"If you don't have a moral question governing your society, then you don't have a society that is going to survive." ~ Oren Lyons
A Moral Question from Sustainable Man on Vimeo.
 | About Oren Lyons: Oren is a member of the Onondaga and Seneca nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. As an activist for indigenous and environmental justice, Oren works with communities across the globe. As a Faithkeeper, he upholds the history and traditions of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga and Seneca. Oren often addresses modern-day conflicts by sharing traditional views on the law of nature. When he says “You can’t negotiate with a beetle”, he implies that nature will respond to climate change whether or not humans do. CLICK HERE for more about Oren |
Society must be able to ask and answer moral questions if it is to survive.
Is it moral to house animals in inhumane living conditions, inject them with growth hormones, and genetically modify them so that they are unable to walk yet grow more meat? Is it moral to emit pollution that will certainly lead to seal level rise endangering future generations? Is it moral to destroy natural habitats causing many entire species to become extinct? These are all moral questions that Western (and nearly all modern) cultures refuse to ask, let alone answer. Instead, most are too busy getting, acquiring, consuming, and "making a living" to concern themselves in real earnest with these global issues.
If we do not collectively concern ourselves with our moral behavior, what will become of us? Like cancer, our economy must grow until it has consumed its host. If it doesn't, millions face incredible personal hardship. Oren Lyons asks if there is a concept of a yellow flag that indicates we are consuming too much of the planet's resources. He asks CEOs when do you stop being a CEO and become a grandfather. At the end of our lives, each of us will need to reckon with ourselves, did we give more than we took from the world?
We must begin to incorporate moral questions into our governing process or, as Oren Lyon says, you won't have a process that is going to survive.
Is it moral to house animals in inhumane living conditions, inject them with growth hormones, and genetically modify them so that they are unable to walk yet grow more meat? Is it moral to emit pollution that will certainly lead to seal level rise endangering future generations? Is it moral to destroy natural habitats causing many entire species to become extinct? These are all moral questions that Western (and nearly all modern) cultures refuse to ask, let alone answer. Instead, most are too busy getting, acquiring, consuming, and "making a living" to concern themselves in real earnest with these global issues.
If we do not collectively concern ourselves with our moral behavior, what will become of us? Like cancer, our economy must grow until it has consumed its host. If it doesn't, millions face incredible personal hardship. Oren Lyons asks if there is a concept of a yellow flag that indicates we are consuming too much of the planet's resources. He asks CEOs when do you stop being a CEO and become a grandfather. At the end of our lives, each of us will need to reckon with ourselves, did we give more than we took from the world?
We must begin to incorporate moral questions into our governing process or, as Oren Lyon says, you won't have a process that is going to survive.
