Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Thank you for the witty and erudite reminder from Denis Dutton that we seem hard-wired for end-of-the-world predictions. As an environmental writer raised among Rapture true believers, I cannot help but also notice the parallels between religious end-timers and increasingly apocalyptic greens.

Original sin among fundamentalists is easily translated into pollution among environmentalists. In the biblical story, we eat of the forbidden tree and are fallen; in the green story, we cut down the sacred tree and are self-doomed. Biblical Armageddon parallels mass extinction.

By using fear more than foresight to face the future, we constrict our imaginations—and our ability to adapt. The meaning of the word “apocalypse” is “revelation.” How about less end-of-the-world escapism and a more creative vision of a world that simply endures?

Brenda Peterson
Seattle, Jan. 1, 2010
The writer is the author of “I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth.”