Mocking Lent, Good Friday, and Easter observed by millions, the eco website “Grist” this week showed the link between all things green and religion, by making a “virtual confession booth” for those who have sinned against Gaia.
Apparently, there’s been lots of green sinning going on during the last week of Lent, leading up to Easter. Why, I’m sinning just using electricity for my PC to write this.
First NBC-Universal Networks and NBC News aligned themselves with Gaia by turning “bug” logos green this week on all of their channels, in deference to the green goddess Gaia. Even the famous color peacock logo got the treatment. Of course they’ve been doing that for a few years so that isn’t much news.
What is news however, is that one anchor was moved (perhaps by Grist) to actually confess “green sins” live on the air. Watch the video below and see what happened when I entered my own sins against Gaia.
I’d like confess my sins. I drive a Chevy Tahoe…I often turn the water on in the shower, then I walk downstairs…I throw those bottles away without recycling…Those are my eco-sins. I’m confessing them to you because tomorrow is Earth Day
Given that I’ve been feeling less than holy myself this week, I decided to confess what many consider to be my biggest sin, writing about climate change and its associated failures. This is what I got after entering my “sin”:
Hmm, I’ve been called a lot of things, but never a “voracious parasite”. Funny thing is, we already have reusable grocery bags, animal friendly shampoo, and some weird twisty bulbs in our household. I even went the extra mile and put in LED fixtures.
I decided maybe my sin of running WUWT was just too complex for the sinning model they programmed into their database. After all, most of the images, charts, and graphs we post transcend religion and venture into the nether world of fact.
So I decided to ask myself: what is my most basic sin? If I were to equate to myself and Gaia of what was described as “original sin” of Adam and Eve, captured by Michelangelo below, what would it be?
In terms of Gaia and its inquisitors enforcers protectors, what would constitute “original sin”? It was a tough question. I pondered it awhile. I made some tea using some fossil fuel powered electricity and contemplated my sins of consumption perpetrated globally by the Lipton company and Pacific Gas and Electric. Then it hit me, like a bolt out of the green!
I had it, the basic most pure truth when it comes to sin against Gaia. I entered it into the GSS (the “Grist Sin System”) and here is what it told me:
Quite a screed for the original sin of “I exist”, at least self flagellation wasn’t needed.
If you wish to have a look at the GSS, you can try it yourself here. Many of the sins entered seem to be mocking Gaia though. Here’s a few that I noted:
04.24.2011 – I love horsepower more than I love the environment.
04.24.2011 – I wasted 30 seconds of my time looking at this website. Useless, but indicative of your entire stand on this issue.
04.24.2011 – I justify eating watermelon all year long by telling myself it’s always in season somewhere in the world.
04.24.2011 – I secretly like to hear reports that global warming isn’t real because it increases my sense of reality.
04.24.2011 – I know global warming is fake, but refuse to tell anyone because it upsets them so. Try it yourself. See what happens.
04.24.2011 – At the beach, I pee in the ocean like its my job.
04.24.2011 – I don’t buy organic because that shit’s expensive.
I urge readers to confess, and to also post confessions here at WUWT.
In related news, my local newspaper, the Chico Enterprise Record, seems to be “fed up” with all things green that are encapsulated as commandments mandates from the summit. They published this editorial during Earth week, a few excerpts of which I’ve posted below:
Our view: People will do what’s good for the Earth without the heavy hand of government regulation.
…
We’re doing what’s good for the Earth, because it’s also good for us. When good Earth-friendly products are available, Americans will embrace them.
But that’s not enough, apparently. In less than three years, you won’t have any alternative to the CFL, except for LED lights and whatever new-fangled thing comes down the pike by then. Because by January 2014, a federal ban on the incandescents will be complete. The ban started phasing in on Jan. 1 in California, which always likes to be first, followed by other states next January.
That’s the other thing that has changed since the first Earth Day. No one can deny we as a nation are more aware and more responsible. The simple fact that everyone recycles, which was a downright bizarre practice in 1970, may be the best indication of how far we’ve come.
