God and Nature Spring 2023
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By Tony Mitchell
In April 1970, I was a junior at Northeast Missouri State College (now Truman State University). After a rather tumultuous sophomore year, I was beginning to feel things were smoothing out.
But I made a mistake. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, and I ignored it. When I began writing this piece, my memories told me that nothing had happened on our campus that day. In retrospect, I probably should have paid more attention. Thanks to Dan McGurk, one of the reference librarians at Pickler Memorial Library, I discovered that that it was in fact an announced event, there was a meeting of some 300 students that focused on the topic, and the town of Kirksville issued a proclamation in support of the day.
In April 1970, I was a junior at Northeast Missouri State College (now Truman State University). After a rather tumultuous sophomore year, I was beginning to feel things were smoothing out.
But I made a mistake. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970, and I ignored it. When I began writing this piece, my memories told me that nothing had happened on our campus that day. In retrospect, I probably should have paid more attention. Thanks to Dan McGurk, one of the reference librarians at Pickler Memorial Library, I discovered that that it was in fact an announced event, there was a meeting of some 300 students that focused on the topic, and the town of Kirksville issued a proclamation in support of the day.
Through science, we can find ways to be good stewards of this planet. |
But my mind was occupied elsewhere. My academic plan was almost back on track, I was in a relationship, and I was involved in a chemical research project. We still had the Viet Nam war to worry about (the Kent State Massacre occurred twelve days later).
Another thing I did not realize was that the movement that began that day was a continuation of what I had learned and done while in the Boy Scouts. Now, I do not consider myself an environmentalist, but, as anyone associated with Scouting will tell you, you cannot be involved in Scouting and not come away with an appreciation for the environment.
At the beginning, God charged humankind to take care of the earth and all that was in it (Genesis 1:26-28). For a long time, we held the view that the charge in Genesis meant that we could do anything we wanted. We dumped our trash in the streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, confident that there was always going to be fresh water left over. We filled the atmosphere with noxious gases, confident that the atmosphere was big enough to diffuse the pollutants.
In our greed and ignorance, in our lack of care for the welfare of this world, we may have sown the seeds of our own destruction. The writers of the Old Testament emphasized that this world was God’s creation and that we must answer to Him in the end. In Deuteronomy, God reminds us to look at what He has done for us. At the end of the Book of Job, God reminds Job (Job 38:1-18) that it was He who was responsible for the creation.
Through science, we can find ways to be good stewards of this planet. We are now aware that our continued use of fossil fuels and the emission of “greenhouse gases” such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) have an effect on the physical world and on those who live here. Climate change is not just a science problem; it is also a social and economic problem as well. In Matthew 5:21-29, Jesus speaks of the Ten Commandments and our relationship with others. Our concern for the earth must include how we care for those with whom we share this planet.
We have made great strides in reducing air and water pollution, but we still have a long way to go. There are solutions to the climate change problem. There are things that one can do, individually and collectively, to counter the effects of climate change. See: How Four Churches Flourish by Caring for Creation - Science for the Church (1) for a discussion on what individual churches have done.
The solutions offered to offset climate change may not be as optimal as one would like. It does no good to develop a solution that generates its own source of problems. For example, there is a push to develop electric cars, but the batteries require minerals that must be extracted from the earth. And the extraction of those minerals will impact those who live on the lands that will be mined.
When I was teaching introductory college chemistry courses, I would ask my students to consider the pros and cons for various alternative energy resources—see Alternative Energy Resources Reading Assignment | Thoughts From The Heart On The Left (wordpress.com) (2)
The future belongs, as it always has, to the next generation. But it is our generation that must teach them how to see the future. The recent report on the state of the climate tells us that we have time to fix the problems, but to do so requires other changes as well.
We will not find the solutions to climate change, or answers to what it is doing to this world and the people who live here, in the back of a book because that book hasn’t been written yet. We once taught people how to think analytically and creatively, and this allowed us to go to the moon and begin to see what we were doing to this world. We must return to this style of teaching.
Fifty-three years ago, I made a mistake because I wasn’t paying attention. But I recognized that I had done so and have worked to correct that mistake. Today, we have heard the voices of the modern prophets warning that we are about to make the same mistake, of ignoring the signs that we have not cared for the world that has been our task since the beginning of humankind. Unless we change what we are doing, unless we find new and innovative ways to meet the needs of society without endangering society, we will find that our vision and the vision of the next generation will be dark, and society will come to an end.
