Caring For Creation

By Daniel Koh Kah Soon

(This article originally published in Wesley Methodist Church quarterly magazine Tidings, issue 2008 the third quarter.)

An Inconvenient Truth?

The world is facing an environmental crisis. Unless we are completely out of touch with what is happening around the world, we cannot read newspapers, surf the net and watch television and not be aware of it. It is true that some people may dispute the cause and the gravity of the crisis. For example, there are those who have scorned at Al Gore’s controversial An Inconvenient Truth and some of them have seen it as alarmist. Yet in spite of that and the refusal of the United States to endorse the Kyoto Protocol which seeks to manage our vulnerable environment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an independent scientific body set up by the World Meteorological Organization and by the United Nations Environment Programme in its Fourth Assessment Report (2007) has sounded the latest wake-up call for the leaders of the world to address the growing environmental crisis or face the consequences which such a crisis may have on the well-being of our common home, the planet earth which we inhabit.

Why Should We Care?

Why should Singaporeans care about environmental issues?

For selfish reasons we may say that we should do so to protect our own national interest. Consider this headline which appeared in the September 2, 2008 Straits Times - “Sea level ‘rising faster than thought.’” The report said, and I quote, “Much of the world’s coastline may be drowned by rising seas sooner than anticipated because scientists now say they cannot rule out a fast-track melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet – a prospect once the preserve of doomsayers. This will spell trouble for Singapore and many countries in the world.”

Should that happen, geographical borders will be reconfigured by the forces of nature and the boundaries for many of the coastal cities in our world will be reduced and redrawn. The Straits Times report added, among other things, that:

Rising sea levels would spell catastrophe for 136 port and delta cities around the world.

• Up to 150 million people in the big coastal cities are likely to be at risk from the flooding by 2070s – more than three times as many as now.

• Of the ten most exposed cities, nine are in Asia.

• Singapore could see coastal erosion and flooding, destruction of mangrove swamps and submerging of coral reefs fringing the offshore islands.  

• Sea water could enter Singapore’s coastal reservoirs, such as Kranji, Sarimbun and Seletar, making the water undrinkable.

• Commercial areas around the Singapore River, parts of the west coast, parts of Changi Airport and a major part of the recreational land along East Coast Park will also be vulnerable.

The year 2070 may seem like a long way to go. Those of us in our 50s may not be around to see what the world will look like in 2070, but most of our children and theirs will. For their sakes, we don’t want our shorelines to be submerged because of rising sea levels, in as much as we don’t want to be constantly irritated by another environmental problem, the almost annual and definitely unwelcome visitation of haze, caused by runaway forest fires in Indonesia.

“This Is My Father’s World”

Nevertheless, more than merely protecting our self-interests, as Christians we ought to be able to offer better reasons than selfish ones. Putting aside self-interest, ultimately Christians should care for the environment because this world is God’s creation and it is our home, this side of eternity. This is a world owned by God as we are reminded by the David in Psalms 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.” Maltie D. Babcock has captured this theological truth very well in the hymn, “This is my Father’s World,” which he wrote in 1901, and thankfully we still continue to sing and proclaim in our worship services:

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world; I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonder wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise, the morning light the lily white, declares their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world, He shines in all that’s fair; in the rustling grass I hear Him pass; He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world; why should my heart be sad? The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad.

If indeed this is our Father’s world, as our scripture says it is, and as we have often proclaimed that to be, then it is only right for Christians to be interested in caring for the world which God has created and placed under our care. The sad fact that there is a growing environmental crisis is perhaps both a warning and an indictment that human beings have not cared enough for the world in the way God has intended us to care for it.

Factors Contributing to Environmental Crisis

What might have contributed to the environmental crisis in our world today?

John Stott, the internationally respected Christian teacher in his book, Issues Facing Christians Today, 4th Edition, suggests a combination of factors which have contributed to the less than desirable environmental state of affairs in our world today. According to him, the major contributory factors include:

1) Population Growth
It seems odd that we should talk about population growth as a problem when Singapore has registered low birth rates for a few decades. But from a global perspective, the stark problem of population explosion becomes clearer if we consider what John Stott has highlighted. This is what he says,

"It is said that in the year AD 1800 there were about 1,000,000,000 people on earth. By 1900 this had doubled to 2,000,000,000, and by 1974 it had doubled again to 4,000,000,000. It is estimated that we currently rely on the equivalent of 1.2 planets to supply our annual needs, and yet despite the decelerating growth rate, world population is still increasing such that the current 6,100,000,000 will grow to a probable 11,000,000,000 by the middle of this century according to UN figures." (pp. 136f)

