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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Nathan White
(202)225-5871

Why Do We Distance Ourselves from the Oil Disaster?

WASHINGTON

Congressman
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today made the following statement on the Floor
of the House of Representatives about the ongoing ecological disaster
in the Gulf of Mexico:

"The
theologian Thomas Berry wrote that the great work of our lives is to
reconcile with nature, to come to establish a communion with every
living species on the planet--with all humans, all animals, with the
plants, with the land, the air and the water.
"As
children with a common creator we are part of every living thing. This
requires reverence for the natural world. When we look at the oil
disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, we learn how far we must journey to
reconcile with nature.
"The
false doctrine of subduing the natural world puts us in danger of
extinction because it ultimately attacks the precondition of human
existence, and because it separates us from an understanding of the
essential interconnectedness of all life. So we're lulled into
distancing ourselves from the oil disaster, from its effects on the
natural world, from its effects on future generations.
"Nature's
god is not just up there, but it is in all of us. And only when we
truly understand the deep significance of the Deep Water Horizon
disaster, will we be prepared to take a new direction, not only with
our energy policies, but with our way of life."
Video is available here.

Dennis Kucinich is an American politician. A U.S. Representative from Ohio from 1997 to 2013, he was also a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in 2004 and 2008.