[saymaListserv] Re: Does This Sound Familiar? (Lomborg/Death of Environmentalism)

[Steve Livingston]

Dear Janet and other Friends,

First, I owe a word of appreciation to Janet for opening this can of 
worms, or Pandora's Box, or Quakerly discussion of a matter upon 
which we have yet to reach unity if you all prefer the euphemism! Janet, 
I agree with the comment the other day that it is "courageous" of you to 
present to our larger Quaker community the views such as are found in 
your posted article from The Economist. It's a time-honored Quaker 
tradition to thresh a difficult matter, and can be enlightening to all 
concerned as long as we maintain a sense that we are, if I may 
paraphrase George Fox, speaking cheerfully and addressing our 
remarks to that of the Divine in every one.

I appreciate that all of us have deep passions about our environmental 
ethic, and I am glad to recognize that passion in our Friend Janet, and 
to acknowledge that even though we have differing perspectives, our 
concern arises from a deeper place, where Truth is what we are led to 
rather than what we already know.

All of what has been shared over these last few days has been 
immensely informative and inspiring to my sense of place in the web of 
life and of my purpose in the web of humanity. Today I attended the 
memorial service for our dear Elder and mentor Ursula Scott, who lived 
a life of challenging her own notions and those of other people. I didn't 
always see eye to eye with her either, but I was glad for her willingness 
to poke and prod at my certainties.

Steve