But we’ve also seen the growth of a faction intoxicated by environmentalism. And when they reach the halls of power, they push their causes with arrogance, justifying it as the defense of Mother Earth. They know more than us, and don’t give us any credit.
So we end up with laws that tell us what to do —even as in the case of the CFLs, gas-efficient vehicles and recycling mandates —when it really isn’t necessary. We’re smart enough to do what’s good for us.
Perhaps we need a website for Greens to confess sins against humanity.
Oh, and when you click on the Grist “Still feeling Guilty?” link, you discover there’s a “Deep Throat follow the money moment” and you are urged to buy indulgences:
Was it ever about anything else?
h/t to climatequotes.com for posting in Tips and Notes
Andy G says:
April 24, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Eureka! You have found it.
Save the Planet? No, for Earth is fully capable of existing with or without life.
Save the Plants. Yes, that’s it.
How could anyone sleep at night knowing that the Fossil Fuels they failed to burn means that, somewhere nearby, a poor starving plant has to go to bed hungry.
Don’t be a CO2 BioScrooge.
Remember, only YOU can prevent Flora suffocation.
I refuse to believe that this is anything but satire. And bloody good satire too.
I enjoy humor, give me a good science blog to read while listening to a comedian playing in the back ground then that’s a good start to the day for me.
I also understand the dreadful form of humor coming from greenies propagandists which I find particularly interesting, it comes from a very dark place of ignorance and misanthropy, the darkest category and form of humor which I don’t find amusing, what I do like about this category of humor is the Fail factor and the comical critique it receives.
I see the sinister promotion of our daily lives as being a sinful activity against some sort of mother nature fairy as a very dim and unimaginative form of ridicule…
FAIL A+
Happy Easter everyone.
There is no need to ask forgiveness.
All is forgiven.
Oh, how delightful! I took this opportunity to engage in a little satirical art. Some of it in bad taste, but then that happens with art sometimes. In this case, I wanted to juxtapose conventional sin against eco-sin; allowing them to contrast with each other to better understand their relative value …
“I cheated on my wife with that young girl from the office. I left the engine running the whole time we fornicated in the back seat.”
For this, I got:
“Prayer to St.Niño
“O Chancellor of the Climate, I fear that I’ve helped provoke thy mighty wrath and now our fragile ecosystem is on a turbo-charged bullet train heading for FUBAR City. I pray there’s a way to throw on the emergency brakes, before our icecaps turn to Slurpees, and we run out of letters in the alphabet to name new hurricanes. I knowest that thou are pissed as evident by thy frequent and fierce weather tantrums. From this day forward I pledge to do everything in my power to make you happy, o Maestro of Meteorology, before you do us all dinosaur style.
Amen…”
Okay, that’s somewhat appropriate. Let’s try another!
“When I robbed the grocer, I had him put all the money in a plastic bag. I feel bad; I should have stolen a cloth bag and told him to use it.”
And received another Prayer to St. Nino. How disappointing.
Alright then, let’s go for the big one:
“I killed my sixth whore today and burned the body in a gas-soaked rug. Bleach cleaned up the blood. I weep for the harm I did to the planet.”
For penance, I was offered the:
“Prayer to St. Sprocket
“O glorious commodore of the commute, armed only with the bulge in your calves and biker shorts, you wage daily war against your formidable foes’ oil dependency, pollution, traffic, and global warming. O how I’ve yearned to join your spandex-clad congregation in the fight for good, but alas my ever-expanding ego and ass have gotten in the way. I solemnly swear this day to dig my bicycle out from under the mountainous pile of Christmas decorations in the garage and at long last follow you full speed into battle. And if it shall rain or snow or I’m just feeling particularly lazy, I promise to take the train or bus, leaving my colossal canyonero in park where it belongs.
Amen…”
Which would be a delightfully easy out for murder if I had anything against prostitutes. They’re only trying to earn a living … why the hate, greenies?
I read a heretical blog called Wattsupwiththat. It contains unauthorized thoughts. It causes me to lose faith in The Holy Consensus.
I want to stop thinking but I can’t. Would more TV help?
