In my latest post over on No Unsacred Place, I weave a web of green, headline-hopping through this past week’s important news stories about environmentalism in the United States and the growing protests of economic inequality as part of the #OccupyWallSt movement:
Environmentalism has been making headlines recently in the United States as the political climate in the run-up to the Republican primaries continues to heat up like, well, the actual climate. From government censorship of climate scientists, to House Republicans voting to disempower the EPA, to environmentalist protest in solidarity with the #OccupyWallSt movement in New York and across the country, the common theme is the clash between two vastly different stories about the role that protections and regulations play in helping or hurting Americans. While Republicans continue to promote a story of deregulation and reliance on fossil fuels as the best way to put Americans back to work and kick-start the economy, concerned scientists and environmentalists tell a story of government complicity with environmental exploitation that jeopardizes public health and safety for the sake of corporate profits.
At the heart of this clash of worldviews is the question of how local communities can effectively manage their natural resources and immediate environments in ways that help rather than harm others. For many Pagans who cultivate a spiritual relationship with the Earth, this question is one of the basic Mysteries of the natural world: the tension that arises when individuals seek to thrive within complex and interconnected ecological systems of competing needs and limited resources, and the desire to seek a balance which privileges neither the community nor the individual at the expense of the other, but enriches the quality of life for all.
Can we foster a political climate of cooperation instead of competition, interconnection instead of isolation? What spiritual challenges do modern Pagans face when confronting the balance between individual and community, and what lessons can we share with the rest of the nation?
You can read the full article here.
Alison Leigh Lilly 