CHRISTIANS AND PRESERVATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT

 

Thesis

THESIS STATEMENT: The Christian community is the single community that has enough workforce and recourses of halt further environmental degradation and initiating conservation efforts.

• The growing demand for energy is leading to further environmental degradation and pollution.
• The Christian leadership has the mandate of teaching the members on the necessity of taking care of the environment and being the change in the world.
• The Christian community should change their lifestyles to ones that do not cause further environmental degradation.
• The Christian community should influence other members of the community to stop further environmental damage and initiate recovery efforts.
• The Christian community has a better chance at tackling the issue of environmental degradation as a group than as individuals.

 

 

What specific actions should Christians take regarding the environment and its preservation or restoration?

Introduction

The slow and gradual degradation and depletion of the environment is an issue of concern for all persons regardless of social caste, religious affiliation or race. This is true unless the individual decides to remain ignorant of course. The earth’s environment is being depleted and destroyed by a combined effort of man’s activities and some natural occurrences. Industrialization has led to the exponential rate of increase of man’s demand for fossil fuels for energy, natural forms of energy and the generation of waste products[1]. The Christian community is the single community that has enough workforce and recourses of halt further environmental degradation and initiating conservation efforts[2].

Discussion

Man’s demand for energy leads to the continual depletion of the earth’s forest and the emission of carbon of dioxide, which both lead to the degrading of the environment. Natural activities include volcanoes that lead into the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere plus the burning of the natural landscape. The sad reality is that man is only endowed with one environment; there has not yet been the discovery of life in other planets. This means that the destruction of the environment will result in the ultimate destruction of the human race. This makes it all the more important for all individuals to conserve the environment.

The church and Christian in general ought not to be left behind in these efforts of conserving the environment. Christianity is the single most human organization that has the most following. This comes with two advantages. One is that any action that the church does will have the most effect due to the nature of the numbers it commands. Secondly is that the religious group is founded and teach on good morals, ethics and purity. This means that the topic of environmental conservation will still be in the scope of the Christian foundation[3].

The first action that the church ought to take is teaching the congregation on the effects of environmental degradation and their role in the whole issue. If the Christians are informed on the gravity of the issue, then they are bound to buy the whole idea and make an effort towards abetting further environmental depletion. As cited earlier on, the church would have an easy way going about this. This is because the bible, which is their main source of inspiration, contains numerous teachings concerning living in harmony with ones surrounding. The first book of the bible: the book of Genesis highlights on man being given the authority and ability to tend to the earth and everything it. This will give the Christian the impetus to take action towards environmental conservation. Christians will end up knowing that they have a responsibility over the conservation of the environment, and they should not to leave it to other environmental organizations.

After having knowledge on the effects and the need for environmental conservation, the next action that Christians ought to take concerning this issue is to change their lifestyles to conform to ways that do not in any way damage the environment. This will include recycling most of their waste products and managing their wastes. In many nations, there are designated bins and points where individuals ought to dump their waste products. These include plastics, biodegradable products, recyclable products etc.

The Christians ought to check on the cars that they drive. Currently, the technology has advanced such that there are environmentally safety cars that are both comfortable and economical. This makes it unnecessary for individuals to purchase expensive fuel guzzlers that are both uneconomical and harmful to the environment. Christians ought to be more concerned about the products they are purchasing and the companies that make them. In the paper industry, there are companies known to destroy whole forests without taking the necessary initiative of restoring them.

Christians ought to purchase paper from companies that have reputations of having reforestation projects to restore the trees that they have felled. A good example is a company like home depot. This company specializes in the supply of household products. As a policy, the company only acquires its products from companies that follow are registered with the environmental safety board. This means that not everything in their shelves is obtained at the expense of the environment. Christians ought to purchase household products from such departmental stores. This will go ahead to serve as an impetus to other distributors to observe such policies leading to more conservational efforts by companies[4].

Christians ought to incorporate the issue of environmental conservation together with their spreading of the gospel. Christians believe in spreading their beliefs to others in the community. This is engraved in their teachings of shining their light in the darkness. The Christians are the light meaning that they are the ones with the knowledge of how man is really supposed to be and to live. Their main purpose is to spread this good news to the entire world and thereby making them converts.

Having had the knowledge on the vitality of conserving the environment, Christians ought to teach their communities on the same and make them aware of the gravity of the same. This would include conducting awareness crusades where members of the local community are educated on the benefits of the environment and the consequences of degrading it. They should conduct educational campaigns in schools and other educational centers and emphasize to the community on the importance of small acts of not littering, checking on waste management, disposal etc[5].

It is a well-known fact that people accomplish much as a group than as individuals. With this in mind, it would be prudent for Christians to join up and form organization that have the main aim of conserving the environment. Organizations have a more say and veto to influence major corporations to amend their environmentally hazardous ways. These organizations are to conduct campaigns to compel the government in making it illegal for major companies and industries to conduct their activities while destroying the environment.

The organizations are conduct formal visits to various states persons and government office bearers highlighting to them on the importance of conserving the environment. This will lead to the government enacting laws that make it compulsory for companies and industries to conduct their activities in more environmentally friendly ways. The Christian organizations have a better chance at compelling the governments to gazette certain lands that are considered of high environmental interests or fragile as protected lands.

This includes all virgin and indigenous forests, marsh, and swamplands. This is because these areas mainly serve as water catchments areas and home to many species. The continual deforestation of virgin forests will lead to the loss of the homes of a variety of animal species. This could lead to the loss of entire species. Drought and famine are more likely to follow suit. The organizations ought to enlighten the government officials on these dangers that follow degradation of the environment. If this does not raise enough alarm to these politicians, the churches voting capacity ought to capture their attention.

Conclusion

The organizations could conduct cleanup campaigns in the areas that have been damaged. As an example, the Christian organizations could rally their members into a cleanup campaign to seashores that have been polluted by oil spills. The organizations could also conduct tree-planting campaigns to areas that have been deforested by man’s activities. All these efforts could go a long way in ensuring that both the current generation and future generations get to enjoy the benefits of this environment continually.

 

References

Foltz, Richard C. Worldviews, Religion, and the Environment: A Global Anthology. New York, NY: Wadsworth Publishing. 2003.

Nash, James A. Loving Nature: Ecological Integrity and Christian Responsibility. Nashville: Abingdon. 1991.

Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Religion and the Order of Nature. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1996.

Spring, David. Ecology and Religion in History. New York: Harper. 1974.

Tucker, Mary Evelyn, and John Berthrong, eds. Confucianism and Ecology: The Interrelation of Heaven, Earth, and Humans. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1998.