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Christianity and environmental ethics
Christians and environmental ethics
Christianity and environmental ethics
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Recommended: Christianity and environmental ethics
Environmental Issues and Christians
Christians have grown to be more aware of environmental issues. Good
stewardship means that they have a duty to save and protect the
environment. The different Christian Churches teach that the health of
the environment is extremely important and we need to all help protect
the earth and life on it. The Methodist Church teaches that "The
health of the environmental system is critical to all life and
immensely fragile in the face of the demands of a consumerist and
technologically powerful culture." This means that the natural world
is in danger of being damaged from industrial factories and
forthcoming technology. Methodist's also believe that "Men and women
are to be stewards and curators, not exploiters, of its resources."
The Church of England faith says that we have "to take all possible
steps, both nationally and internationally, to establish a just and
economical use of the Earth's energy resources, and to minimise the
impact of consequential environmental pollution." This shows that
England and the rest of the world need to use the Earth's natural
energy sources economically, and carefully in order to reduce the risk
of severe pollution.
Pope John Paul has spoken about pollution for the Catholic Church. He
said, "Our actions have consequences for the rights of others and for
the resources of the Earth" and "We must consider the welfare of
future generations in our planning for and utilisation of the Earth's
resources." By this he means that if we destroyed the Earth in any
kind of way then it will effect the future generations of our world.
We need to use the natural resources in a positive way so that we do
not damage the world.
The Earth is continuously being damaged. Pollution is destroying the
planet in numerous ways. The build up of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is known as the greenhouse effect. This traps heat from the
sun in the earth's atmosphere resulting in global warming. This could
mean intense weather conditions and may even melt both poles causing
In the journal of Environmentalism as Religion, Paul H. Rubin discuss about how environmental is similar to religion. Rubin want everyone to know that the environment and religion are somehow similar in a way, which they both have belief system, creation stories and original sin.
Today, we take many of our natural resources for granted without think about the consequences. For example, cutting down trees, burning fossil fuel, and the consumption of meat. Our ozone layer is becoming weaker and weaker to due factories burning too much fossil fuel. This causes too much carbon dioxide, which affects our ozone layer. If we can limit the amount of natural resources we use on a daily basis, we will be able to see a big change in society.
The articles “The Environmental issue from hell” by Bill McKibben and “The Obligation to Endure” by Rachel Carson both talk about the environmental consequences that people have caused. However, McKibben writes about Global warming and argues that it is a moral responsibility to preserve the earth, while on the other hand, Carson writes about pollution of the earth caused by man. McKibben article makes good points and supports his claim with facts which makes his article valid. Carson supports her idea with adequate information and factual evidence which also makes her article valid.
A graduate of Harvard and the former editor of the Harvard Crimson, Bill McKibben joined the New Yorker in 1982 as a staff writer right out of college. His parents had been writers, and he always thought he would follow in his father’s footsteps as a “newspaper” man. Oblivious as any to environmental predicaments, the course of his career—and life really—changed after writing an extensive piece where he literally tracked down where everything was made in his apartment. Travelling around for this piece introduced him to the “real world,” and in 1987 he left the New Yorker to live in the Adirondack Mountains with his fiancé (“McKibben, Bill”). This is where he wrote his first book, The End of Nature; a book that pushed him into the environmental limelight and provided a basis for all his other works.
However, that doesn’t mean that we should not do something’s to conserve our resources because it can benefit you, but it also can benefit other people that may not have the same luxuries that other people have.
