THE QUALITY OF LIFE AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL RELIGION
The earth belongs to the living, not to the dead. -- THOMAS JEFFERSON
QUALITY OF LIFE is a nonreferent term. The claim that the elimination of environmental effects will automatically improve the quality of life is open to serious question. Improvement in quality of life derives from many other sources as well. Over the past seventy-five years, our quality of life has improved dramatically because of the positive contributions of science and technology. Why do so many people search desperately for catastrophic retribution? Is it a secret fear that we are undeserving of our good fortune? Yet, to turn this into a public guilt is a destructive political agenda.
One would think that those who believe in the perfectibility of man would rejoice at the incremental steps we've taken toward the good life. The ingredients of the quality of life that we take for granted are far different today than fifty years ago. Man's drive to rise above the muck and to live the civilized life was once considered a celebration of his ingenuity; today, for too many, it signifies man's affront to nature.
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Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: The Compassionate Conservative:Assuming Responsibility and Respecting Human Dignity.
Contributors: Joseph J. Jacobs - Author.
Publisher: ICS Press.
Place of publication: Oakland, CA.
Publication year: 2000.
Page number: 99.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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