A society's culture is a compound of many expressions of value. Each one is an argument, a “position paper” of sorts, or a liturgy to be recited; most of them are subjected to scrutiny and susceptible to change. We are, I hope, changing our American arguments about defending freedom around the world and, closer to home, about the place of the woman, the black, the Chicano or the Indian in our social structures and behaviors.

There is one such expression of value—I call it the Liturgy of the Environment—that is only rarely scrutinized. That means it is rarely criticized, and that means it does not change much.