over at The Commons about the lesson that we should take from the Dr. Suess classic The Lorax. Full text of the book (no pictures, though) can be found here. The free-marketeer interpretation is that the demise of the Truffula trees results not from the greed of the Onceler nor the materialism of the society that gobbles up thneeds just as fast as they please. The reason the Truffula trees are all destroyed is that no one has property rights to them. They are part of the commons, and if the Onceler doesn't chop them, someone else will.

Niger is experience famine because it’s people ‘buy (only) local’

According to an article on BBC News, huge flocks of red-beaked quelas have destroyed up to 70% of the crops in northern Nigeria. They have been driven there in a search for food from neighboring Niger, which has just experienced a drought and a plague of locusts. The poor people of Niger have been thrown into yet another famine and children are once again starving.

More on selective libertarianism

I stand by the sentiment expressed here, but acknowledge that Jerry Taylor was entirely the wrong target. (Something I'll acknowledge at greater length in a post I have brewing about libertarianism, energy, and environmental policy. Every time I try to write it it metastasizes to a length more appropriate to epic poetry. Concision, alert readers will have noticed, is not my forte. So ... stay tuned.)

Consider, for instance, the following two responses to the just-passed energy bill.

New nominees for top spots at EPA worry enviros

While the green community and the press fixate on the energy bill that’s finally wending its way to President Bush‘s...

It ain’t pretty

The energy bill passed through the House today, and is expected to pass the Senate by a wide margin on Friday.

The nation's editorial boards have not taken kindly to this bill. The folks at Campaign for America's Future sent around a sampling of responses, which I've included below the fold. I've added some links. If you have links to other op-ed reactions, leave them in comments.