Godless Environmentalism: The Failure of
Environmental Protection and Our Hidden Power to Save
the Planet describes a system of environmental
protection that is broken beyond repair yet somehow
self-perpetuating. National and international energy and
treasure have been poured into our effort to save the
planet. But the open secret is that the effort has
failed: Environmental protection is hopelessly confused
and woefully ineffective. What went wrong? And why do we
continue to pursue this failed effort as if nothing had
gone wrong? Godless Environmentalism discusses the
pitfalls of environmental protection one-by-one, from
disagreements about ethics - defining "environment" and
"protection" - to scientific uncertainty, irrational
risk management, and the vagaries of international law,
adding up to failure. Nuclear energy, global climate
change, and oil spills, are examples of the failure of
environmental protection. The root of this policy
failure is surprising. It goes back to an ancient
conflict between two worldviews about the relationship
between humankind and the divine. The currently dominant
worldview posits that human beings alone can
technocratically "fix" complex problems. If one
technocratic "fix" fails, according to this view, then
we simply need a new and better technocratic "fix."
Because this worldview is dogma among most
policy-makers, environmentalism generally fails to
consider the spiritual element of environmental
protection. God has been removed from policy debates.
Godless Environmentalism advocates the opposing
worldview: To restore our genuine spiritual connection
to the power creating and maintaining the world and to
heal our planet. In so doing, this book takes seriously
Shellenberger and Nordhaus's call in Breakthrough
Institute's "The Death of Environmentalism" to connect
environmental protection to deep and powerful spiritual
roots. About the Author: David Page is an
American-Israeli lawyer who after his undergraduate
years at Harvard delving into social theory studied
under Barack Obama, Richard Posner, and Cass Sunstein at
the University of Chicago Law School and has worked and
taught for over a decade in the field of environmental
law. David has also spent the past decade delving into
ancient theological writings in the Holy City of
Jerusalem, where he has studied ancient interpretations
of the biblical Five Books of Moses, the Babylonian
Talmud, and ancient (and also modern) philosophical
writings. He thus acquired an unusual ability to
synthesize both contemporary law and policy issues and
ancient theological discussions. David's unique
background allows him to situate environmental
protection in its spiritual and philosophical context.
The results of his synthesis between modern policy and
ancient wisdom will surprise anyone with an open mind
and an ability to perceive the spiritual foundations of
the planet.
|
|