Stewardship of the Earth

In our modern world we hear a lot of talk about protecting the environment. All around us there are groups who advocate green energy, reduction of greenhouse gases, animal rights, etc.  But where did all this talk about saving the environment come from? When did stewardship become radical environmentalism? People who advocate the rights of animals and the protecting of the environment took a good idea, the stewardship of the Earth, to an extreme where nature and animals have taken precedent over people.

I want to speak first about the creation of the Earth as told in the Christian story of Adam and Eve.  We see in Genesis that God created man in his own image, male and female he created them.  God gave man dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing.  God told man to fill the earth and subdue it. 

In the biblical accounts of the creation of the Earth there are a few key points I would like to touch on.  The first is that human beings alone are created in the image of God.  This sets humanity apart from the rest of creation.  Simply by looking at nature we can see that there is something different about humans than the other species.  Humans are the only ones who have a rational soul which we have used to develop civilizations, invent new technologies, build skyscrapers and cities, etc.  All of this speaks to a fundamental difference between humanity and the rest of creation.  Mankind has been set apart by God in order to tile and protect the rest of creation.  However, we must not take this to mean that we need to kill humans who harm the environment.  Human life is the most precious gift in all of creation, and thus there is a vast difference between killing a human and killing an animal or a plant.  Plants and animals were created to serve man and be used by mankind for food, clothing, tools, etc., but even though man is above creation he is still a part of it so he must not kill animals recklessly or simply for fun. Torturing animals is wrong. Dumping chemicals into streams and rivers is wrong because it kills plants and animals needlessly.  Humans can use all of creation to our benefit but we must use it wisely and be respectful of all life. We need to develop practices which enable us to live more in harmony with the rest of creation, but this does not mean killing humans or exploiting humanity for the sake of the world.  

All of nature has a set pattern which gives it continuity and helps it to function as a system.  The rising and setting of the sun and moon.  The changing of seasons.  The natural process plants have of producing seeds which are spread by the wind and grow.  Nature is a beautiful thing and everything works together to keep the world moving forward.  

What radical environmentalism does is takes this idea of the beauty of the natural world and says that this is the highest good and all things must be order to the good of the created world.  They view humanity as a threat to nature that needs to be eliminated.  And so they use things like the green movement to force people to pay more for electricity and gas, to buy more expensive cars, to pay a carbon tax when manufacturing, they bankrupt nations by spending tax dollars on inefficient alternative energies like wind and solar power, they give large donations to organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals whose driving philosophy is to place animals above humans and they do this by attacking small family farms who then go bankrupt and thus cause shortages in the food supply and reduction in the quality of food.  This leads to health issues such as Avian Flu, BSC, Swine Flu, etc.  Shutting down small farms also leads to increases in the prices of food because large corporations have a monopoly on the food market. This causes many problems for poor families as they are not able to feed themselves anymore.  

As I have just laid out radical environmentalism starts a chain reaction which leads to many of the problems which society faces today.  In order to correct these negative cycles we need to reassert the superiority of humanity and rediscover an understanding of stewardship to replace radical environmentalism. We should take care of the earth and do our best to eliminate harmful practices, but this can only by accomplished through a rejection of radical environmentalism and a return to a Christian understanding of stewardship which emphasizes the primacy of mankind over all of creation, but which recognizes that men are called by God to care for His creatures.