BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Environment What Troubles You More in the World?

Which do you think is the larger crisis today? single choice
	Terrorism
	Environment
Votes accepted starting: 02/19/06 09:59 AM
View Results

I put on the environment. As someone who suffers with eczema and asthma the environment has an effect on my skin and breathing.

Also both my kids have autism and the environment plays a role in that. The pollution, smoking and garbage are adding to the environment. People dump trash along the sewers and streets and it all goes into the ocean.

I would never swim in the ocean and have not done so since I was a kid in the 60s or maybe 70s. It is not safe either with the marine animals coming closer to the edge of the water.

Also people are building their homes into the woods where the wild animals have no place to go but in their pools and trees. Out here in Los Angeles I hear all the time on the news about bears, coyotes and other animals having no place to go since people are building in their territories.

I worry more about terrorism. The environment is in the hands of God.

These days its hard not to worry about both!

But we do so much ourselves to harm the environment that I would say that. I have no personal control over when or where a terrorist is going to strike. But I can recycle, use a more fuel efficient car, carpool, cut down on electricity, and so many other things.

Bonnie's point about the animals I had never even thought of! But after some of the grimmer images of Hurricane Katrina, I have made the difficult decision to be cremated rather than buried. This was a very hard decision for me, as I am a Baptist by denomination - and my family about freaked when they heard I put that in my will! But I look at it this way. If we continue to bury all of our dead, where will the living live? And I figure God is powerful anough that he can put my body back together from ashes just as easily as he can from decomposed gunk (if He really wants to that is, LOL) <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'm with you on cremation, Michelle. I don't have a formal will written (there's no need.... it would read something like "My closest of kin whose feet are small enough can have all of my shoes", because that's about all I've got. But I've made it clear that when I die, I want to be cremated, and then I want everyone to go and dig a big hole, pour my ashes in, and plant a tree. My ashes can fertilize the tree, and the life cycle will go on. I think it'll make a nice headstone.

As far as people not believing in cremation because they don't think God will be able to put them back together (I understand that YOU don't believe this, Michelle), it seems to me that A. We decompose down to dust anyway. B. Does God ignore people who perish in fires and whose bodies are dust immediately upon death by chance?

Terrorism doesn't scare me, it's what we as a nation do that drives people to terrorism that scares me more. Which, of course, includes using the world as America's trashcan and ashtray.

And praytell, exactly what were we doing on sept. 11th that " drove" those people to kill 3000+ of our citizens?

I voted for the environment, too. I'm like ya'll, Michelle, Bonnie and Megan. If we individually do what each of us CAN do to help our environment, as well as spread the word, we can be so much more successful. Reuse, recycle, conserve water, share resources, conserve energy, quit using fertilizers and insecticides, and just remember logical things like waste not, want not and we can insure a healthy mother earth for generations to come. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Trish

Well, I don't believe that " mother earth" garbage but I do believe in recycling and conservation. If we quit using fertilizers and insectcides then food production will drop and a lot of the third world will die from starvation. We need SAFE fertilizers and insecticides. Technology can give us that.

Dave, I wasn't referring to "mother earth" either. I was just saying as 1 person, I can do very little to affect whether a terrorist is going to drop a bomb on me - so living in terror of it does little good.

But as 1 person there are many things I can do to help clean up the environment and make it a better place to live for my children (after all in Genesis, God did give this earth into Adam's care for keeping - we aren't doing a very good job. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> ) then I have an obligation to do that.

Yes, we are to be good stewards of God's world, His environment, and His creatures. To be sure. I believe in clean air and water. In using the natural resources of this world but not abusing them. And we can do a lot to help keep it clean. I try to do that. I worry more about terrorism because I worry about the evil that resides in the hearts of those who commit it. And there is something we can do about it, His name is Jesus Christ.

That's an interesting perspective. I've been reading Ecopsychology (Edited by Theodore Roszak et al) and the contributing authors make that connection albeit in more broad ways. Guilt about the abuse of the earth, lack of defining milestones and rituals (spiritual), disconnectedness from the earth all are contributing factors to fanatical behavior (not only terrorists but extreme religious movements, gangs, etc).

the battle against evil is already won! jesus paid the price and said 'it is finished' so what is the point of worrying about something like terrorism when God has already won besides the terreorists want us to worry so we are just playing into their hands. as for the environment it is our responsibility not Gods he gave us the earth to care for and all we are doing is destoying it if we dont change our ways there wont be a world for our offspring to live in isnt that more important than a group of people who are out of control!!!
without water,air to breathe and food we are nothing! <img src="/images/graemlins/fish.gif" alt="" />

i more troubled with the current situation of our environment. it is continuously deteriorating and we have to move fast. do our part to save the environment. in the first place it is where we live so better make a healthy one.

