The Sky is Falling...Deja Vu?

I shared recently about how it feels to see old friends and colleagues falling into environmental hysteria; it's as if they imagine ours is the first generation to ever consider the planet doomed.  I was reminded of this today when I read a bumper sticker that announced something along the lines that all endeavors will fail until population is reduced.  On the back of an expensive car, it seems to say I can live and enjoy what life has to offer, but no one can come after me!

Let's take a deep breath, sip some herbal tea (preferably from London's Twinings), and review some basic facts, folks.  First, in terms of fervent religious predictions concerning the pinpointing of end times, there's no shortage.  A particularly great reminder of this fact is a page dedicated to Apocalyptic predictions.  (People have a way of forgetting about Matthew 24:36 and profoundly misunderstand the book of Revelation.  (Great resources on Revelation and the Catholic understanding of end-times and the Second Coming by the way, are Revelation: A Divine Message of Hope by Father Bruce Vawter, C.M., The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn, and my friend Carl Olson's great book entitled Will Catholics be Left Behind.)

Second, in terms of fairly recent predictions of environmental catastrophe we also have an abundant supply of death and destruction at our fingertips.  Who, for instance, can forget the misguided and inaccurate predictions of Paul Ehrlich's Population Bomb?  If you're reading this, you yourself are proof of his errors and gross overstatement.  A particularly great list of these predictions is found here on the AEI site, and Fox News also has an entertaining contribution on this topic. 

We as Christians should rightly consider ourselves stewards for the world we have been gifted, but let's remember our priorities as well as the historical context of these kinds of pronouncements.  Where do we draw the line, after all, between environmental stewardship and a sort of secular faith--full of the same kind of fervency and passion displayed in other denominations?  Here's part of how I explained this distinction in "Caring for Creation" published on Catholic 365.  (I am concluding with this large excerpt from my article.)


The more ardent supporters of the Green Movement hold a belief that the human race is something like a virus invading and damaging its host: our planet. While this view may be entertaining within a science fiction novel, it can prove dangerous in real life. For one thing, its adherents fail to recognize the obvious: they themselves are as much a part of the planet as any animal or plant. It’s also ironic, given that they tend to hold atheistic or agnostic spiritual views, that they claim to know what’s best for the world. That is, if there is no God or transcendent meaning within the universe, from what wellspring is their moral authority drawn? As a relative of mine pointed out, “if meaningless motions of particles explain my actions, then whether I create a strip-mine, or a garden, or protect a wilderness, these actions are all morally equal, and equally natural.” Their perspective also leads to a distorted view of creation and our place within it. In particular, it encourages the destruction of the unborn in favor of the environment.

We’ve all probably heard the estimated “carbon footprint” or the highly questionable monetary costs associated with raising children. Remember Paul Ehrlich’s misguided ramblings in the Population Bomb from 1968? Paul’s fans are apparently alive and well in Australia. An article appearing in a 2007 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, for instance, proposed a hefty carbon tax for the parents of newborns. There were, of course, financial incentives for those choosing contraceptive measures. For many of the Green Movement, a child seems worth less than a pile of ash.

A particularly good piece of common ground in this discussion, however, can be found in the way we choose to treat other living beings. As Deacon Keith Fournier wisely observed in his June 2010 article concerning environmentalism, which appeared in Catholic Online, there is nothing new about being “green” for Catholics. Responsible stewardship, when correctly understood, is a duty clearly conveyed to us in both the Old and New Testaments. This is especially true concerning the treatment of animals. Who can forget Balaam’s reproachful donkey in the book of Numbers, for example? As a children’s writer who employs animal characters and as a person with a love of animals, the call to treat them with kindness rings particularly strong. As Saint Francis reminds us, “If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”

If we are to become good stewards of creation, honoring creation because it is such a profound gift of our Creator, we should care about the complexities exposed within this debate. A good place to begin to enhance our understanding is the letter written by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI on New Year’s Day 2010, on the occasion of the Celebration of the World Day of Peace. Below are some of our Holy Father’s concluding observations from “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.” ...If the Church’s magisterium expresses grave misgivings about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism, it is because such notions eliminate the difference of identity and worth between the human person and other living things. In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the “dignity” of all living creatures, such notions end up abolishing the distinctiveness and superior role of human beings. They also open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man’s salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms. The Church, for her part, is concerned that the question be approached in a balanced way, with respect for the “grammar” which the Creator has inscribed in his handiwork, by giving man the role of a steward and administrator with responsibility over creation, a role which man must certainly not abuse, but also one which he may not abdicate.

As we read in 1 Corinthians 10:31, this matter really comes down to “whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” If our heart and mind are directed to Him, we will become the workers and stewards He created us to be, striving for a balance between the environmental concerns and God. If the environmental message du jour quietly replaces the words of Christ in our churches or homes, we are called to act decisively, tearing down these modern idols like Moses destroyed the gold calf raised by the Israelites in the desert. Reflecting quietly upon the beauty and majesty of nature points to a Creator who clearly cares deeply for us. We should endeavor, then, to offer thanks to Him, as we strive to be good stewards of all the life He has created.