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As a teenager, I subscribed to the notion that one should "retire" (read: celebrate life) in his twenties so he could learn from the world less encumbered by material trappings and only then should he settle in to adulthood. The world may be a more compassionate place. This, I believe, is true luxury. I am now in my forties.

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Care for the Unborn

The anti-abortionists are out again trying to knock back that pesky law.  They want to protect the unborn.  In reading Naomi Klein's "This Changes Every Thing", I was struck by the extent that pollution largely disrupts species at their most vulnerable stage, within the egg, the womb, the larvae, the youngest stages of development.  It's obvious when pointed out but I am victim to the presence of a vivid photograph of a large animal soaked in oil or choked by plastic rather than the absence of countless adults a few years down the line because a leaked chemical killed the eggs of that same species in their breeding grounds.  This is increasingly true of people, populations that are subject to live near big pollution sites, their reproductive systems are measurably compromised.  If you really did want to protect far more unborn, say no to tar sands, fracking, mountaintop removal, and the criss-cross of pipelines, that regularly pollutes so many places and push lawmakers to entice alternatives.  We want our descendants to have an environment that is hospitable to the young.