Earth Day

I am not a religious man. I think there is, broadly speaking, no greater good than human flourishing. In that sense I am, again broadly speaking, a humanist.

Our flourishing requires that we consume the resources of our planet. In an ideal, imaginary world we could do so without diminishing those resources: we could live infinitely sustainable lives of comfort and security.

But we don't live in such a world. We live in a world that is in most cases and in varying degrees inhospitable to our species unless tamed by human action. And so we tame it, consuming its resources -- including finite non-renewable resources -- in the process.

We extract the Earth's resources, consume other species, create pollution, emit greenhouse gases, cut down and pave over and excavate and build. We sometimes do those things foolishly, in ways that ultimately harm us more than help us, or that are needlessly destructive of our planet. We should try to avoid that, while accepting that there will be environmental and resource tradeoffs, and that such tradeoffs are necessary and appropriate because human flourishing remains the greatest good.

Those who call for the rapid and large-scale replacement of fossil fuels with wind and solar power, or who call for rapid and drastic cuts in carbon emissions, are probably not placing the welfare of humans first. They may believe they are, but neither current science nor the state of the global environment supports that belief.

Of course, some who call for these things place less value on human flourishing than they do on environmental issues. Some, it seems, place very little, if any, value on human flourishing.

Monday is Earth Day. I appreciate our planet. I appreciate how we have learned to use it to increase our comfort and security, to enhance human flourishing so that most of the planet's billions of humans live in a state of prosperity unimaginable just a few centuries ago. I want us to continue to use the planet that way, while making reasonable efforts to place fewer demands on it while continuing to raise the standard of living for all of humanity.

Happy Earth Day. I will, as is my habit, be spending the entire day on Earth.