The problem with......
...the environmental crowd. At least for me. You know, I can't argue for or against "environmental causes", to use a blanket term. Global warming seems about as vague of a premise. Seems like for each study showing that it's real, there's another one showing it's not.
And, honestly, I just don't have the time I think necessary to really study all the issues.
I do know that we should all, as responsible people, take care of what we are borrowing and we should try to waste as little as possible. Treat the land and water well so that we can all be healthier.
But the problem with the environmental crowd got summed up for me in a recent Guideposts article. It is in the September 2007 issue, and one of the senior editors interviewed a Mr. Bill McKibben who was apparently one of the first "leaders" of the global warming movement. In this article that seemed to put this man on a pedestal, there was as usual a lot of talk about the "problem" and a lot of vague ideas about how to fix the problem.
But, anyway, here is my problem with that crowd. Although this particular man was being written about because he does express a faith in God and is a member of his church, he made a couple of comments that belied a true faith in the POWER of God. In speaking of the Adirondacks, which seemed to be "under attack" by the forces of car exhaust and smokestack emissions, Mr. McKibben was quoted as saying this:
"A place I love was under threat," he said. And more than a place. Sophie [his daughter], he realized, and children such as those he taught on Sundays, were being forced to grow up in a world where nature was being wrested from God's control [emphasis mine] and set on a potentially dangerous course.
Now, Wait. Really? You really think that man - insignificant man - has the power to wrest ANYthing from God's control? I'm not saying that we aren't capable of screwing things up. We are! Oh, but we are. Just look at these developments that go up seemingly overnight, because the first thing that happens is that the land is completely clear cut, taking away all the TREES that clean the air for us.
We can screw things up. But do you really think there is some momentous struggle between man and God where man finally wins the tug-o-war, and sends God stumbling into the mud pile?
Perish the thought. I feel icky just for writing that.
God may just leave us to our own devices, but we don't wrest ANYTHING from His control.
Then, later in the article when Mr. McKibben is speaking of the necessity for society in general to quit being SO accumulation driven, and be more family and community driven, he makes this comment:
But here was Bill McKibben, standing in a garden, explaining that the values of faith communities - neighborliness, time with family, serving others instead of buying more stuff - are how to heal the planet. "What does Jesus keep harping on?" he said. "Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. You can't get a clearer statement in favor of community. No one dies and says, 'I wish I had gone to the mall more often' ".
Okay. Now.... okay. Most all of that - gets a big head nod from me. But - you really think Jesus was "harping" on that subject? That's the best way you could devise to express yourself, huh? Saying that Jesus Christ was harping on the subject. Sort of like the way I might nag my poor husband about how the towels are folded? (I don't actually nag him about that - I'm sure I unknowingly nag him about something, but it's not towels.)
Anyway, you see what I mean? There is an inherent view of God as weak, or not really in control, or even worse - incapable - in so much of the active environmental community. And that's just those who actually express a belief in and a faith in God. I'm not even dealing with those who have no belief in a Creator.
I think that we could do some serious "fixing" of a lot of our habits in order to keep our land and our waters healthy. That is something with which I agree. But words matter, and even more - point of view matters. If one doesn't really consider God as holy, all-powerful, and in control, then one isn't in a humble enough frame of mind. That humbleness would do a lot more to convince people that they need to take care of Someone Else's property then trying to give the impression that we have all the control.
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I know this is odd, but I wanted to add a comment to my own post - this came from an email from a friend who works (along with her husband) IN the environmental field:
Your environmental post does my heart good – from both angles. Noticing that a “Godly” man has his own skewed perspective will hopefully make others who aren’t science oriented stop and think…hmmm…maybe his science is out of wack as well. I’ve tried my best to calm my neighbor’s nerves about global warming because she keeps getting into near panic attacks. So much of this STUFF is just accepted as fact by …well, political kooks …. Who refuse to read scientific reviews by legitimate experts who DO say just the opposite. Apparently, quite a bit of the stuff that Al Gore put in his movie has either been amended or totally debunked, but he won’t change it because it sounds too good. The news will never bother to broadcast that the waters of the United States are at the cleanest point they’ve ever been since the industrial revolution. And our forests are rebounding like crazy because of the improvements in farming techniques getting more food out of less land, using less chemicals. I’ve, personally, seen both of these as true in the work I do. If you try to tell Joe Blow sitting in the seat next to you on the airplane, they’ll get completely freaked out because they’ve never been allowed to hear it. Rodney said someone almost tried to fight him. “You can’t handle the truth!!!” …that Tom Cruise movie. I think I did finally get my neighbor’s attention when I pointed out that in the 1970’s the HUGE thing was that Earth was sinking into the next ice age. Well, that didn’t happen. So, it’d be crazy to think we’re going into melt down, too.
And “out of God’s hands” I just wanted to go smack him. Did you know that when carbon dioxide levels go up, God’s filtering system kicks into high gear? Yes, the rain forests are being chopped down, BUT, the remaining ones are ramping up and greening up and producing much more oxygen than normal because of the increase of CO2. I thought that was the coolest thing I’ve read in a LONG time. God’s got it all covered. There isn’t a thing he doesn’t already have well in hand. Humans have huge swelled egos to think that their puny little existence can cause anything more than a burp in the timeline of his eternal wisdom.
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