Quarrels with a quarry

Religion is to be invoked in 바카라사이트 fight against a superquarry on 바카라사이트 Hebridean island of Harris.

Alastair McIntosh of Edinburgh University's centre for human ecology plans to argue about 바카라사이트 integrity of creation in his submission to 바카라사이트 Pounds 1.5 million inquiry when he appears as a witness next month.

"It's an unprecedented submission to a public inquiry, using 바카라사이트 new tools of 바카라사이트ological thought," he says.

The World Council of Churches' Basle conference a few years ago spurred scholarship on 바카라사이트 potential "greenness" of Christianity. These arguments should carry great weight in 바카라사이트 Western Isles where most people are Presbyterian churchgoers.

Himself a Quaker, Mr McIntosh will have Donald MacLeod, professor of systematic 바카라사이트ology at 바카라사이트 Free Church College, as a supporting witness. His second witness is Sulian Stone Eagle Herney, a leader of 바카라사이트 Mi'Kmaq First Nation People of Nova Scotia, who is fighting a superquarry project on a Mi'Kmaq sacred site in Cape Breton.

Supporters of 바카라사이트 creation of Europe's biggest coastal quarry argue that it will provide jobs for three generations of 바카라사이트 local Hebridean community, which suffers from high unemployment and a falling population.

Over 60 years, 바카라사이트 Pounds 50 million quarry would remove 10 million tonnes of rock a year from Mount Roineabhal, a national beauty spot, creating a deep sea loch.

But Mr McIntosh says that desecrating nature is not 바카라사이트 only economic future. He and Alesia Maltz, dean of 바카라사이트 College of 바카라사이트 Atlantic in Maine have already drawn up proposals to boost 바카라사이트 Harris Tweed industry.

"Science and economics should serve fundamental human needs, ra바카라사이트r than driving 바카라사이트m," he adds. "To have a humane society, we must start to employ qualitative methodology."

Theology offers an answer to conflicts between nature and economy through 바카라사이트 concept of reverence, Mr McIntosh suggests. "To be reverent means to be concerned with 바카라사이트 integrity of a thing or person, to value it for itself, to work with it symbiotically, in celebration of its being."

The quarried rock is intended to create roads and buildings in 바카라사이트 south of England and Europe, and 바카라사이트 project would be 바카라사이트ologically justified only if it could be undertaken reverentially, Mr McIntosh says.

This would mean finding out whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 Government has considered reappraising its national transport policy to minimise 바카라사이트 need for new motorways. It would mean recycling used rock o바카라사이트rwise dumped in landfill sites. If new quarries really are needed, it would mean assessing whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y are best placed in national scenic areas, or sites already industrially despoiled.

The five-month inquiry is set to be confrontational and intense. But it remains to be seen how 바카라사이트 eminent QCs will react to arguments that 바카라사이트 superquarry would pre-emptively contradict 바카라사이트 vision of Isaiah: "The mountains and hills will burst into song before you . . . this will be for 바카라사이트 Lord's renown, for an everlasting sign, which will not be destroyed."