There is a line in the play Steel Magnolias that states that the only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize. While I am not sure exactly how true that is (there may be come mammals which decorate themselves) the one thing I am sure of that separates us from the animals is our ability to fundamentally alter the face of this planet. While there are animals such as beavers which can and do alter the landscape, their global impact is minimal. The impact we have on this planet is much more significant and much more long lasting.
Prior to the industrial revolution the impact of human beings on the environment was relatively small. Civilizations would come and go and nature would cover over their very existence. But as the world began to industrialize the questions became how do we get what we need to run our factories and what do we do with the leftovers? How do we retrieve the natural resources necessary for the industrialized world to continue operating? What do we do with the areas from which we have finished extracting materials? What do we do with the smoke from the coal or oil fired plants? What do we do with the industrial waste that our processes create? What do we do with the ever increasing number of chemicals used in industrial production which once used are worthless but still toxic? What do we do with the human waste from larger and larger cities? What do we do with animal waste from larger and larger commercial farms?
The answer for a couple of hundred years was, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how or what we do. From a theological point of view this made sense. After all God has given humanity dominance over creation so it is our right to do what we want. It made short term economic sense. The fewer dollars spent on taking care of our waste meant more dollars that could be spent on plant, equipment, salaries and profits. It made sense socially. The less money we spent on taking care of our waste the more people we could employ. Unfortunately as we have discovered not only was our theological perspective skewed, but our short term economic perspective led to long term economic damage (deforestation leading to mudslides and the loss of life, property and agricultural land; illnesses cause by air and water born contaminants thus driving up health care costs; early death because of the same factors thus hurting productivity; and overall disintegration of our quality of life).
From a theological perspective (going back to last week's article) we as human beings "missed the mark" of what God would have for us in this creation. In other words God's creation suffered because of our sin (lack of knowledge, greed, misuse of scripture, expediency, and abuse of power among others sins). God's desire for creation was that creation would be a place in which all creatures could live and work together in order to maximize our corporate existence. Each of us would play our roles in this amazing world. The role of human beings was to care for and to steward creation. We were to be the "gardeners" who carefully and lovingly trimmed and pruned what God had given in order that all human beings shared in the bounty of this creation and that all other creatures were properly treated. As our history shows us however we missed the mark of that calling and the negative consequences have been extraordinary.
The gift of God however is that the future offers hope. Over the last several decades the church has begun to reclaim its voice as regards environmental issues. We have done so out of our scriptural and theological heritage, not simply to be trendy. Over the last several decades much of the world has begun to see the horrific social and economic effects of pollution and has worked to clean up the creation in which we live. Needless to say we have a long way to go, yet as long as we continue to remind ourselves of our stewardship responsibilities then we are on our way.
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