In Palenque, Mexico, the saviors of humanity are converging to lend their knowledge of the sciences to the fight against global warming be teaching us about “reviving Indian notions about ownership, use, compensation and respect.” Which doesn’t sound like it will go far in finding ways to increase fuel efficiency in cars, cheap ways to sequester emissions from coal burning plants, or even a practical way to get the nuclear power industry jump-started in the US.

Which is a shame since, according to US EPA regional administrator Elin Miller, “The planet-wide stress on the environment today means that collaborative efforts ... are not just good things. They may well be essential for our survival.” If that means we die unless collaboration with these folks brings useful solutions, we are well and truly screwed.

Seriously, though, looking to cultural guides for wisdom in how to live our lives from a practical and moral standpoint isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But only a fool could expect a solution to providing the amenities and necessities of civilized society (health care, longer lives, abundant food, clean water, the new CD from the Gutter Twins) with clean energy sources that aren’t so disruptive to economies that they see us fall into a global depression. This native wisdom isn’t going to solve those problems, and, with all due respect, I want better health care, a longer life, better nutrition, and better insulation than the average Native American saw before the Damned, Evil white devils showed up.

Ultimately, all religions do what they can to remain relevant to their times, but religion and cultural wisdom don’t engineer anything other than the shape of society, and then only within certain boundaries.

Those lessons--generally some variations on things like respect and responsibility to the planet and to future generations and the expectations of our behavior placed by a God (or whatever deity or deities you prefer) who gave us a special role in His creation--are important and useful guides to the way we should approach living our lives. Those ancient wisdoms did little to teach us how to combat infections with antibiotics, treat cancer with radiation, or revive lagging libidos with little blue pills.

If we need salvation on a global scale from anthropogenic global warming, then it won’t be at the whim of religious dictate, it will be because of scientific breakthroughs and smart energy policies.

Of course, if we follow the indigenous path, we might all get some hella nifty Flinstone-mobiles to ride to work. Not sure how I’ll get the drive to be downhill both ways, though…

Read the rest.