THE GREENING OF THE RIGHT:

Conservatism: Green vs. Crunch (Ben Domenech, 9/25/02)

The reason that I consider myself a Green Conservative has to do with my belief that man has two proper roles in relation to nature, both drawn from Biblical concepts. Mankind must be the Subduer of the Earth, and the Steward of the Earth.

Most conservatives like the Subduing part -- carving out a niche in the unforgiving rock, Man must make a path through the mountains and over the seas, harvesting the food and materials that God has given us. Manifest Destiny and all that.

The Stewardship part is where I break off from many conservatives. I believe that God also gave us a good deal of responsibility for caring for the Earth. We are to respect nature as a gift from God, and treat it as a farmer would treat his lifestock and crops. Any farmer worth his salt would know that we must plant as much or more than we harvest if we want to keep our crops healthy. And any hunter will tell you that just because you need to keep certain animal populations under control doesn't mean we should wipe them out.

Mr. Domenech offers some useful thoughts on the conservative environmentalism debate. What's most interesting about the topic, as evident in his comments and others, is that conservatives seem to be less anti-environment than anti-Environmentalist. It seems like there would be room on the Right for someone to develop a thoughtful brand of conservative environmentalism, that keeps Man at the center of Nature but recognizes the obligation of what Mr. Domenech rightly calls "stewardship".
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 25, 2002 1:32 PM