Where's the Bears?
Yesterday I was watching the news and one particular story caught my attention. The powers that be are thinking of adding Polar Bears to the list of “threatened species.” If it happens, it would be a first. Why? Because the decline of the polar bears is not due to disease, or over hunting, but rather to habitat loss. In and of itself, loss of habitat is not unique. What is unique is the cause. Typically, loss of habitat is attributed to deforestation or urban sprawl. The Polar Bears are loosing their habitat because of global warming. That’s right! Because of greenhouse gases produced by each of us who drive, not only are the polar ice caps diminishing, but so too is the population of the polar bears.
This is a first, according to the story, but what I wonder is how the federal government will respond. In a normal case of habitat loss, construction must stop. They are quite strict about protecting the habitat of threatened and endangered species. But will those same stringent regulations be applied to greenhouse gas? My guess is no. There is scarcely any sign that the fed is willing to take measures to regulate the emissions of these gasses. Recently, they have balked at the suggestion that the EPA is responsible to monitor carbon monoxide (or maybe dioxide…I can’t remember which it is). Now lawsuits are being brought to force them to regulate these gasses and they are fighting tooth and nail. It will be quite interesting to watch this whole thing unfold.
I am more concerned, however, about my responsibility. I am more concerned about the church’s responsibility. In the creation story there are many questions and uncertainties. Humanity’s responsibility to creation is not one of them.
“God blessed [man and woman], and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
This story is the story of stewardship. It is the root of every teaching about stewardship. We, man and woman, have been given all of creation for which we must care and over which we must rule. We stand on this terrestrial ball as God’s representatives and must, therefore, rule over His creation with all of His love and care. This ruling is not an opportunity for exploitation for our own good, but rather an exercise in divine love and care. We are responsible for the polar bears!
I am not sure what this means for us. Many environmental extremists would suggest we must all cease driving our cars immediately. I hardly think that is a realistic option. Little can be changed overnight. But Martin Luther King Jr spoke of the trajectory of humanity as being long but positive. In the short term our targets are impossible, but in the long term they are quite achievable. So what can we do to rule over creation as God would rule? Here are a couple of suggestions:
1. Walk or bicycle whenever possible. It will help save the polar bears’ lives and it might just improve yours too.
2. Carpool whenever possible. What a better opportunity to show the love and hospitality of Christ than a 30 minute ride with a captive audience!
3. There are a ton of new hybrids and fuel-efficient cars coming onto the market. Take a look at them.
4. Where possible, support public transportation. We should, as a country, make it a goal to have viable public transportation in every major city, and we should incentivize its use.
5. Alternative fuels must be explored. The future is not in fossil fuels. Despite what the big oil producers (including the Fed) says, there are realistic and reliable options out there right now. Push for these to replace fossil fuel.
6. Please feel free to add your ideas here!
posted by EF + at 9:35 AM
5 Comments:
I get evrything your saying, but I take all of this global warming with a grain of salt.
1. The melting of the ice caps will produce what many scientists will say an Ice Age. Well, there have been ice ages in the past, and they were not due to cars. The ice ages of past happened naturally. Maybe the global warming is just natural.
2. Just about two weeks ago it snowed like crazy in KC. And it was COLD.
3. The weather is always sporadic. How many times have you seen the weathermen not predict the weather right? It happens often. So what if the weather trends have been rising upwards? Whose to say in the next hundred years the weather trends may go down. We don't know. Mean temperatures rose steeply in the decades before 1940 and dropped from 1940 to about 1975. Most climatologists agree that these changes were of natural origin--although many try to present them as of human origin. But then they also claim that "global mean temperature is rising." Not so. The weather satellite data, the only truly global data set we have, actually show a global cooling trend during the past 19 years.
3. I have a bit of a conspiracy theory going on. If everyone is afraid abput global warming, there going to be trading in there new cars and start buying those expensive hybrids. Whoever is selling those hybrids will be getting alot of money.
All in all global warming seems to be a little sketchy. So polar bears are going extinct. So have dinosaurs,Dodo birds, tasmanian wolfs, quaggas, caspian tigers, stellers sea cows and pallas cormorants. It is nature. I have big doubts that Polar Bears are in any way related to are interaction. More, however, are by us with our hunting, and taking land. That should be a bigger emphasis than Global Warming which hasn't true been proven true. It's just a theroy. But a bigger reason to car pool, gas prices.
Also, whose to say that with alternative fuels, there won't be a problem. We don't know. I like Martin Luther King Jr. and his ideas. I used him in my last debate case. He had a quote that stated "an individual has not started living untill he can rise above the narrow confines of individualistic concerns, to the broden concerns of humanity." Eric, you think you might be more of a liberal or Democrat, rather an independent.
All great points. Ones I would expect. I am not sure what I think about global warming. I vascilate quite a bit on that topic. Some days I agree, some days it's conspiracy.
I certainly don't encourage any rash decisions to get rid of your car just to get a hybrid.
All technology does have problems, it just takes a long time to find it.
I define democrats and republicans as those who vote a certain way because "their" party endorses a candidate. Many vote, for instance, for Bush because he is the presidential candidate endorsed by the Republicans. An independant on the other hand will examine views and opinions, rights and responsibilities and make an educated choice based on their beliefs. Inevitably and Ind may have to vote a party candidate. And ineviatbly an Indepentent will have some views in line with Republicans, Democrats, or - God forbid - both. So, I view myself as an independent because my loyalty is to my convictions not a party. Yes, sometimes my opinions would be considered Democrat and liberal. But so too do some of my ideas and opinions line up more with Republican conservativism. It is just a matter of which issue.
Peace
Eric,
I agree with you on some of your reasons to car pool, use public transportation, walk/ride a bike, etc. I think the focus for us as Christians should be the communal and financial aspects. The more we are with one another, the better we are as a community. And the more money we save, the more we can give to the poor and hungry and sick.
However, I still have not see any direct connection between driving, flying, factory production and global warming. The average temperature has gone up .3 to .6 degrees Celsius over the past century. I've seen statements such as, "the burning of fossil fuels causes 75% of the increase in carbon dioxide concentration in our atmosphere." But have not seen any direct evidence to support this.
In the April 28, 1975 issue of Newsweek, scientists stated that the earth was cooling at record levels and that we were all in danger because this would cause a food shortage. The article also stated, "Climatologists are also pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects."
Fortunately nothing has changed. political leaders will still do nothing, and that might be a good thing. Considering the current warming patterns, if they had tried to heat up the earth 32 years ago Ohio might be the new Everglades.
Last week I read an article on Yahoo. A group of environmental elite jokingly said over a nice dinner they would not purchase anything new for 1 year. After the initial thought, they realized that this was something they were going to try. Obviously, they bought new deoderant, toilet paper etc. (things that couldn't be reused) but they either bought at goodwill, traded or did without. After a year, they realized a) the money they saved b) what they really could do as one person and c) how much of an impact they could have on their environment, pocketbooks and helping others. They are doing it again this year. It made me think too about what an impact I can have on those areas as well. I have joined a freecycle group on yahoo where you can ask for or offer items free to people in your area. I have seen stoves, beds, clothes, etc available and working. I have already given away a satelite dish and old cell phones to people who needed them where they were just laying around at my house.
Recycling was also an area I was never keen on until our city began requiring it. It is so easy and we realized how much stuff we were throwing away that could be reused.
I think more to the point of what Eric is asking, what as Christians can we do to not take for granted our world.
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