I trust that we will not make that mistake.
References
1. See How Four Churches Flourish by Caring for Creation - Science for the Church
2. Alternative Energy Resources Reading Assignment | Thoughts From The Heart On The Left
Dr. Tony Mitchell earned a doctorate in Science Education with an emphasis on chemical education from the University of Iowa in 1990. He also earned a B. S. in chemistry from Truman State University (1971) and a M. Ed. from the University of Missouri – Columbia (1975). He served as a lay speaker and lay minister in the United Methodist Church for some twenty years. He continues to look at the how science and faith intersect and interact. His thoughts on both areas can be found on his blog, “Thoughts from The Heart On The Left.”
Another thing I did not realize was that the movement that began that day was a continuation of what I had learned and done while in the Boy Scouts. Now, I do not consider myself an environmentalist, but, as anyone associated with Scouting will tell you, you cannot be involved in Scouting and not come away with an appreciation for the environment.
At the beginning, God charged humankind to take care of the earth and all that was in it (Genesis 1:26-28). For a long time, we held the view that the charge in Genesis meant that we could do anything we wanted. We dumped our trash in the streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans, confident that there was always going to be fresh water left over. We filled the atmosphere with noxious gases, confident that the atmosphere was big enough to diffuse the pollutants.
In our greed and ignorance, in our lack of care for the welfare of this world, we may have sown the seeds of our own destruction. The writers of the Old Testament emphasized that this world was God’s creation and that we must answer to Him in the end. In Deuteronomy, God reminds us to look at what He has done for us. At the end of the Book of Job, God reminds Job (Job 38:1-18) that it was He who was responsible for the creation.
Through science, we can find ways to be good stewards of this planet. We are now aware that our continued use of fossil fuels and the emission of “greenhouse gases” such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) have an effect on the physical world and on those who live here. Climate change is not just a science problem; it is also a social and economic problem as well. In Matthew 5:21-29, Jesus speaks of the Ten Commandments and our relationship with others. Our concern for the earth must include how we care for those with whom we share this planet.
We have made great strides in reducing air and water pollution, but we still have a long way to go. There are solutions to the climate change problem. There are things that one can do, individually and collectively, to counter the effects of climate change. See: How Four Churches Flourish by Caring for Creation - Science for the Church (1) for a discussion on what individual churches have done.
The solutions offered to offset climate change may not be as optimal as one would like. It does no good to develop a solution that generates its own source of problems. For example, there is a push to develop electric cars, but the batteries require minerals that must be extracted from the earth. And the extraction of those minerals will impact those who live on the lands that will be mined.
When I was teaching introductory college chemistry courses, I would ask my students to consider the pros and cons for various alternative energy resources—see Alternative Energy Resources Reading Assignment | Thoughts From The Heart On The Left (wordpress.com) (2)
The future belongs, as it always has, to the next generation. But it is our generation that must teach them how to see the future. The recent report on the state of the climate tells us that we have time to fix the problems, but to do so requires other changes as well.
We will not find the solutions to climate change, or answers to what it is doing to this world and the people who live here, in the back of a book because that book hasn’t been written yet. We once taught people how to think analytically and creatively, and this allowed us to go to the moon and begin to see what we were doing to this world. We must return to this style of teaching.
Fifty-three years ago, I made a mistake because I wasn’t paying attention. But I recognized that I had done so and have worked to correct that mistake. Today, we have heard the voices of the modern prophets warning that we are about to make the same mistake, of ignoring the signs that we have not cared for the world that has been our task since the beginning of humankind. Unless we change what we are doing, unless we find new and innovative ways to meet the needs of society without endangering society, we will find that our vision and the vision of the next generation will be dark, and society will come to an end.
I trust that we will not make that mistake.
References
1. See How Four Churches Flourish by Caring for Creation - Science for the Church
2. Alternative Energy Resources Reading Assignment | Thoughts From The Heart On The Left
Dr. Tony Mitchell earned a doctorate in Science Education with an emphasis on chemical education from the University of Iowa in 1990. He also earned a B. S. in chemistry from Truman State University (1971) and a M. Ed. from the University of Missouri – Columbia (1975). He served as a lay speaker and lay minister in the United Methodist Church for some twenty years. He continues to look at the how science and faith intersect and interact. His thoughts on both areas can be found on his blog, “Thoughts from The Heart On The Left.”