Earth Day is fast approaching. The next few weeks will be chock-full of “green” marketing.
Whether it is through posters, emails or even articles in The Reflector, you probably won’t forget about the holiday this year.
I think Earth Day is a pretty neat idea. Calling attention to resource conservation and other environmental issues makes a lot of sense to me.
But I don’t think it necessarily makes sense for everybody. What do I mean by this? I mean the philosophical principles that drive the celebration of Earth Day do not follow from every worldview.
To further clarify, I merely mean to suggest I think it’s peculiar people with certain world views celebrate Earth Day, simply because some of these views, when pressed, do not lead to such a celebration.
Macroevolution, also known as Darwinian evolution, is one such worldview that fails to make sense of Earth Day. Because, as you know, at the heart of evolution lies the theory of natural selection.
And in this theory, it follows that every species is in a competition for resources and materials. From this, I think it only naturally follows humans should hoard all of the resources for themselves.
Consider the other animals. They don’t celebrate Earth Day. They do not stop to share or conserve resources amongst themselves. So why should we? I mean, we’re just another animal species, lost in a race for survival. And in this race, winner takes all. We need all the help we can get.
Why not? After all, it’s survival of the fittest right? Isn’t it only natural to dominate other species? My point is that defending and sharing resources, the very goal of the green movement itself, simply doesn’t make sense within the framework of Darwinian evolution.
With all this said, I do think some worldviews are qualified to support Earth Day. For instance, a religious view, particularly one in which a higher power places an onus of accountability on a species to manage the earth, should support. This would make sense for Earth Day.
Now, in this example, whether the religious worldview is true in an objective sense wouldn’t matter. What matters here is whether the subsequent view of being environmentally conservative, flows logically from the worldview itself. In this case, I think it does. It makes sense for us to save something given to us. Religion can make sense of this, whereas evolution cannot.
Now am I saying that evolutionists cannot celebrate Earth Day? Absolutely not. They are certainly free to honor it, just as anyone is. Once again, I just wish to point out that to celebrate Earth Day while holding to macroevolution is kind of funny, and that’s all.
Believe me, I am a fan of our planet. I think we should always be looking for more ways, like Earth Day, to raise awareness for conservation and green initiatives. Protecting our planet is indeed a worthy pursuit.
When a girl approached me in the cafeteria with a petition for the green fund, I was happy to oblige. So please don’t think of me as some anti-conservationist or something; for that is not the case.
As for April 22 this year, I am excited. It’s a beautiful planet out there, and I’m proud of it.
Ben Hester is a freshman majoring in political science. He can be contacted at [email protected].