The Environment: Skip the Complex, Focus on the Simple

These days there’s a lot of wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. Over what? We can think of many things. But near the top of the list is the environment.

 

We hear a lot in the media about “global warming.” Wait…that’s so last decade. Now it’s called “climate change,” because whether it gets too cold or too hot, whether it rains too much or not enough, we can still blame it on climate change. When I was growing up, we called it “weather.” 

 

During the late 1960s and early ‘70s, newspapers, magazines and science journals were running feature articles about “global cooling” and “the coming ice age.” Living in the Midwest then, my family and I experienced weeks of extreme cold and blizzards, which seemed to support those predictions. There were also reports of an impending natural gas shortage, fanning fears there wouldn’t be enough fuel to heat homes during that frigid period. Thankfully, the prognosticators were wrong. 

 

As for today’s festering and fomenting environmental debates, some might claim “settled science.” However, one certainty about science is that it’s never settled. Consider the scientists who were convinced the earth is flat; that the sun revolved around the moon; that blood-letting leeches could cure diseases; and that “there is a world market for maybe five computers.” In case you don’t know, computer scientist Thomas Watson, president of IBM in 1943, made the latter prediction. 

 

Global environment problems are far too complex, too hard for most of us to understand, much less solve. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned about the world God created. In fact, the Lord stipulated from the beginning that humans were to serve as stewards over all He had made.

 

In Genesis 1:27-28 God declared what some theologians call “the cultural mandate”: After creating man and woman “in His own image…God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creative that moves on the ground.’”

 

This assignment, Bible scholars tell us, was to serve as “keepers of the garden.” Not just the garden of Eden, from which Adam and Eve would be evicted following their sinful disobedience, but all of God’s glorious creation. He was delegating to them dominion over the earth. And to us.

 

The problem is, we haven’t done particularly well with that. Just drive the highway and observe the litter collecting along the roadsides. The oceans are teeming not only with fish and other aquatic life but also with plastic bottles and various kinds of refuse. We could cite numerous other examples of what we might call “dominion malfeasance.”

 

We can do better. We should do better. Even though the task seems overwhelming. The earth might be a microscopic speck on a map of the universe, but it’s still big to us. What impact can one person possibly have? Maybe that’s one reason it seems easier to cede the responsibility to the government and the scientists. Unfortunately, mixing politics with science is never good – as we’ve seen so clearly in recent years.

 

What can we do? Getting serious about not littering would be a good start. But I’m thinking of another option that takes very little effort. And it can quickly become a good habit. What I’m referring to is a simple practice relatively few people engage in: Recycling.

 

Frankly, I’m amazed that with its fingers in so many of our pies, governments don’t put forth a stronger effort to persuade people to recycle things like paper, plastic, metal and aluminum cans, and plastic bags.

 

My wife and I have been doing this for several years, and we’ve cut about in half the amount of stuff we take to the curb in our garbage can. The plastic bottles and bags, paper of all sorts (including junk mail), soda and food cans we used to throw in the trash we now take every week or two to our local recycling center. 

 

This might not sound very spiritual, but it’s one way of being obedient as stewards of what God has made and entrusted to our care. When Jesus told His parable of the talents, in which three servants were entrusted to different amounts of money to handle while their master was away, that might not have sounded very spiritual either. But He was teaching an important principle. 

 

Those who were deemed “good and faithful servants” had been “faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things” (Matthew 25:14-30). On the other hand, the “wicked, lazy servant” received no reward. He was cast out.

We don’t have to be “tree-huggers” or “save the planet” fanatics to recognize our role, as small as it may be, in the stewardship of this wonderful world God has given to us. It might seem like a small thing, but this honors our Lord. We might not have any direct effect on changing weather patterns, but we can keep some plastic bottles from being swept out to sea. 

Global Warming of a Different Kind

The global warming/climate change debate rages unabated. A newly released report stated despite horrendous early winter conditions in upstate New York and other parts of the United States, 2014 is set to become the world’s warmest year on record. Who knew?

Since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration conducted this study, it sounds credible. Who’s to argue with the NOAA? And yet, other seemingly reputable scientific sources report contrary findings. So who are we to believe – Al Gore? Frosty the Snowman? Congress, where it seems much of the world’s hot air is generated?

"It's A Wonderful Life" is a heartwarming, classic
story about redemption and redemption.

As I’ve admitted in previous posts, I’m not a scientist; much of scientific lexicon leaves me at a loss. So the magnitude and consequences of physical global warming aren’t something I’m qualified to assess. But I’ve concluded another form of global warming – global heart-warming – is definitely and desperately needed.

