Acid Rain

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By looking at history, we can see that progress can be a double-edged sword. If the pursuit of having and getting more, ultimately leaves you with less, how can this be a postivie thing? Acid rain is just one of the many many side effects from pursuing the idea that more is better.

When the Israelites were in the desert, God told them to only collect enough mana for that day. He specifically told them not to store it or try to accumulate more than they needed, (Exodus 16:15 - Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

Being greedy and trying to have more than what is needed seems to be a problem for most of the history of humanity. One of the results of this greed is environmental problems.

In the days of the Dust Bowl, the modern word “environmental” was developed as an umbrella to encompass a lot of environmental concerns. Many people in those days felt that people who called themselves environmentalists were some sort of mystic or a deranged individual that should not be trusted. The same could be said today. Many people think that the earth is less fragile than some environmentalists say, and believe that environmentalism is overreacting to the human contribution to climate change. Some people believe that environmentalists are opposed to human advancement. Maybe what one group of people believe to be an advancement, like factories that operate on coal and fossil fuels to produce mass quantities of goods, may not be an advancement at all. If the price of those factories is the very resources that sustain us, then it is hardly an advancement. It was John Clapham who said, “Economic advance is not the same thing as human progress.” Or to quote William Ruckelshaus “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.”