Good, Evil, and the Environment

This unit has been a focus on the "monster within" and "man versus self." For this reason the classic reoccurring question is as follows:

Are humans innately good, or innately evil?

The Picture of Dorian Gray definitely supplies a theme that while influence can encourage evil actions, evil can only fully occur if the human is innately evil. Dorian's actions, his decision to not care about others and to be selfish, were actions that would not have occurred if he was not innately evil to some extent.

This whole idea of innate good or evil reminded me of a conversation I was having with my friend Maggie. We agreed that there often seems to be two main types of people in the world when it comes to having an opinion on the environment; those who are disgusted with how humans have treated the Earth, and those who see absolutely no problem with the actions taken thus far, and see no reason to change human ways.

We agreed that neither of these extremes accurately represented our views on human environmental impact. My own opinion is that humankind is amazing, and capable of incredible things. I am not disgusted in us as humans. However, I am disappointed, and I do firmly believe in a need for swift change in human behavior to help the environment.

The topic of innate good and evil reminded me of my environment discussion because I realized that my opinion on human environmental actions is actually my opinion on all of human nature in general.

I am not the extreme disgusted with the human race-- I do not believe we are all uncontrollably internally evil.

And I am also not the extreme willing to ignore any and all human mistakes-- I do not believe we are all perfectly made, internally good.

Instead I must say two things:

First, I will never give up on the human race. I know for every one act of evil I have seen in our world, I have also seen at least one act of good. I have so much hope and love for humankind, and everyday I look forward to all the great things we will accomplish, with the constant encouragement of all the great things we have already accomplished.

Second, we are imperfect beings. We are not evil but there are times when we act as evil doers.

Humans are not innately good, nor are we innately evil.

Humankind is innately imperfect, but with the capability and conscience to do good.

All we must do is recognize our mistakes and imperfections, then use our capability for good to make the world a better place, both environmentally, and in all areas of life.