7 Deadly Sins against Green

The first time I ever heard about the seven deadly sins was sometime during Catholic Education. The next time I truly appreciated it was when it was made the heart of a powerful yet disturbing movie starring the gorgeous Brad Pit! But as much as the movie ‘Seven’ depicted the culpability and vulnerability of our society to the cardinal sins, it is not the first time it has become a theme in art. In fact since the 14th century, the 7 deadly sins were a popular theme amongst artists which gave rise to beautiful artworks that held ingrained in them  reminders of “SALIGIA” ( A mnemonic of the 7 deadly sins in Latin: superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, ira, acedia – again doesn’t everything just sound so much more enticing in Latin!)

As the teachings about SALIGIA  (Translated into English as follows) went on with time, a few changes were made and variations of what they meant were born but nonetheless, the 7 deadly sins remained as intriguing as ever.

• 1.    superbia (pride)
• 2.    avaritia (avarice/greed)
• 3.    luxuria (extravagance which later became the infamous lust)
• 4.    invidia (envy)
• 5.    gula (gluttony)
• 6.    ira (wrath)
• 7.    acedia (acedia/discouragement which became sloth)

So I figured it would be interesting to see how these 7 deadly sins would look like as the 7 deadly green sins.  I appreciate that this is going to be quite a lengthy exercise, so we’ll be publishing this article in a 2 part series.  

1.    Superbia (pride)
Well known to be the sins of vanity and narcissism, Pride as Dante puts it is the “love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one’s neighbour”. It really isn’t just about you loving yourself so much but instead more about glorifying one’s own self.
Green sin: The belief that we can build/make better than that of nature – genetic modifications.
The result: Uncontained/unknown health effects as well as effect on the balance of nature.

2.    Avaritia (Avarice/Greed)
It’s always about the money. Avarice is the sin of attachment to material/temporial things
be it money or power.  It drives you to do anything just for that temporary material
gain/wealth.
Green sin: Commercialism- the very heart and soul of today’s modern society where
everything is believed to have its price.
The result: Destruction of mother earth and the extinction of precious floras and faunas
through the irresponsible acts of development, deforestation, Intentional/irresponsible
pollution (illegal dumping of waste etc) amongst many others.

To be continued…