Well, even pilligers of earth™ need to avoid pillaging the earth to extinction. After all, if pillaging is one's game, then you want to have something to pillage.
I agree that we would be getting away from the subject matter if we asked why, for instance, we want to survive and flourish as a species. I say we take that as a given or else we will stray away from "the limits of rationality's usefulness" into another philosophic sphere.
I feel you on criticism of green movement's pitch. There is no "benefit of earth" argument against climate change. The Earth will do fine once we're gone. The rest of life will go on flourishing... probably better off without us. Climate change is a human concern. And, yes, even completely melted ice caps won't destroy humanity. But it will send our social world into upheaval. And once that happens, humanity will be set back several centuries.
The fact that our own ingenuity got us there in the first place doesn't matter. If you build Rome, you attract the attention of barbarian armies. That doesn't mean you shouldn't build Rome. But it does mean that you need to spend time and attention to defense once you do. Likewise, if we want to have an industrialized world, we better make sure we take the necessary precautions to see that it lasts.
I agree that we would be getting away from the subject matter if we asked why, for instance, we want to survive and flourish as a species. I say we take that as a given or else we will stray away from "the limits of rationality's usefulness" into another philosophic sphere.
I feel you on criticism of green movement's pitch. There is no "benefit of earth" argument against climate change. The Earth will do fine once we're gone. The rest of life will go on flourishing... probably better off without us. Climate change is a human concern. And, yes, even completely melted ice caps won't destroy humanity. But it will send our social world into upheaval. And once that happens, humanity will be set back several centuries.
The fact that our own ingenuity got us there in the first place doesn't matter. If you build Rome, you attract the attention of barbarian armies. That doesn't mean you shouldn't build Rome. But it does mean that you need to spend time and attention to defense once you do. Likewise, if we want to have an industrialized world, we better make sure we take the necessary precautions to see that it lasts.
