Earth day is a tricky one for me.
Personally, I do believe in science. After all, my plan is to become a biologist, which is the scientific study of living things. The earth is alive, and science would have us believe that it is suffering beyond repair. I understand that. In some points, I agree with that. Particularly regarding the current sad state of our world oceans. Humans are apt at destroying living things.
Which brings me to my next point: I also believe in a creator who is more powerful than science. He created science. He created everything. God is a god of atoms and molecules and numbers and everything on earth is made up of either atoms or molecules or numbers. Which us science-brained folk really love, because patterns are freaking awesome. I digress.
In the beginning, God charged man with stewarding over the earth. And we were careful at first. We've gotten a little sloppy since then and some species and whole people groups have suffered and some natural resources have been drained. Misguided, yes. Wrong, I tend to think so. Unforgivable damage? Unknown. The fact is that God is still in control here, and he has never once given us direction to spread hysteria or panic about the state of the earth. Nor has he ever given us a command to worship the earth. He has charged us with taking care of it. Treating it with respect. I think we could all probably work on collectively respecting the planet a little more. But it's hard for me to sit down and share "Happy Earth Day!" Posts that are littered with guilt-tripping facts about the current amount of trees in the rainforest, or how rapidly the polar ice caps are melting. Because scare-tactics don't work. We can't bully the nations into conserving more water. We should respectfully, inwardly consider that excess usages of water is a gift to us considering most other people in other countries have no water to waste, but am I going to yell condemnation on you for taking 2 showers a day? No. The only way to make a change is to commit to making one yourself, one day at a time, if you feel so inclined.
Find something you feel strongly about and continue to feel strongly about it. Pray about it, research it, find support groups and scientific educational groups regarding it that aren't radical, that aren't based on misquoted, guilt-tripping facts. Donate money if you feel inclined, but don't feel like you have to. Money doesn't solve everything. For me, my little niche in this Christian-conservationist worldview, is shark conservation. That's what I feel strongly about in regards to helping preserve on this earth. For you it might be figuring out how to recycle rainwater in the Amazon so people can drink clean water, or to stop the mass slaughtering of dolphins in Asia every year, or using chemical-free products in your own home and biking to work. Whatever you feel strongly about and feel comfortable about in your walk with the Lord, that's what you should do. That's how we're really going to make a difference.
So yes. Let's celebrate earth. Let's celebrate the great and awesome and beautiful and mysterious planet God gave us to live on.
But let's not pretend for one minute that we're big enough or important enough to save this planet. We're here to steward it. God's the only one big enough to save it. And that decision is up to him.
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