Many people concerned with the environment have taken an interest in the
writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881–1955): Al Gore has quoted
him in this context and short passages of Teilhard’s writings have served
as mottos for conferences on the ecology. At the same time, other environmentally
concerned people have expressed strong reservations. Teilhard
worked as both a priest and geologist doing extensive research on the
geology of Asia; he was much involved with the fossils known as Peking
Man. His scientific writings are collected in ten volumes and his religiousphilosophic
writings are collected in thirteen; ten volumes of his letters
have been published. This essay will try to explain Teilhard’s basic concern
with the earth and the two processes he found in it: evolution and entropy.
He favored the first over the second.