This is the time of year when schmaltzy, feel-good holiday films are shown in theaters and on TV – often simplistic, generally heartwarming stories of harmony overcoming animosity, love evicting hatred, unity dispelling division, compassion conquering selfishness.

One of my favorites for the holiday season is “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the Jimmy Stewart classic in which humility and sacrifice triumph over the tyrannical town magnate. Then there’s “Miracle on 34^th Street,” in which Kris Kringle succeeds in uniting a cynical mother, her hopeful little daughter and a trusting, determined attorney. And then we have “A Christmas Carol,” the Charles Dickens classic story of a crotchety miser whose heart is softened by a series of midnight visitations. Each concludes with its own version of happily ever after.

But why does this happen only in the movies and not so much in real life? Strife, hatred and conflict seem on the rise, while “good will toward men” seems increasingly in short supply. Why can’t we all just get along, right?

If someone could definitively solve that question, they’d be deserving of more than the Nobel Peace Prize. But as we approach the Christmas celebration, we are reminded a solution has indeed been offered. Discord and cold hearts don’t necessarily need to be our “default setting.” The question is, are we willing to accept it?

In proclaiming the birth of Jesus Christ more than 2,000 years ago, the angels proclaimed,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). The King James Version adds the phrase, “good will toward men.” Imagine, peace and good will being made available through God coming in the flesh.

Later, during His earthly ministry, Jesus promised His followers, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27).

Many of us, however, don’t believe this. We try everything we can think of to achieve peace, but if anyone utters the name of Jesus, we hear protests of “intolerance” and “narrow-minded.” Maybe that’s why Jesus said His peace is not “as the world gives.” Maybe the reason animosity reigns across the world is because we so readily reject the peace He alone can provide.

We’re quick to observe the Bible tells us to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31), as if it’s simply a matter of willpower. But we forget the first part of Jesus’ statement, what we might call the prerequisite for loving our neighbors: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30).

If we could do a better job of doing the first, maybe the second part wouldn’t be so difficult. And we’d have a lot more real-life, global heart-warming stories to tell.

Science . . . and Fiction

A sign looking over a western canyon proclaims God's majestic creation.

As a boy, I loved reading science fiction. Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, among others, took me on adventures that stretched my imagination. Later I graduated to writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov. They envisioned other worlds, solar systems, galaxies and dimensions.

TV shows like “The Twilight Zone” “Outer Limits,” and “Star Trek” fed this fascination, which morphed into the wonderment of viewing films like “Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind,” “E.T.,” and the earliest installments of George Lucas’s “Star Wars” series.

Part of this intrigue was the unknown – not just the vast universe measured in light years, but even our own world filled with complexities and perplexities. Nobody would ever confuse me with Bill Nye the Science Guy, but the vast array of organisms that inhabit Planet Earth holds me in continual amazement. And the beauties of nature – whether a spectacular sunset, or an awe-inspiring glimpse of wonders like the Grand Canyon – dare even the most skilled writers to capture in words. Many have tried; none have fully succeeded.

Despite great appreciation for science – I'm able to write this today thanks in part to huge advances in medical science – it's troubling when science is equated with deity. Many kneel at the altar of science, convinced it holds the only answers to life as we know it, as well as what we don’t yet know.

I’m not among them. Even though various scientific disciplines have provided us with an ever-expanding storehouse of knowledge, we flirt with danger when confusing science and fiction.

Take, for example, medicine. We presume physicians will provide definitive diagnoses for all of our various ailments and maladies, but by their own admission, doctors often are limited to very educated guesses, hoping they’re right. Recently I underwent several tests to evaluate my heart functions seven years post-surgery. My cardiologist confirmed everything looks “stable” and “unchanged,” but he offered no guarantees.

Whether through a glorious sunset or a
frosted, snow-covered street, wonders
of science and faith can converge.

We hear of comprehensive studies reaching conclusions about everything from the value of having mammograms to the long-term effects of caffeine and alcohol. Then we learn of other research that concludes the opposite. Medical science’s certainties are anything but certain.

Or consider meteorology. Weathermen make grand predictions and then miss by a mile. “It’s going to snow!” and we get nothing. “We might get an inch or two,” and the next morning we’re digging out from more than a foot of white stuff. This applies to tornadoes, hailstorms and other potential disasters, too. It might be better to spell the profession, “whether-men,” as in “we don’t know for certain whether it’s going to do something or not.”

Some treat global warming/climate change as empirical, unquestioned facts, as others do in discussing the theory of evolution. But when emotion and dogmatism are extracted from the equation – if that’s even possible – we find credible authorities armed with strong arguments against prevailing opinion. The dividing line between science and fiction sometimes blurs.

