Why Christians Should Care About Climate Change

Perhaps the most direct arguments in favor of Christian conservationism come from Genesis and the creation story.  It's a deep subject with many angles, but you can find some of my commentary on the subject in another post.  In this post, however, I'd like to approach the topic from other scriptural sources in an effort to broaden my argument and avoid redundancy.

In Luke 12:35-48 we find a familiar passage about the second coming of the Lord.  The passage analogizes the return of the Lord to the coming of a thief in the night.  The focus of the passage seems to be that we should have our hearts in the right place so that we might be ready for the Lord's return, and I don't dispute that focus.  But as with other passages, we Christians often have the tendency to extract the primary lesson from a passage of scripture while simultaneously ignoring all of the ancillary lessons.  We learn, one way or another, that a passage is "about" a particular topic or principle, and we start to ignore any other lesson it could teach us.

Such is the case with this passage.  The focus of the passage is about being ready, so it's easy to overlook the fact that Jesus explains how to be ready.   “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them" (12:42 NLT).  Conversely, Jesus describes that "a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished (12:47 NLT).  Following the specific analogy, we know that a "faithful servant" is one who is independent and responsible enough to manage the other servants; which to me means someone who teaches, leads, or manages other believers.  But I believe there is also a broader lesson to be gained here.

In a broad sense we see that the good servant is one who is "faithful, sensible," and responsible.  The servant who is punished is unfaithful and wasteful, shirking his responsibilities and spending his time on enjoyment before doing the Master's work.  Fundamentally, the core value that makes the difference between faithful and unfaithful is fulfillment of his duty.  We find the same core value in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).

Luke 16 gives us the Parable of the Shrewd Manager.  As the parable concludes, Christ wraps up his lesson with these words in verses 10-12; "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.  So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?  And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?"  Again, the focal point is duty.  In this parable, Christ makes duty involving physical property a spiritual issue.

It is certainly true that no passage or verse says, "Thou shalt prevent climate change."  No commandment is given that "it is a sin to have a large carbon footprint."  The Biblical call to faithfulness in duty, however, is unassailable.  Few Christians would dispute that the earth is the Lord's (1 Corinthians 10:26, Psalm 24:1)  Consider that the earth is God's property and that Luke 16 tells us that if we don't handle others' property in a trustworthy manner, then we will not be given property of our own; neither on earth nor in heaven.  For those Christians who believe in the principle of sowing and reaping, consider that the way we treat the Lord's land may impact how the Lord distributes his land back to us.  Luke 16 also tell us that what we do with little indicate what we will do with much.  How we manage the "little" of our own home, car, and yard indicates to God how we will manage the "much" that He could put under our charge.

For political reasons, many Christians seem to think it is their responsibility to deny climate change, as if their denial is some crusade against some greater liberal agenda that is somehow inseparable from other social hot topics like abortion and homosexual rights.  Perhaps our understanding that we are spiritual aliens in the world and our leaders' call to live counter-cultural lives has caused us to throw out the baby with the bathwater; turning us into rebels against secular climate science without a Biblical cause.  But consider the possibility that climate change is real (and not requisitely lumped with other aspects of a liberal agenda):  If our actions are actually leading to the waste of the earth and the organisms that live on it, then we have gravely transgressed against God's property, and so against God himself.

"But wait," you say, "the whole issue is that climate change isn't real and, therefore, is not the source of some sin against God."  The argument that climate change is occurring and is, at least predominately, anthropogenic in origin is another topic for another post and other people besides me are far more qualified to make that case.  But let's play that game for a minute and work under the assumption that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is not actually causing climate change.  Even if burning fossil fuels doesn't lead to climate change, obtaining those fuels does lead to massive water pollution through hydrofracking and oil spills.  Burning them to generate electricity and power our vehicles does lead to widespread air pollution in the form of particulate matter (soot), carbon monoxide, and VOCs.  Burning coal can lead to acid rain which destroys aquatic ecosystems and degrades forests.  None of that sounds like faithful stewardship of God's property.  Even if the tons of carbon dioxide produced by cars, industries, and power plants don't lead to climate change, developing more energy efficient automobiles, appliances, and buildings and developing alternative fuel sources helps conserve natural resources and reduces pollution.  That does sound like faithfulness to the governance duties God gave us.

And so the list continues: Anything climatologists say we should do to mitigate climate change is also beneficial for additional reasons that have nothing to do with climate change.  Christians need to embrace the fact that becoming ecologically-literate, ecologically-sensitive people is necessary if we are to take ownership of the responsibility and duty to which scripture calls us.  And that need is not contingent upon the accuracy of modern climate science.  "Buying in" to the strategies to mitigate climate change and being open to the message of secular climatologists is not a sacrifice of some conservative badge of honor; rather it is a guide to helping us become the global citizens that God asked us to be.

the 2016 Growing Season

There are still more than ten weeks until the danger of the last frost of spring has passed here at DomEc, but plans are in the works for the spring planting season.  The main  landscape design plans for the home have now been made, starting with the large plants.  Last fall an order was placed with Chief River Nursery for a number of natives that will help occupy what is now lawn space.

A sun-scorched corner of the property will receive a Paper Birch.  They plants are known for surviving dry, rocky sites and hopefully the shade it provides will reduce evaporation in the surrounding soil where several of our milkweed plants are located.  The site may prove to be to sun-scorched for this northern species, but it is the best option I could find to substitute for the Gray Birch that I actually wanted to plant in the site.  In addition, birches are great natives that support many insect and bird species and also have great aesthetics because of their textured or colored bark.  If you choose one, be sure to purchase a native variety-- There are now many species and hybrids of Asian origin available in this taxon.

Unfortunately, a late summer heat wave killed the sapling American Chestnut that was planted last year.  The upcoming order includes a replacement, which hopefully will survive the summer; this time under closer supervision.  An American Plum will be added to a portion of the landscape in a yet-to-be-determined location, to be chosen for one of several possible sites.  This plant may provide food for animals and humans alike.

Finally two domestic apples will be planted.  While our push is always for natives, the greater purpose is sustainability.  Home grown produce is a far more sustainable option than flying in fruits and vegetables from warmer climes hundreds or thousands of miles away, so appropriate domestic crops are the sole exception to our "natives only" rule.  In this case, the apples also play host to many insects and birds despite their Asian origin, though probably not as many as native crabapple species.

Deer control is the grand challenge for all of these plantings and those already extant on the property. There is a temporary fence being planned to create several deer 'exclosures' around some of the beds. That project will warrant a post in its own right.

Warm weather is on its way!