No matter where you stand on it, the issue of climate change cannot be ignored. Go to supermarkets you’ll find you need to pay for a plastic bag - if they have any at all. Go to a coffee shop and you’ll get a discount if you bring your own reusable cup. Go out for a meal and find increasing vegetarian and vegan products. Drive through London and you’ll need the right car to get into the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ). Walk through the streets of London and find protesters campaigning for the government to do more to tackle the issue of climate change. Watch the news and see Greta Thunberg rallying world leaders to take urgent action. Turn on your TV screens and watch programmes like ‘The War Against Plastic’, or ‘The Facts’ by David Attenborough.
What is the reason for all this?
First of all, it is an increasing awareness of what is happening to our planet.Scientists warn us that the temperature of the earth is rising, and if it continues to do so, there are fears that the polar ice caps will melt, coral reefs will die, whole countries will be underwater, water sources will run dry, crops will fail, species will be wiped out, there will be more disease, increased poverty and conflict will spread.
And this is not simply something to be aware of for the future. Each of these things has already started – but they are not felt equally by all people. For those of us in the West, climate change is rarely life threatening for us over here. But in other parts of the world it is already devastating. And yet it is largely due to the consumerism of the West that we are in this position.
Responses in culture
But an awareness of this still leaves the question of why we should act, and what should our approach be? You may think that action is obvious but actually a moment’s pause and reflection shows a wide range of approaches being advocated stemming from very different assumptions. Broadly speaking there are two dominant ideologies which have underpinned approaches to environmental care in recent times.
The Western secular view:
The world is all that there is, it is not created, there is no designer. Humans are one of the many species that exist on this planet. The earth and humans have no inherent value but do have derivative value because if the earth is damaged then the ecosystem we depend on for life is damaged.
We can hear the influences of this worldview in some of the discussions now – that humans are just another species, potentially on the road to extinction like so many other lifeforms.
Does this provide a strong motivation to care for the environment?
On the one hand it does not. If this world is all that there is, and we’re just part of the circle of life – then well, species go extinct. It’s happened before, it will happen again. Why is the extinction of the human species more of an issue than anything else?
But on the other hand it is a huge motivation. Hear the language of Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum earlier this year:
Our house is on fire, I am here to say our house is on fire… Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope, I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic, I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act, I want you to act as if you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house was on fire, because it is. Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum 2019
Although the world has no value in and of itself, it is all we have, and we are utterly dependent on it. If we lose this, we lose everything and there is nothing else.
Eastern philosophy
According to this view, nature and the environment are part of the divine – and humanity is bound up with them. Everything is interconnected. This presents a very high view of the earth as part of the divine and can lead to a worship of it.
This certainly provides a strong motivation to care for the environment given the high view of nature. However, as we follow the logic through it does not sit comfortably with many of us. Under this view everything alive has inherent value, but is also of equal value. So there is no basis for a baby being cared for more than a rat, or a leaf for example. If that sounds extreme then consider that there are mainstream debates in global forums advocating higher rates of abortion to protect the environment.
Influences from both of these worldviews can be traced in the current discussions, often merging together and thus losing coherence.
It is very interesting, for example, to hear the language Owen Jones used at the ClimateStrike rally in London a few weeks ago:
We’re here because our world is dying and the cause of death is not misadventure, it’s not even manslaughter, it’s murder, Murder at the hands of our greedy economic elites for whom profit is more important than the survival of our own species. Owen Jones, ClimateStrike rally in London 2019
Are humans just another species, on the road to extinction like everyone else unless we take serious action (Western view)? But he also says that our world is dying, and the cause of death is murder. Can a world be murdered? Is the world a being which can be wronged in that way (Eastern view)? Similarly we are also hearing about the murder of our species. Can a species be murdered? Murder has traditionally been reserved for the killing of a person and therefore isn’t an issue in the animal kingdom. It’s just the way of life, there’s no need for forgiveness for a lion killing an antelope is there?
Of course there are political agendas among other motivations which are playing a part in the conversation but often those political agendas are themselves underpinned by powerful lobbying groups who are fiercely ideological.
So if the existing worldviews are confused and conflicting, is there a coherent ideology which can:
– motivate us to care for the world
– and yet give us a real & certain hope for the future so we don’t need to fear?
The Christian worldview
Following the Biblical narrative of creation, fall, redemption and new creation, Scripture gives us the best understanding of why we are in this situation and the only hopeful solution to go forward.
Creation
Creation is good!
As we go right back to the beginning when God created the world, the first chapter of Genesis tells us God’s resounding verdict on the earth: ‘God saw that it was good.’ (Genesis 1v4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). We understand from elsewhere in the Bible that the earth and everything in it is the Lord’s (Psalm 24v1), and that creation displays God’s glory (Romans 1v20).
Therefore – as opposed to the Western secular view – we can confidently and joyfully affirm that creation is good, that it is designed. The billions of species, the myriad of stars in the night sky, the oceans teeming with life, the colours of the rainbow, the changing seasons, the snow-capped mountains and the green valleys, the vast deserts and the rainforests all full of hidden wonders, all displaying God’s glory. These matter to God!