Natural gas, Priuses, LEDs, hydropower, solar power, burning trash, or improving traffic is not the answer to becoming a green nation. People need to change their behavior in order to change their actions; everyone must take a stand and use cars less, use less electricity, and use less of everything, because less is enough. If we wish to discourage society from using excess energy there needs to be an increase in: prices of oil, electricity, worsened traffic, and denser city populations. There is a way to do this without having the populace revolt: increase the prices of these services or goods nevertheless offering a modest stipend for those who decrease usage. If we truly want to live on Earth for a prolonged period of time, then we need to take care of her but are we willing to change our consumer mentality for the future of our
An environmentalist is a person worships the environment and cares for nature more than people. Christians and others share the common perception that environmental ethics exist for how human beings should relate to the land, the free market perceptive and the environmental perceptive. Humans share a relationship with all creations of the earth. But as humans, they find themselves as having a role in the created order which is they have a closer relationship with the creator who has charged them with acting responsible within his creation. Even allowing a common complaint of environmental activists is that Stewardship means that the earth was made exclusively because of human beings - that having dominion upper nature is the same as having the power and directly of domination. Christians consequently share a close relationship by means of the whole of aspects of creation, since in relation to the environment, its unbroken humanity, not unbroken nature, that's seen to be the problem. Stewardship in simple terms means to manage someone else’s property. Christians proclaims that everything belong to God, so as Christians, we need to have the attitude that our belongings are his belongings. As stewards, we have the responsibility of being in charge of the earth. We have been placed in charge and are responsible for whatever happens to it, even though it does not belong to us, as we all know it belong to God. In Genesis 2:15, God took man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to work and take care of it.
...such as recycling and reducing waste has significantly helped our environment and will continue to if future generations practice these same habits. For deforestation, many organizations have strived to plant more trees and add more oxygen to the atmosphere as well as nutrients for the soil. Seeing that although humans create many negative impacts in our global environment, there are many positive arrangements in correcting these issues.
...ver growing population I believe we either need to start reducing our consumption or start fixing the production.
Christian theology states that God created the earth and gave it as a gift to humans to be shared with all other living creatures. This belief is known as the “Creation-centered approach to the natural environment” (Massaro, p.163). This approach emphasizes the value of nature by recognizing humans as being an equal part of God’s creation under which all “species deserve protection” (Massaro, p.163). With such publicly known cases of pollution like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or Bethlehem Steel’s pollution of Lake Erie decades ago, it is evident that humans have been using the environment in accordance with the Stewardship or even the Dominion model, both of which place humans above all other creations. According to Massaro, Christian theology also explains that showing “disregard for the air that others breathe and the quality of the water they drink is to sin against God” (Massaro, p.162). This type of disregard destroys humankind’s relationship with all other living organisms.
“Unless humanity is suicidal, it should want to preserve, at the minimum, the natural life-support systems and processes required to sustain its own existence” (Daily p.365). I agree with scientist Gretchen Daily that drastic action is needed now to prevent environmental disaster. Immediate action and changes in attitude are not only necessary for survival but are also morally required. In this paper, I will approach the topic of environmental ethics from several related sides. I will discuss why the environment is a morally significant concern, how an environmental ethic can be developed, and what actions such an ethic would require to maintain and protect the environment.
In the Global Catholic Climate Movement, it mentions the claim of policy, which is, “climate change is caused by human actions and will very likely have catastrophic consequences if not tackled urgently.” I felt very alarmed by this because we live in a society that continues to consume and produce, and the government doesn’t prioritize climate change as something worth resolving. In my opinion, the United States focuses solely on business and profit that it neglects the health of its citizen and the possibility that there will be no future. Although the government is not directly making a change, there are environmental activists out there, which is where the Sisters of Mercy come into play. As women devoted to God, they want to carry
“We are consuming the Earth’s natural resources beyond its sustainable capacity of renewal” said by Herman Daly, Beyond Growth, Boston 1996, 61[1] .
...at we need. Clean up the rivers and streams, lakes and oceans. Reduce the use of chemicals and pesticides. But society must do something, even if only donating money to an organization who does. Just do something to help, before even more animals disappear, before all the fish and forests are gone, before the earth has so little diversity that only humans remain.
Many people assume that the environment is not in danger. They believe that as technology advances, we do not need to worry about renewing natural resources, recycling, and finding new ways to produce energy. They state that one person in the world does not make a large difference. In reality, each individual's contribution greatly affects our environment. Our natural resources are slowly disappearing, and we must work together to save them and the Earth from ruin.