What on Earth is Happening? Environmentalism

In my late teens I spent time hunting in the bush around lake Waikaremoana. Off the forest tracks, I stood in places that I was sure no man had ever stood before. Often when people walk into unspoiled bush, there is a sense of peace and quietness so tangible, that they often catch themselves speaking in whispers, just as they would entering an ancient church. It seems like the presence of God hangs in the air with the sweet smell of the bush. I never saw any environmentalists there 8 hours off the road, but I did meet some people that loved the bush and took only what they needed. 
I once saw a bumper sticker saying, “save the planet, drive a horse!”  Do they forget in the late 1800s, there were 150,000 horses in New York city alone? At a rate of 22 pounds per horse per day, horse manure added up to over a 100,000 tons per year (not to mention around 10 million gallons of urine). If a horse travelled 22 miles per day, that is 450 gm per mile. By comparison, in the uneconomical 1970’s, the average car emitted
6 gram of pollution per mile. [1]

So, are environmental concerns rubbish?  No, but some of the facts such as pollution by natural phenomena are overlooked. Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, humans have produced far less air pollution than that produced by just three volcanic eruptions: Krakatoa in Indonesia (1883), Katmai in Alaska (1912), and Hekla in Iceland (1947).  More recently Mt. St. Helens (1980) poured 910,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and El Chicon erupted in 1982, it released 100,000,000 tons of sulfur.[2] We are also not told that termites produce 150 million tons of methane gas each year.[3] Which is ten times as much as all the fossil fuels in the world each year. Just as well people don’t farm them, or they would be taxed for sure.

We don’t know if current climate change, is part of cycle, past predictions have been flawed and often alarmist. It was only back in 1974 that Time magazine warned of a global ice age, reporting, “the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The cooling trend shows no indication of reversing,” [4]  But only 4 years later in 1979, the New York Times reported, “There is a real possibility that infants will live to see the North Pole melted.” In 1989, United Nations predicted that “entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth” if global warming is not stopped by 2000. We’re still here and it now looks like that the islands of the pacific around Vanuatu are sinking more due to subduction of tectonic plates, than the seas rising)[5]. Climate change is hard to judge and if true, is even harder to fix.

Another reason for some skepticism, is that the greens who are concerned with the spread of socialism as much as climate change, use environmentalism as a Trojan horse into governments.  Even more extreme is PETA, which makes animals not just equal to man but more important than a man. These are the deep ecologists (pantheists) who ram ships filled with people to save a whale. To them, drinking cow’s milk is abusing the cow and fish should never be caught. Of course, there is no reason for cruelty toward animals, and in fact man’s superiority means that we have priority as well as responsibility for other creatures. However, we note that Jesus, sent his disciples down to the lake to catch a fish not to save the fish and He never stooped down to give the donkey a ride into Jerusalem.

Not everyone that wishes for sustainability, works for MacPac or wear Bob Marley tee-shirts, most are good people educated by media or university, to worry about the earth.  They may not be believers, but like Cyrus of old, are doing the will of God in some way, as they care for Gods green planet. Still, while their devotion to the earth is noble, they miss the point. Devotion to the earth alone, is like honoring a Rembrandt painting without honoring Rembrandt himself.  People, trees, cats and even wetas are works of art, by a Creator that deserves awe and worship.

It is just as inconceivable, to honor Rembrandt and despise his paintings, so believers honor the Creator and honour His work.  Christians are to be “environmentalists”, not because the earth is mother god (gaia) or that the trees are god (pantheism), But because “the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof.”  This is our home and we are not just a passing through! Our bodies are temporal till immortalised, but we still take care of our appearance and health.  So, in the same way, we take care of His planet. Picking up our rubbish is Christian!  Some believers feel that preserving the earth is like painting the deck chairs on the Titanic, and on the other hand, there are a few believers, that are more worried about emissions than missions. Regardless, no thoughtful Christian can support contempt for God’s creation. As far back as 1554, John Calvin interpreted dominion to mean a responsible care and keeping that does not neglect, injure, degrade, corrupt, or ruin the earth.[6] God’s Word tells us that having dominion means to keep, give rest to, and sustain His creation so that it can multiply and be fruitful. We are to exercise dominion without being destructive. Oil spills, pesticides, toxic chemicals, need to be eliminated or managed. Wanton deforestation of rainforest is tragic. Dominion means we[JS1]  are to cull as well as conserve. Pruning the branches makes the vine more productive, so trimming back numbers of plants of animals may be necessary.

Creation matters to the Creator. Jesus said His Father cared about each sparrow. And the fact that animals in Old Testament times were used to atone for man sins, is not a sign of Gods lack of care for animals but even His greater love for mankind.   Jesus looked at plants, trees and animals as provision from His father. God hid minerals, oil and wealth in the ground for us, not from us. Jesus no doubt took trees to build furniture and houses and we don’t know that he ever planted new ones to replace them. The last tree he used, was the cross on which he died. He was prepared for a tree give up its life and He was prepared to give up His own life, to save the souls of mankind. When the Creator died to pay the price that our sin deserved, the sun refused to shine and the whole earth shuddered in revulsion, but as His blood flowed down, both men and the rest of creation, were  redeemed. We care for earth, but we are not afraid for its future. Jesus said this earth and any new earth, will be inherited by the meek, not the greens. He promises its survival, as He promises eternal life to those that believe on Him. Let’s walk with Him in His great global garden.  Let ‘s enjoy and care for the works of His hands.

1] https://99percentinvisible.org/article/cities-paved-dung-urban-design-great-horse-manure-crisis-1894/

2] https://www.equip.org/article/christians-and-the-environment-how-should-christians-think-about-the-environment/

3] https://www.iceagenow.info/termites-produce-co2-year-living-combined/

4] Arguing with socialists: Glenn Beck  

5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156165/

6] John Calvin, commentary on Genesis 2:15 in Commentaries on the
First Book of Moses Called Genesis (Grand Rapids: 1948). This teaching is
strongly re-enforced by Revelation 11:18: “The time has come...for destroying
those who destroy the earth.”