Do they matter to us?
Humans are very good!
In the first chapter of the Bible, the verdict on creation is that it is good. As the creation of humans is described, the narrative slows down and the creation reaches a climax as this addition now warrants the divine pronouncement: ‘it was very good’ (Genesis 1v31).
There is something different about humans, a staggering honour which is not endowed upon anything else in creation:
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27
This is the greatest stamp of approval and highest value that can be given. We are different to creation, there is an order here. A baby is more important than a rat and a leaf because that child is made in the image of God!
There is another differentiation which is significant. Genesis 2v7 tells us that humans are formed from the dust. We are special, but we are still created and in that sense like the rest of creation. We are important but we are not God.
Humans have responsibility
This is key as we understand the responsibility which is given to human beings.
Humans are given the task of ruling over creation, to fill the earth and subdue it. (Genesis 1v26, 28). The following chapter adds more shape to this as humans are put in the garden to ‘work it and take care of it’ (Genesis 2v15).
Part of what it is to be made in the image of God is to care for creation and also to enjoy it, using the resources God has given us to give him glory.
What a wonderful picture this is! A personal creator God who makes a wonderful world for humans to enjoy and to look after. What a privilege, honour and responsibility for human beings!
Do we feel that?
FALL
Because of course this is not the way that things look now. Adam & Eve paved the way when they were put in a paradise but felt what God had provided wasn’t enough for them. They took the fruit, turning their backs on God – leading to devastating consequences (Genesis 3).
These consequences were far reaching – causing the breakdown of the three key relationships:
– Between humans and God (Genesis 3v8-10) – leading to a breakdown:
– Between humans and each other (Genesis 3v16)
– Between humans and creation (Genesis 3v17-19)
The fall affects everything. It has led to a broken humanity but also a broken creation. Creation is bound up in the fall as well.
And that is the world that we live in now, as we live out those consequences.
The world around us blames each other for climate emergency. Blame the West, blame the adults, blame Capitalism, blame the governments, blame others who don’t care enough.
But the Bible tells us that we cannot simply look out of the window – we need to look in the mirror too. We have followed in Adam & Eve’s footsteps in doubting that God can provide all we need. We have not fulfilled our responsibilities as God’s image-bearers. Our human greed has led to the disaster the world is now facing. Our desire for more, for luxury, and to have it now. And so often we have ignored the effects this has on God’s creation, but also on people across the world who are suffering the effects of this now.
How do we turn the tide? Well all the protests, reforms, demonstrations in the world, may be good, but they cannot ultimately deal with the root case: the human heart.
Redemption
There is only One who can. The One who made it all, the One who gave us this wonderful gift and has seen our destruction and greed and selfishness and irresponsibility. And yet in his mercy he does not simply wipe us out, exterminating the polluting race of humanity.
No, the Creator of all demonstrates that he is still committed to his creation as he steps into it and lives as a man. The Son of God show us shows us what humanity can be – the new Adam shows us what Adam should have been. A man who always loves God, who always loves his neighbour, who cares for the things which God cares for. Never greedy, never selfish, no insatiable desire for more.
And yet he, the innocent one, willingly bears the guilt which should be ours. All of the damage we have done to the world and each other – Jesus takes the blame even though he played no part in it. He lived the life we should have lived and he died the death we should have died. The punishment that we deserved fell upon him!
But that’s not all. Death could not hold him – Jesus rose from the dead as a physical human being three days later (another affirmation of the physical) – showing that there is hope for both humanity and creation.
What is this hope?
We can be redeemed
When we trust in Jesus, we are able to live a new way of life. We can be changed! The love of Christ compels us to live for him and not for ourselves (2 Corinthians 5v14-15), and we have the power of Christ to work in us (Galatians 2v20).
Now as we are changed we can make a positive impact on our world as we loose the grip of sin on our hearts.
Creation can be redeemed
Just as the Fall affected everything – humanity and creation – redemption must also affect both humanity and creation. Christ will reconcile to himself ALL things – in earth and heaven (Colossians 1v19-20, and the “creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8, see vv18-25).
Through our redemption, redemption comes to the whole world. As we are transformed so this world is transformed!
Christ redeems humans and he redeems creation. This helps to allay the potential danger that caring for the environment could be a distraction from sharing the Gospel: if you want to care for the environment then the very best thing you can do is to share the Gospel! It is the gospel which changes human hearts to be a force for good in this world.
New Creation
Much of the action being taken at the moment is driven by fear – the fear of what will become of our world and become of us. To return to the words of Greta Thunberg:
I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic, I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. Greta Thunberg
Is that the right response? Well, if our only hope was in humanity, then perhaps. But we have seen that God has intervened, and we can also see that this intervention gives us a real, and certain hope. Look at this picture of the future:
Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Revelation 21:1-5
When looking at this wonderful vision it is helpful to emphasise two things.