I should be offended. Honestly, though, I just don’t care. I mean, really, what’s the point? It’s sick. It’s disgusting. And to be perfectly honest, above all it is sad. I won’t debate the theology of confession here, but I will say that mocking it in such a way wouldn’t be tolerated if a different faith were involved.
Aside from that point, I’d love to hear Gore’s confession. He invented the internet that keeps millions of computers on. That must weigh heavily.
04.25.2011
Please forgive me, Mother Earth, for I regularly read WUWT, Climate Audit and other “denier” websites
/Mango
I don’t deny climate change, I know climate changes
Psion says:
April 24, 2011 at 10:12 pm
What’s not to like?
The ‘Original’ Sin?
Breathing of course!
There’s a funny line in their source code:
So our sins are scripted. 🙂
I confess, I am a gadget freak and obviously killing mother Gaia because of it.
I have not just one, but two smart phones (Blackberry and DriodX) that I carry 24/7.
At work office, I have two desktop computers (4 monitors), two laptop computer (3 extra monitors), and 14 servers.
At my home office, I have seven laptop computers (always on), 3 desktop computers (always on), four servers (always on), two 24″ monitors (always on), four 22″ monitors (mostly on), two 19″ monitors (sometimes on).
For family stuff we have four 32″ flat screen TV’s (almost always on), one 56″ flat screen TV (sometimes on), three Kindles, three printers, one Wii, one Playstation 3, and various other minor gadgets, dodad’s and gizmo’s. Not to mention the GPS’s for the four automobiles.
Forgive me Gaia, for I have sinned. I am expecting the gadget
green police to show at my door any moment to take me away.Funny thing is that all those people who keep telling me AGW is a real problem all live very opulent, consumptive lives, and all the “Tweenie Greenies” casting messages of do0m and gloom seem to enjoy visiting their relatives who live on the other side of the world!!
Hell is where ECOs will be when they find out Gaia does not exist and if all of them were gathered together in one small spot, they are not even a very small zit on the earths backside. What a waste of effort these people are. pg
I am hopeless, my SUV has two bumper stickers that I will not remove:
“Strip mining prevents forest fires”
and
“Earth First! We will mine the other planets later.”
Wow, just up on that site is
04.25.2011
I’ve manipulated,skewed deleted and hidden data from prying eyes lest anyone discover how flawed AGW theory is. P Jones”
If all these “sins” actually increase CO2 levels in the atmosphere, can you keep doing them please? I retired last Autumn and have just started growing my own vegetables. My little veg. patch needs all the help it can get.
Sin for Gaia!!! 😉
I’ll be tooling around the Lake District in my Freelander today. I’ll repent of my “sin” after a couple of cold ones at my local later tonight. I probably won’t be very polite.
The religious twist is simply what we have known about the deep rooted greenies and tree hugger types for years. Sad, but there it is…..
As I have said on many occasion, I have no problem with genuine green ‘promotion’, it is good common sense to avoid waste and save resources (and I believe almost everyone agrees with that basic principle? Even say, those who do like their rare or expensive imported foods – I am sure they would be really p*ssed off if they knew that only 10% of what was farmed or prepared was actually reaching their table and the other 90% was wasted? – if for no other reason than that they are paying for something they are not actually getting!) – but the religious fervour and dogmatic indoctrination of the general public is completely unnecessary – and this has probably caused a reactionary backlash with most folk – to the point where many just cannot be ars*d anymore?
[snip . . fun , but not for this blog thanks . . kb mod]
We are Earth…
Anthony,
Don’t play with me man!
I’ve had my mother-in-law with me for the last six weeks…
🙂
Ooooh, I made it to the WUWT Top Seven Sins, with a non-scripted one of my own. I must go back and file this new sin. It looks deadly.
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.
I purchased organic food, knowing full-well that it has a higher carbon footprint than efficiently mass-cultivated name-brand food. In my infinitely selfish desire to feed my family with produce that’s not covered in pesticide and meat that’s not cured with carcinogens, I have instead contributed to the destruction of Earth.
I got the same prayer as you got for existing, Anthony, for confessing this: “I refuse to feel guilty for just living a good life that is, nevertheless, full of human mistakes”