We and the Earth

This blog is about Judaism and the world we depend on. It is not the place for partisan politics for one very simple reason: Nature, Creation, Earth - call it what you will - is the only place we all call home.

A healthy Earth is the only thing that keeps us alive.

If the world gets sick, so do we all.

What I am about to say is not about politics. It is about the simple truth that many of us, in our continuing swoon over the impressive and well-earned swagger of technology, seem to have forgotten. Our quest for a healthy Earth is not a quixotic pursuit for some sweet but marginal damsel-in-distress out there. It is not about polar bears or spotted owls.

It is about us. It is about the essential truth that is captured in the resonance of the biblical words adam - humankind, and adamah - earth. The one is dependent on the other. To care for the Earth is to care for Humanity.

Mitt Romney nailed this mistake, this forgetting, in his acceptance speech the other night:

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise … is to help you and your family.

That is a false distinction.

We and our families cannot thrive if oceans come crashing into our homes. Indeed the very next day, Romney went to visit families being helped by government in Louisiana, families once again displaced and disoriented by ocean waters come ashore.

We and our families cannot thrive if harvests are wiped out due to water shortages or soil degradation, or if we cannot afford to buy food, or adequately heat and cool our homes, due to increases in energy and transportation costs.

We need to remember that the health of the earth is the greatest determining factor of our physical health. And the health of the earth is the greatest determining factor of our economy's health as well.

As the economist Herman Daly reminds us, it doesn't make a difference how big our fishing fleet is, or how large our nets are if there are no more fish in the ocean. It doesn't matter how much coal there is in the ground if our water is polluted by the dumping of mountain debris, the air made rancid and the temperatures rising.

Both jobs and life need a healthy environment to thrive. We as individuals, we as families and we as a civilization need a healthy earth.

It is something we cannot forget: We and the Earth. One and the same.