First, continuity. The language of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ echoes Genesis 1v1 – showing us that there will be a restoration of the created order. Just as the creation was affected by the fall, and included in Christ’s redeeming work, so it will experience restoration when Christ returns to make all things right. God is not planning to throw this world away – rather to continue the world he is already doing and ultimately bring it to perfection.
However, there is some important discontinuity between now and then. None of the things which spoil life on earth are still there. There will be no more chaos and disorder, no more sin to wreak havoc in human hearts and over creation! There will, once again, be a perfect relationship with God and each other and creation! What a hope to look forward to! And we can absolutely certain of this because Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead.
How we can respond
So, in view of all we have seen, what are we to do?
The two key headlines are:
1. ACT. For the sake of the earth – which God has given to us and is committed to.
For the sake of your neighbours across the world who are made in God’s image and suffering the consequences of our broken creation. For the sake of Christ who died to make you new. Will you act knowing you have all you need in Christ so can deny yourself, as you have the hope of heaven when it will all be worth it?
2. DO NOT FEAR. God has a plan for this world. He made humans in his image, he will not let them fade into extinction. He has a plan and he is making everything new.
In what manner?
1. In repentance. All of us have in some way fallen short of our calling to care for the world God has given us. Let us repent and ask for God’s forgiveness.
2. In humility. It is easy to become self-righteous and judgemental when we take steps to change our lifestyle. Remember that it is Christ who saves us and changes us – not our own efforts!
3. In prayer. Can prayer for the environment be a regular feature in our prayers? Let’s bring this issue to the One who cares for His creation and is powerful enough to bring about change.
In what ways?
Personal lifestyle
It can be helpful to break this down into four areas. Trying to change everything all at once can be overwhelming – so why not work through one area at a time?
No one can do everything – but we can certainly do something – and we must not do nothing.
Food
Many of us are used to going to supermarkets and choosing whatever we want to eat, provided it’s within our budget. However, a concern for the world and its people compels us to be more thoughtful in our approach.
What is it?
– Recent studies have shown the significant impact of meat and dairy consumption on the environment – indeed some would argue that a vegan diet is probably the single biggest way to reduce your impact on planet Earth.
– Click here (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46459714) to see the environmental impact of many of the foods we eat. One headline which struck me is that eating beef 1-2x per week has the equivalent carbon footprint of driving 1542 miles in petrol car. Compare that with eating beans 1-2x per week, which works out as 20 miles.
– Are there things we can cut down on? Is this one of the ways in which we can deny ourselves and not conform to the pattern of greed in this world?
Where is it from?
– Have a look at the label when buying food.
– Local produce will have less of a carbon footprint!
How is it packaged?
– The war against plastic is well-publicised. Can we cut down on foods and products packaged in plastic? Many supermarkets now have loose fruit and vegetables which you can put in your own bags, or check out a local fruit and vegetable market (which saves on both packaging and cash!).
Home
– Can we do simple things like ensuring appliances are switched off whenever they are not in use?
– Can we use less energy in everyday lives (e.g. quicker showers, conservative with the heating)
– Use https://thegoodshoppingguide.c... to look up the most eco-friendly energy companies.
– Use eco-friendly cleaning products.
Travel
– It is important to be aware of the impact that our travel has on the environment – particularly flying.
– In everyday life are there times when we are able to cycle or walk rather than drive?
Purchases
– We live in a world of constant advertising, encouraging us to buy the latest thing and to buy more and more.
– Can I pause before buying new things and ask ‘do I need this?’
– Can we repair rather than replace?
Check out Swarzy McCaly’s top tips on these areas by watching ‘Me vs Climate Change’ on iPlayer.
As a Church
There are a number of ways in which we are trying to manage the environmental impact of our life as a church. Here are a few examples:
– Installation of solar panels
– The church roof is now fully insulated
– We have new boilers which are very efficient
– Update in the men’s toilets to use less water
– Ordering keep cups for use during refreshment times
– Recycling diligently and properly.
Here are a few things which we can try to do at church:
– Bring your own coffee cups to church to reduce waste
– Bring your own plate / container to the Big Lunch or Big Dinner (plans for a dishwasher are in motion)
– Recycle responsibly – check what you are putting in the bins!
Any ideas on what we could be doing as a church? Please get in touch with Rosie!!!
In Society
Across the centuries Christians (based on their Christian worldview) have been at the forefront of fighting for justice in the public square – for example with the abolition of the Transatlantic slavetrade and the civil rights movement in the USA.
Should we be at the forefront of this debate? What would it look like for us to do this? A few thoughts:
– Look on websites such as ChristianAid who, for example, lobby banks to stop them funding fossil fuels.
– Peaceful protests going on. Read the literature and consider whether as Christians it would be appropriate for us to get behind.
So in view of all this, what will our response be? How will we act, spurred on by an understanding of God’s purposes for creation and humanity? What will it look like to deny ourselves and make changes in our lives to care for the creation and the people God has made? When our friends are discussing the issue of climate change, how can we use this as an opportunity to share the good news of Jesus?
No one can do everything – but we can certainly do something – and we must not do nothing.