He adds, “The earth cannot sustain a larger population which, owing to poverty and even starvation, is forced to use its resources with only short-term gain in mind, often making long-term destruction inevitable.” (p.137)

2) Depletion Of Natural Resources
Fossil fuel will not be available forever and they will no longer come cheap. Water suitable for human consumption will become more difficult to find and manage. Singaporeans know what it means to face scarcity of water and the challenges in ensuring a constant fresh water supply. With regard to water shortage, Stott has this warning for us:

"It has long been said that water will be even more important than oil as a threatened scarce resource in the next fifty years. Some have even predicted that violence between nation states will take place over access to water and rights to rivers which cross boundaries between countries." (pp. 138,139)

3) Deforestation And Land Degradation
More forested lands around the world have been cleared, some indiscriminately for agriculture, commercial logging and expansion of towns. Singaporeans have experienced first-hand how indiscriminate forest clearing in neighbouring Indonesia can bring about unhealthy levels of haze to our island. On the issue of deforestation, Stott observes,

"Commercial logging can also cut hundreds of square miles of trees. The causes of deforestation and its impact are very complex. As the need for products grows in a consumer-orientated world, more wood is needed to meet the demand. In other cases forest are cut down to build towns, and construction of dams causes areas of forest to be flooded. ….. The destruction of tropical rainforests also has the potential of making many millions of species of flora and fauna extinct." ( p.139)

Besides the disappearance of many species of “flora and fauna” in our part of the world, some animals like the Sumatran tigers and rhinoceros have become endangered species and may be extinct unless care is taken to ensure that they are protected and their habitats are not destroyed.

4) The Reduction Of Biodiversity
The issue of biodiversity is closely linked to deforestation and the opening of land for large commercial plantations. Worry about biodiversity “is not only that individual species become extinct, but when they do, the delicate balance of their eco-system is disturbed.” We are told that in the year 2004 alone, some 15,589 species faced extinction. (p. 141).

5) Human Greed
To the contributory factors identified by John Stott, we may add one other factor, and that is human greed and the propensity of people living in economically prosperous countries to buy and consume more than they need. Much of the destruction of the world’s environment can be traced to the human acquisitive tendency to want to have more. An acquisitive society encourages a consumeristic lifestyle that engenders wasteful living.

Ownership, Stewardship and Dominion

Perhaps we have been slow to care for God’s creation because we have confused stewardship with ownership and we have misunderstood what it means to have ‘dominion’ over God’s creation.

To be stewards of God’s creation, Christians need to keep in mind that the earth does not belong to us. We are not the owners and we have no right to destroy creation which is owned by God and entrusted to us to care for it.

It is an inadequate reading of Genesis 1:26-28, if we assume that the instruction given there is for humans to do what they like with the world. As God’s special creation, human beings have been given the responsibility to have “dominion” over God’s creation. Dominion, however, is not destruction. It is not a free licence to deplete the earth. It is, in John Stott’s term, delegated responsibility offered to us by God for us to care for the world.

One way to understand stewardship and care for God’s creation is to imagine a generous friend who owns an expensive all-purpose car granting me permission to use it for my needs, enjoyment and benefit. Though the car belongs to my friend he is kind enough to let me use it and care for it. It would be extremely irresponsible if I were to mess up the car on purpose or through negligence. In the same way, it would be irresponsible for us to mess up the environment through negligence or on purpose.

The British Methodist Church has an Environmental Policy which may help us care for God’s creation:

1. The Methodist Church affirms that Christian mission includes caring for God’s earth and will endeavour to develop both the theology and practical implications of this on a continuing basis.

2. The Biblical creation stories give human beings privilege and responsibility in relation to the earth and every living creature. We are called to be partners with the rest of creation and co-partners in the ongoing creative and renewing activity of God. Such partnerships go awry when human beings act as if the whole earth meant simply for their present benefit. God’s way, revealed in the Bible and particularly in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, is a generous sharing of the divine love to serve the needs of God’s creation until it reaches its fulfillment.

3. Christian mission includes sharing in putting right the relationships within God’s creation that have gone wrong, and growing towards the balance and good stewardship envisaged in the Biblical vision of the world as it is meant to be.

4. The Methodist people are challenged and encouraged to care for the earth by following sustainable practice and taking into account global and local environmental considerations for present and future generations

• in the conservation and use of resources in the Church and at home 

• in helping to develop more sustainable lifestyles

• in active involvement in Local Agenda 21* (a British project) and other community initiatives 

• in concerns for action on global environmental issues

God has entrusted His creation to our care and responsible use, and it is not for us to neglect, deplete or destroy.

Daniel Koh Kah Soon is Lecturer in Church and Society, Pastoral Theology and Christian Ethics at Trinity Theological College in Singapore.