My first post to this list, so hello everyone,

I have been following this thread with interest.

Dan wrote:

> I, too, have more respect for the hunter than the grocery shopper.  I beleive
> that in the period in human history when there were no grocery stores our
> relationship with the rest of nature was a much more harmonious one. I can't
> speak for anybody else on this mailing list, but that definitley makes me a
> hypocrite because everything I eat comes straight from the shelves of the
> grocery stores.
> This hypocricy of mine isn't limited to hunting for food.
> How can I eat fruit if I'm against genetically engineered foods and almost
> everything in the produce section is either genetically modified or grown by
> farmers who also grow gm foods?
> How can I wear leather shoes and not be a hypocrite there again?
> How can I live in a house with pets?
> The list can go on.
> If I simply do as everyone else does for the time being and wait a future when
> humans live in harmony with the rest of nature, in deontological ethics, that
> makes me a hypocrite. But if I were to live by my morals, I would be isolated
> from the rest of the human society.
> One can philosophise about man and nature their entire life, but unless one can
> incorporate this philospohy into one's daily life, this philosophy is nothing
> more than an interesting discussion topic.
> I, and I hope I'm not alone, am just not sure how to incorporate a philosophy so
> drastically different from the majority of the human population into my daily
> life.
> I am interested in what anyone thinks about this.
> Dan
> 

This is a problem which I have struggled with for some years. 
There is nothing that we do, in the course of each day, which does not effect
our environment, usually causing some degree of damage to its ecological
integrity. I have attempted to construct and design my lifestyle so that I
cause minimal harm. The motivation for that effort was moral and ethical,
and an attempt to deal with the dilemmas re hypocrisy,which Dan outlines.

I accept that the ideal of leading an 'ecologically harmless' daily life is 
impossible. But that does not mean that I shouldn't try to get as close to
the ideal as I can.

I am then faced with the problem, that, even if, say, 2 billion people lived
just as I do, we would still not be a sustainable civilisation. With 6 billion
and rising, almost any kind of lifestyle is unsustainable.

Personally, I feel I must adhere to my understanding of what is morally
correct. But in the larger world, I am in a tiny minority, and believe that the mass
activity of the human species_will_destroy the biosphere, regardless of my
personal stance. So, I have to see my individual gesture in terms of an attempt
to retain my self-respect, regardless of what the rest of human soceity decides 
to do.

My thinking on these matters is illustrated at greater length at my website.
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrislees/tao.index.html

Regards,

Christopher Lees.



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