172 / 365: One of the big worries of environmentalism and environmental philosophy is: how can people be motivated to protect the environment? There's the assumption of a moral truth on one side and a motivational deficit on the other -truth in bed with apathy. But I believe people pursue what they see is in their interest, provided that "seeing" implies a close-up, deep look, not simply an intellectual conversation. My grounds for this are biological: all animals -even plants- reach out for what they take to be good. In Greek: oikeiosis. So the task of environmentalism should be to risk showing people our good up close -'risk', because maybe there is some anxiety that what environmentalism takes to be good really isn't when you look at it up close in the complex underbrush of life. Or maybe it's too frustrating to form relationships with people and communities, and to take the time to really show something that is good, so that people appreciate it up close. Still, if people really see something as good, they will begin to steer their lives toward it.
173 / 365: When, in the Gospel according to Matthew, Christ says that we should love our enemies and those who persecute or hate us, he uses the analogy of God raining on the good and the evil, shedding sunlight on the bad and the decent alike. In other words, Earth's biotic capacity is the model for unconditional love. Think about that.
