THE ENVIRONMENTALIST AND THE BOMB UPDATE: DAVE BROWER
(Page 8 of 8)
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Once we learn that a holocaust might lead to
extinction, we have no right to gamble, because if we lose,
the game will be over, and neither we nor anyone else will
ever get another chance. We have no choice but to address
the issue of nuclear weapons as though we knew for a
certainty that their use would put an end to our species.
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The risk of extinction has a significance that is
categorically different from, and immeasurably greater
than, that of any other risk. Up to now, every risk has
been contained within the frame of life; extinction would
shatter the frame. It represents not the defeat of some
purpose but an abyss in which all human purposes would be
drowned for all time.
We have found it much easier to dig our own grave than to
think about the fact that we are doing so .... At present,
most of us do nothing. We look away. We remain calm. We are
silent. We take refuge in the hope that the holocaust won't
happen, and turn back to our individual concerns. We deny
the truth that is all around us.
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Such imponderables as the sum of human life, the integrity
of the terrestrial creation, and the meaning of time, of
history, and of the development of life on earth, which
were once left to contemplation and spiritual
understanding, are now at stake in the political realm and
demand a political response from every person. As political
actors, we must, like the contemplatives before us, delve
to the bottom of the world, and Atlaslike, we must take the
world on our shoulders.
RELATED ARTICLE :
Friends of the Earth
EDITOR'S NOTE: "Conservation and Security in a
Sustainable Society: The First Biennial Conference on the
Fate of the Earth" will be held October 19 to 21 at the
Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City. For
information about registration, write to Steve Rauh,
Friends of the Earth, Dept. TMEN, 1045 Sansome Street, San
Francisco, California 94111. If you can't attend but would
still like to give your support, you can help fund the
conference and receive a copy of the published proceedings
(which may not come out until several months after the
meeting) by donating $20 to Conference Fund, Friends of the
Earth Foundation . . . and mailing it to the same
address.
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