Blog #4

Part 2 ("Of Nature, Value, and Ethics") in The Green Halo veers a little off the topic of animals and focuses more on humans' treatment of nature as a whole. I found the first section, "The Moral Sense of Nature," to be interesting. I could really picture what Kohak meant when he talked about the basic ways humans relate to nature. He painted a great picture of humans in the past respecting and revering nature to different extents, and it left me wishing we were still like that today. I especially loved the image of the shepherds and ploughman because it made me think of a simpler time that was still relatable (I had a tougher time imaging hunting and gathering what I need to survive) where humans were deeply respectful and grateful to nature while still playing a role in their own lives. The idea of the hunters/gatherers being completely dependent on nature was a little much for me, I would want to live with a little control. I wish we could achieve such reverence now instead of having this culture of "over consumption." It makes me sad that we consistently abuse everything nature and God provides for us.

The second section, "Ethics of the Fear of the Lord," was a little less clear to me. I had trouble discerning what Kohak was really trying to say about Christianity because the ideas went back and forth a couple of times. I disagreed with Kohak's statement that "the point is that...the idea of mastery over nature really is one of the motifs which humans can derive from the Christian contribution to our cultural heritage" (63). I don't think it's appropriate to say that Christianity is a major cause of humans' desire to "conquer" nature because not only does the bible contain many statements contrary to this (Isaiah 66:3 says "he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man"), but also the fact that humans' had the desire to master nature long before Christianity was born. Even the earliest known civilizations such as in Egypt or Mesopotamia tried to "control" the water around them for irrigation purposes. Granted, that is different than today's culture in which many see nature as expendable, but still that idea of "besting" nature was there. I don't believe Kohak intended to place all the blame on Christianity for the state of the world today, but I think he used a poor choice of words in voicing his opinion on it. His quote (as typed above) can be very easily misinterpreted. As far as the rest of the section goes, I did like how Kohak concluded that humans' disruption and destruction of nature is not compulsive, that somewhere along the lines we chose this path. I believe that humans have the ability to live harmoniously with all of nature - or else why would God have created us at all? I don't really like Kohak's suggestion of going back to the hunter/gatherer ways, but I do think we as a human race ought to be able to reach a compromise about our way of life that can be far less obstructive.