Mmimika’s Recent Comments

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  Jason & Canis

  Jason,

  Well, I agree that the Jewish definition of sin (missing the mark) better applies to recycling than, say, a Catholic definition of sin (separation from god). Neither is patently absurd though - here I think you are confusing your personal beliefs with what the word sin means in common parlance. Roughly speaking, both religions use the word to refer to a body of knowledge about a range of choices, large and small.

  Canis, nice to see you! Not smarter, I just speak in code from time to time. Had no clue that Aristotle talked about hamartia, intalesting. On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 6 months ago 60 Responses

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  the Garden of Eden

  "I'm more concerned with working on public policies that... make people pay the true price of goods."

  Ohhhh.... you're an economist. Well, I can see why you define your terms as you do then. Money wouldn't work if people thought that valuation formulas were based on anything as fuzzy as morals.

  "I think it is ridiculous to consider driving a car a lot or using an air conditioner or traveling some sort of moral failure."

  I can, and often do, see driving a car as a moral failure - when its a clear cut case that the driver is a slave to convenience at the expense of their health, the community, the environment, and especially their children's health. It is a measure of my forgiving nature that I do not key more cars.

  Even the driver paid a true price for the car, and the gas, and the freon, etc., it could still be a moral failure in my mind. Although... is the scenario I am describing even possible, if drivers had to pay the true price of their decisions? Hmm...

  Is it your position that our society can sidestep discussion of moral dilemmas by eliminating them with the correct economic policies? Such that, after incorporating the cost of externalities, humans won't have the personal purchasing power to pollute? In that scenario, my immoral driver wouldn't have a choice about whether or not to drive. The decision would simply be priced out of reach. On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 6 months ago 60 Responses

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  At least once a day at work

  I make a double espresso. Each shot comes in its own packet that gets inserted into the machine. While the shots are brewing, I prepare three creamers, each teaspoon of cream also coming in its own little packet.

  Sometimes, working late, I also throw in two packets of Swiss Miss Rich Chocolate Hot Cocoa Mix with marshmellows.

  Sometimes I use a styrofoam cup instead of my coffee mug.
  On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 6 months ago 60 Responses

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  Jason

  the concept of sin- that there is some supreme being judging as and dishing out rewards and punishments for our behavior

  I think your definition of sin is a straw man. Most adults I know would have nothing to do with the idea of sin if it referred to fear of being punished.

  Here are some descriptions of sin that I come across in speaking with religious people:
  

  • moral failure
    
  • wrongdoing
    
  • missing the mark
    
  • falling short
    
  • lawlessness
    
  • ignoring your conscience

  Shaming and sin as frames will always produce a backlash and muddy the issues.

  Sin as a frame... thats confusing to me. Sin is only a meaningful concept within a frame, a moral frame. Just as crime can only happen where there are laws.

  Most faith-environmental initiatives I've seen are elaborating a moral framework within which pollution can be seen as a moral failure, wrongdoing, or as sin. If you denigrate that moral frame by describing it as "some supreme being judging as and dishing out rewards and punishments for our behavior," you're belittling the efforts of your allies. Which would be fine.. except that the US has very high rates of... religiosity.

  Anyways, heres a nice example of the kind of people you'd be alienating: www.gipl.orgOn We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 6 months ago 60 Responses

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  I believe in sin.

  My green thinking has everything to do with my spirituality. I want to stop polluting the environment because I think it is morally wrong. It makes me feel guilty, it is a sin.

  I wouldn't ask that you take on my beliefs, but why do you feel the need to call my world view infantile?

  I'm really regretting that I skipped the interfaith panel at Agnes Scott last night on 'Is the Land Ours: biblical perspectives on man's relationship to the environment.' I'm sure I would have been able to write a better post on why I feel this approach is neither short-term, nor infantile. On We've all got planks in our eyes posted 2 years, 6 months ago 60 Responses