Christianity and the Survival of Creation

At some points this article was as tough to get through as Thoreau's writing. Not only was the reading tough but Berry's ideas were pretty tough to swallow. I believe that he took an extremest view on this topic. Is it really a plausible argument to assert that we are all one in the same because God made each of us from his spirit, so we are "betraying our family responsibility" and "flinging God's gifts into His face." I do agree with this idea in one aspect though; churches/temples are not exclusively holy holiness is found outside the temples, in the forests, the lakes, the desert. Nearly every place is sacred to someone for one reason. The same goes for the holy people, I believe that the holy people are not the priests but the shepherds and soldiers. This was absolutely not the favorite reading we have done.

The Arguing Culture

Tannen is quite accurate in her ideas on our culture. Now everything is right or wrong, black or white, and currently Republican or Democrat. I have always believed that the more opinions you can get on something the better you will understand it, in a culture where people approach everything with just two ideas, you can't help but think that we are missing something. This arguing culture that we have become may be our demise, as a culture we approach everything as a debate or as a fight, this causes constant conflict among ourselves. As a nation I believe that we have the same problem, we fight wars with other countries because they aren't doing what is "right." 

I believe that if we would all just take a minute and approach most questions as an open discussion rather than a debate, much more would be accomplished, we wouldn't only get two opinions on the subject. "It is easier to condemn than to think." (Emma Goldman) As Emma said, we need to quit taking the easy way out, lets think a little bit and we will be a much more productive nation. 

Leave No Child Inside

Louv is absolutely correct when he talks about kids being raised inside theses days, i see it every day, i very rarely see the neighbor kids playing outside. They'd rather play video games inside. Louv describes this turn in activity as "nature-deficit disorder." He goes on to describe how to solve this problem, building nature centered communities is one example. I thought the one he told about from california was pretty neat, in the center was natural walking paths and residents were all encouraged to have gardens in their yards, but this may be an unrealistic idea; can you bring kids outside away from the video games after they have already been sucked into the inside world? Lets hope that kids can be brought up outside because as Louv said, "If experiences in nature are radically reduced for children, where will the future stewards of the earth come from?" If kids are not raised to appreciate nature how can we expect the next generation to take care of it, I find this to be a big problem.