Environmental Concern and Economic Justice

Peri Rasolondraibe

Article Type: Article

Publication Date: 4/1/1991

Issue: The Environment (Vol. 11, No 2, Spring, 1991)

The aim of this article is not to frighten us into inaction or to drive us into cynicism, but to discuss the present ecological crisis in the light of what our faith in Jesus Christ authorizes us and liberates us to do. First, we will reflect on the impact of economic development on the environment, identifying the causes of ecological degradation. Second, we will discuss the ramifications of “the downward vicious spiral of poverty,” a problem that environmental limitations pose for economic development. In the course of these discussions, we will address the issue of the ideological use of environmental concerns as an economic weapon against less developed nations, as well as the ideological use of social and political factors as an explanation of environmental stresses. Finally, we will attempt to look into possible theological moorings for political economic ethics that take seriously the integrity of the earth’s biosphere.

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