Quote Originally Posted by DSailing View Post
Yes we are a part of nature, but that does not mean that we have dominion over it or the right to destroy it.

Although this calculator is missing much and may be biased, at least it reflects a change in the human focus to maybe just maybe detroy a little less of our home.

"Continue to contaminate your own bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste." - Chief Seattle
The trouble really starts when people begin to think that human presence itself is contamination. And honestly, please explain to me who or what does have dominion over nature or the right to destroy it? That statement in the post I referenced almost sounds religious. Is there some sort of planetary council dictating who does and doesn't have legal rights to the fate of nature? I guess it would be easiest to say that humans are responsible for the health of the planet but do not have right of dominion over it. All of the responsibility without any of the authority just for kicks and giggles.

Chief Seattle compared waste to contamination. Doesn't every living thing go through a cycle of waste and production? Isn't that natural? And who is to say what contamination is? One man's contamination is another man's nature preserve. Who decides what is bad for the planet? The same people that say they are polluting it themselves? What is pollution: whatever we don't like other people doing? If nature decides what is bad for the planet, we will have worms telling us that birds are bad, sand telling us that rain is destructive, bananas telling us that monkeys are perverting nature by using tools to get to them and eat them, and people telling us that breathing CO2 is destroying nature itself.

Those of you who are reading with indignation, maybe it would serve the environment (and your temperament) best to turn off the PC? I don't mean to offend for the fun of it, but my simplistic approach to this subject leads me to make light of of it.