ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605280007
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: Guest Column
SOURCE: NANCY C. SIMMONS
People in the New River Valley are looking at two big environmental issues: the "smart" road and the development of Price Mountain.
Thomas Berry, author of "The Dream of the Earth" put these issues in a different context recently when he spoke in Blacksburg to a group studying what might be done to preserve the natural beauty of the New River Valley.
In his books and talks, Berry reshapes the way people think.
His story, told from the perspective of the Earth and the universe, is about relationship, humans in the community of the cosmos, all of nature. He reminds his audiences that they were not put here to run the planet, and of the mess they have made of it. He believes nonhumans do not exist solely to serve the humans. Valleys, mountains, rivers and plants have "rights" as much as do humans. The smart road and Prices Mountain are episodes in the universe story.
Berry, a scholar, priest, theologian and writer from Greensboro, N.C., was invited to Blacksburg by Alwyn Moss, a Blacksburg writer, teacher, and artist, to help save her adopted region from devastation. How could a mindset that assumes exclusive "rights" for humans to dominate and exploit the Earth for their consumption be changed to respect nature?
A local study group at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of the New River Valley in Blacksburg began to explore the role of universities and churches in promoting domination of nature by humans. Berry blames traditional Western religion, humanistic education and science for the "cultural pathology" that is devastating the planet.
But his message is not all negative. He predicts we are entering a period when, through education and a change in consciousness, humans will regain the wonder needed to respect nature and respond to the universe. People will accept the terrible responsibility of knowing that the planet will never in the future function as it did in the past. In the past, humans did not have the capacity to poison the planet; now, as we pump 200 million tons of chemicals into the Earth's atmosphere each year, we do. But, in poisoning the Earth, he teaches, we are poisoning ourselves. We can't have well beings on a sick planet, he asserts. The natural world simply "cannot deal with this." Everything has limits.
Though the local study group concluded its six-week exploration last week, Moss sees this as a beginning. She's interested in action on local issues like the smart road and Prices Mountain. She hopes others will join the original group in exploring how Berry's ideas about transforming the relationship between man and nature can be applied to saving the natural world of the New River Valley.
Anyone interested in the project can call 552-3136.
Nancy C. Simmons is an associate professor of humanities at Virginia Tech and lives in Blacksburg.
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