Nature

I love nature.

I guess I could leave the whole blog with just that, but maybe I should elaborate. After all, anyone who is reading and commenting on this I am probably paying off, and those of you not getting a weekly check are missing out.

I love nature. I love being in it, I love experiencing it and sharing it with my kids. It's wonderful. I suspect I got this from my parents. We would go on hikes in Schenck Forest when I grew up in North Carolina and my Dad would take my brother and me on "Journey's of Discovery" where we would hike down rivers, bike in the rain and explore the many forests in NC. We learned about bugs and trees and more bugs and other animals and we learned to appreciate what nature has to offer. We learned the importance of preserving it. We learned that our awareness of God grows and is determined through our interactions with nature.


We need nature.

Through this appreciation of nature I have become very strong in my opinions in regards to global warming. I feel, and have learned through careful reading and studying that it is our moral obligation to treat this planet with respect and to do all we can to make sure our stewardship over this planet is taken seriously. It is discouraging to me that there is little I can personally do. But I still feel morally obligated to do what I can. I now bike to work and school, my wife and I have started a garden to become more self sufficient, and there are other things. It's little, but honestly it makes me feel better.

The morality of global warming has become and important issue . . . or rather, should be an important issue. However, still there are so many who simply refuse to "believe" in it, or decide that they do not care. They disregard the fact that through the scriptures our stewardship over the Earth is apparent and emphasized. In fact, "much of what can be done to fight climate change is consistent with traditional Christian values of good stewardship and modest living" (Hadley, Faith and Ethics of Climate Change, Dialogue 2011).

There is uncertainty, there will need to be some level of faith involved. Although the science is accurate and nearly unanimous, there is still faith needed. And this is exactly why it is an issue of morality, because there is that uncertainty, but with that comes our obligation to do what is ethically right to prevent something that could (and will) happen.  It is important that we understand that we can make changes and we should do all we can in order to make the world a better place for our children and their children

"The complexity of the problem requires that the solutions we offer must meet the depth and range of the problems; they must be global, they must reach into the very marrow of how we define ourselves as human beings, into what we believe to be our place on this planet, and what, ultimately is the meaning and nature of death, of dying, and of our biology. This is certainly too much to ask of capitalism, politics, science, and technology, but it certainly shouldn't be too much to ask of religion" (Hadley).