At the same time, I’m not one of those that argue the Bible offers the last word on science. Most of all, the Scriptures are a vast collection of spiritual truth, revealing the God who is and who we are to Him. However, it’s interesting to consider the scientific acumen of the Bible. For instance, long before Columbus, Magellan and other explorers dispelled the notion of the world being flat, the Bible declared God “sits enthroned above the circle of the earth” (Isaiah 40:22).

Christianity is sometimes termed a “bloody religion,” but thousands of years ago the Bible asserted, “the life of a creature is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). If you’re ever in need of a transfusion, ask your physician if it would be okay to substitute tomato juice or red Kool-Aid instead of blood and see what response you get.

Too often science and spirituality are viewed as adversaries. Sometimes we see evidence of that – people hell-bent on rejecting the existence of God must embrace alternative explanations for life and the universe. But as a person of faith, I applaud science for seeking to understand the workings of everything the Creator God has fashioned.

The book of Genesis opens with four profound words: “In the beginning God….” How can the finite, temporal mind comprehend an infinite, eternal God? It can’t. But it’s easier for me to accept a God unfettered by time and physical laws than the proposition that all we are, all we see and all we can know had its “genesis” from absolutely nothing, and that we’re nothing more than the consequence of purposeless, cosmic chaos.

In the book of Job, God acknowledges our wish to discern matters of the divine: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!... Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?... Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell, if you know all this” (Job 38:4-18).

To me, science and the Scriptures need not merely coexist. They can complement, science gradually unraveling the profundities of creation, and the Bible revealing all we need to know about the One who created everything.

As the psalmist wrote, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts…. They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds” (Psalm 145:3-6).

Political Correctness and Climate Change

While shoveling about three inches of “global warming” off my driveway on Saturday, I was thinking again about this matter of climate change. I’m a strong believer in climate change – in a couple of months, winter will change to spring, followed three months later by summer, then by autumn (or fall), and then, lo and behold, winter again.

In Sunday’s newspaper, a petroleum geologist wrote a thoughtful, factually supported column challenging the whole global warming consensus, noting that if anything, his research indicates a mini-ice age might be more likely. Wow! Of course, such reasoning isn’t politically correct for the group-think scientific community, or the political sphere for that matter. He’ll probably be defrocked, or whatever they do to dissident scientists. Maybe they’ll take away his Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.

President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address last week, affirmed his belief in climate change, but not by my definition. This winter notwithstanding, he’s loudly pounding the global warming drum. If the President says so, it must be so, right?

Not to keep beating a dying global warming horse, but I remember a couple of years in the ‘70s when the severe winter – sub-zero temperatures and blizzards – had almost everybody worried an ice age might be in the offing. In fact, I’m convinced that’s one reason “Roots” became the highest-watched TV miniseries of all time. Its story line was compelling, and it was well-acted and produced, but besides that, it was too cold that year to do anything else.

So in the midst of the hysteria, my trust in a Creator God comforts me. Seems to me that if He was wise enough to create the vast universe, He certainly must have anticipated the combustion engine, population growth and other factors supposedly linked to “global warming."

An Inconvenient Cold

Have you noticed how little has been said lately about global warming? Everyone is so focused on warding off the cold, they’ve forgotten about how warm it’s getting!

In recent weeks I’ve clipped articles about record low temperatures and snows that have stricken many parts of the world: Unprecedented lows in Florida; unusually heavy snow snarling all modes of travel in Europe; the heaviest snow in 70 years in Korea and other parts of Asia. There even was measurable snow in Houston, Texas on Jan. 6, and last time I looked, that city’s not part of the Snow Belt.

At the risk of sounding reactionary, I’m having a hard time warming to this whole notion of global warming. In the ‘70s, sensationalists were warning about global cooling, and a search of the Web will direct you to some credible sources who argue that is still the case today.

When Al Gore’s documental film, “An Inconvenient Truth,” was released in 2006, many began to fear the worst. The film provides ample data, but as any good debater knows, you only use facts that support your position. I’m starting to wonder whether this “Truth” fits more into the so-called “big lie theory” – the bigger the lie, and the more it’s repeated, the more likely people are to buy into it. (Remember the Y2K hysteria?)

That’s not to say we shouldn’t be concerned about the environment. In Genesis 1:28, God commanded mankind to, “fill the earth and subdue it.” He directed us to be responsible caretakers of His creation, not unappreciative guests. I endorse recycling; cleaner, more efficient use of energy; and other reasonable ways of treating “Mother Earth” kindly.

But we’re here to worship the Creator, not the creation. After all, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it…” (Psalm 24:1).