Natural is orthogonal to Good

The wonderful "Australian Story" program (referenced here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/22/2826160.htm) emphasized that natural toxins are just as bad as unnatural ones. Maybe worse since they are intended to be toxic (plants are toxic to avoid being eaten). The Tassie government produced the traditional "natural so OK" response of the modern city dweller. Time's up on that. We expect the government to address natural problems as well as unnatural ones. Indeed we need to understand natural climate change as well as human induced climate change, since we can less afford a change to cold and dry than we can to warm and wet.

I declined to watch "4 Corners" since the subject matter sounded too depressing. But let us note that abuse of children is one of the evil parts of human nature. It is not true that human nature is innately good, with all evil being a malfunction. There is natural human evil, and it needs to be addressed by human means: Community-based resistance in various forms (such as education and punishment).