Natural and Environmental Ideas

I liked the way this piece was written simply because the author, Jack Hitt, used a lot of evidence and examples to back up his claim that environmentalism and religion parallel. He talks about how environmentalism is closely related to religion and that there may be some benefits of viewing it as a religion.
I agree with Hitt in some aspects. I think that viewing it as a type of religion is good seeing as it makes people more passionate about the environment. Just as people strongly believe in a certain religion, they can strongly believe in environmentalism. Hitt uses examples from the Bible to draw a parallel between the two concepts. For example, he talks about a Christian woman who was condemned to death for being a Christian. She ended up killing herself for her religion. Environmentalists are also martyr's. For example, people who climb trees in the redwood forest and in Oregon that are designated for logging. Some people die for their belief that the forests need to be protected. This is just one similarity between the two. Hitt believes that there may be some good that comes out of viewing environmentalism as religion. Some disagree with him because some believe environmentalism is based on propaganda and not fact, but Hitt knows that this is not true. There may be some extremes in environmentalism and in religion, but having environmentalism be a type of religion may make people become more determined to help with the movement.
Hitt draws these parallels throughout his writing, using specific examples strengthens his overall ideas. Even though there are people on the opposition, Hitt makes a very compelling arguement for environmentalism as a religion.