I said environment for tons of reasons.

meg

ack..anyhow...
mostly I can control how my family and I treat the environment and what we do to hurt/help...I can't control terrorism.

meg

Deffinatley the enviroment...

Since the industrial revolution man has managed to wipe out over 90 percent of the worlds forests also thousands(yes thousands) of animal species have been wiped out and we are living in a world that is becoming more toxic with each passing year...

If all this damage has been done in such a short time how can the world cope in the next 100 years?

This world is seriousley overpopulated.We have currentley 6.5 billon people on the plannet and it is estimated (even with poulation control measures) that the worlds population will reach 9 billion by 2050 and to over 18 billon by 2150.

What kind of world are we leaving for future generations? Do people really care? Personally I am doing my bit by not having children but for those who have children and grandchildren it must be scary thinking of what the world will be like for them in their old age.

Can anyone even imagine what the world would be like with 18 billion people on it?

this will never happen because I honestley think "somethiong is going to give"

It sounds deppressing but man will "self destruct" and I believe these are the end times right here and now.

The warning signs are here but man is so greedy wanting to keep overpopulating the plannet so the economys atay strong that he will dig his own grave. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I don't think humans are going to be undone by self-destruction -- I think nature's going to take care of it. People never really look at how similar all living things are. And just like a human [or animal] body, I believe the planet has its own "immune system".
People say that the cause of all of the crazy weather [higher-level hurricanes happening more often, droughts, tsunamis..] is because we are polluting the planet -- but more specifically, it's the earth-body reacting to the things we do. I think it's going to do something large-scale to get rid of us, the "human disease".

There are lots of people who are talking about the Yellowstone SuperVolcano erupting [& quite possibly causing a chain-eruption of other volcanos in addition to tidal waves, toxic ash in the air, acid rain...] -- because of all of the activity that has been building in that area [small quakes are happening more frequently & with growing intensity]. I'm thinking that maybe it's like when we get sick and our bodies become feverish to burn out the "intruders".

This planet has been around far longer than any of us can even fathom. And the reason that it's stuck around is because it's strong and has ways of defending itself against threats. People always refer to the "end of the world", but the world isn't going to end -- we are. We humans like to elevate ourselves above all things, but in the end we are just animals who've been on the earth for less than 0.1% of its known existence -- and this planet has survived through the life & death of other "dominant" animal species [dinosaurs -- which were on this planet much longer than we've been, as well as a newly discovered reptilian species before them -- who knows how many more there have been?], and the planet always sorts itself out. It'll be able to not only survive, but thrive without us on it.

And in response to TexasDave's post[s]:
The environment isn't in God's hands [if you believe in that sort of thing] -- God gave us all free will; each of us is responsible for our own decisions & actions. We can choose to lead good, clean, peaceful lives in harmonic balance with each other & this planet -- or we can choose to live the highly destructive lifestyle of carbon-monoxide pumping cars, pointless wars, waste, pollution and general badness that we've chosen.

Also, the USA's twisted foreign policies [sanctions blocking nations who want to be "friends" with the USA from trading with Iraq -- which caused economic devastation & hundreds of thousands of deaths], general hypocrisy & corrupt ways is what drives many people to hate -- and terrorist groups to attack -- this country. And when you think about it, is the USA really any better than the terrorists as far as this war is concerned? Exponentially more innocent civilians are being killed [not to mention raped, beaten & tortured] than the so-called terrorists.. If it's all about the 3000+ lives taken on September 11th, I'd say we've gotten more than even with them for that, wouldn't you?

And as far as lots more people in 3rd world countries dying if we stop using fertilizers & insecticides -- that's a complete load of BS. The thing that most people don't even realize is that the vast majority of crops produced in this country go to feeding the animals that we eat! If even half of the factory-farm animals stopped being fed, every person in those countries would have enough to eat -- not to mention how much water would be saved [washing the pens & what the animals drink], and the large reduction in "run-off" pollution. That's one of the main reasons that people consider chemical-farming to be necessary -- fast food production to feed those animals raised for slaughter. If not for that, sustainable organic farming would be a highly viable option.

Sorry for the long post, folks.