Victorians in Asia

The most striking comment that I found in this article was this: “The difficulty at present is that for the most part we have developed in the world’s religions certain ethical prohibitions regarding homicide and restraints concerning genocide and suicide, but none for biocide or geocide.”[i] I can’t say that I would find Jainism to be the answer to addressing this, but I think that other religions can do more than they are to help maintain or improve the environment. Scientologists (at least L. Ron Hubbard) proclaim one of the steps to happiness to be to “safeguard and improve one’s environment”.[ii] I can agree with this statement. But I don’t think that guilt-tripping people into helping the environment through silly youtube videos will do anything except incite emotions, like the Earthlings movie some of us watched a few weeks ago or An Inconvenient Truth.[iii]

The best way to help the environment is really just to be practical, not coat earth-saving techniques in religious jargon. As the author mentions, this doesn’t really work, “It should be noted…that this…has not prevented environmental degradation”.[iv] One practical thing I personally do to help the environment as well as just be a good citizen is to go to the Waller Creek Clean-Up each semester. This allows me to do at least something small that is beneficial to the earth, even if it has to be done often.

Waller Creek Clean-Up[v]

Cleaning up the earth isn’t about doing it for show: either for showing off piety, compassion, or trendiness. It is about keeping the world clean. This seems obvious, but our new ideas about “living green” blind us into believing that “saving the earth” is just a passing fad, and that it is something that is only available to the rich. The “green” products cost more than the non-green ones, which seems really counter-intuitive. I would definitely support being “green” if it didn’t cost so much green.

To sum up, the Jains have a good idea. But I think it is a bit extreme. As per my own beliefs, I believe that God created all plants for food, as He says in Genesis 1:29: “Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;”.[vi]

Fruits bearing Seed[vii]

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[i] Lawrence E. Sullivan, Preface in Jainism and Ecology: Nonviolence in the Web of Life, ed. Christopher Key Chapple (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002), xxv.

[ii] L. Ron Hubbard, “The Way to Happiness” brochure

[iii] An Inconvenient Truth Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XMn_Ry3z6M

[iv] Sullivan, Jainism and Ecology, xxiv.

[v] Waller Creek, http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/sponsored_sites/waller/

[vi] Genesis 1:29, also available http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Genesis+1&version=49.

[vii] Fruitful, http://www.pathlights.com/theselastdays/images/fruitful.jpg