"Rights" & "Value"

[John.Browne, Jr. <jb4juddcreek@webtv.net>]

I'm not surprised that EPA (or any agency or socio-political entity) should be faulted for not acting as if Human Values are paramount, whatever the subcontext. After all, we spent centuries assuming that the Earth was the center of the solar system; and many still prefer to believe that Everything revolves around Us. While we have made astonishing 'progress' at qualifying (& quantifying) what 'Rights' there may be, in our sphere of influence, the question of 'value' still eludes us. (To many, it's equated with 'market forces'.) That a fish has no rights in its accustomed place (nor a tree, a stone, a frog, etc) may be true, in the mind of a beholder of these things; but how do "rights" accrue, and to what, in the mind of that beholder? If the behavior of a human, including powers of observation & discrimination, are the Source of Rights, then perhaps we waste our time teaching children the writings of Jefferson & Lincoln, & had better stick to Machiavelli (&, despite our best intentions, 'might makes right' continues to hold sway in a majority of venues).

 Value, now, is also a concern. The activities of natural systems, gene pools, air quality, the responses of living things to the weather, tides, etc have value, perhaps, whether or not any 'Rights' are involved. Those without 'rights' may, apparently (&logically;?) ignore 'value;' but is this true of those who profess certain 'Rights?' There is a concept coupled to 'rights'- that of 'responsibility'... for what?

To what? 

  For my part, I can only hope that an exposure to the Environment which actually stirs a sense of the wonder of it all, however tenuous & brief, may provoke the 'druid' in us all. The 'Value' of EPA is that it promotes stewardship of a realm that has no 'Rights;' and without that realm there is no Future.   ^..^