Earth Mothers on Patrol

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I recently discovered an unexpected ally in my mercury mania: Christian conservatives. It seems that segments of the evangelical community are starting to view environmentalism--or, as they prefer to call it, "creation care"--as part of their biblical mandate. But getting the ground troops mobilized behind a cause long scorned as touchy-feely nonsense requires a bit of creativity. (Witness the flop of the 2002 "What would Jesus drive?" campaign.) Thus some religious leaders are linking pollution to the hot-button issue of unborn tots, who, after all, tend to be the most vulnerable to environmental toxins. At the pro-life march in Washington in January, two evangelical activists carried a large banner urging STOP MERCURY POISONING OF THE UNBORN. The idea for the banner came from Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals--who, perhaps not coincidentally, has a close family member with a learning disability that he suspects may have environmental roots.

Sadly, my guess is that Evangelicals won't embrace "creation care" with as much gusto as they did, say, the anti-gay-marriage movement anytime soon. Still, I take satisfaction in knowing that even a few leaders of that politically influential constituency have started pestering policy makers about more aggressive pollution control. If I have to lie awake nights being worried that the runoff from some waste incinerator in Ohio is somehow going to cause my baby to be born with webbed feet, I want Karl Rove and Bill Frist to be fretting about those issues as well. •