Maybe it’s your thing, or maybe it isn’t, but being environmentally friendly is a hot topic at the minute. Whether it’s seeing the impact of climate change on the news or watching youtube videos on how to be “zero waste”, people are concerned about what we are doing to our planet.
I know I definitely fit into this category. Seeing people throw a coke can into the general waste bin rather than recycling stresses me out (legit). The thought of the 18 million tonnes of waste that goes to landfill in the UK each year genuinely troubles and upsets me.
But what breaks my heart further is that so many people just aren’t so bothered. Why? Because a disposable lifestyle is easy, quick and convenient.
So why should we care about being environmentally friendly? It means causing ourselves some inconvenience. So why is it worth it? Let’s have a little look at what the bible has to say about it all.
Right back at the beginning of in the book of Genesis, we see God doing some seriously amazing creating. He whips together some stars, separates light and dark and then creates the world; the sea, the land and all the creatures in it. Unsurprisingly God “saw all that he had made, and it was very good” – Genesis 1:31.
God had created a wonderful, amazing, unique and perfectly crafted world.
It’s the next part that I think is pretty cray cray. He let us humans have all the power to look after his amazing, breathtaking creation.
“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” – Genesis 1 v 26
Looking at the state of our planet today I’m not sure we have really done that great a job at ruling over the creation God graciously gave us. We are producing an insane amount of CO2 and pollution. But the good news is I think we can make a change.
I believe that if we call ourselves Christians and if we follow Jesus then we need to care about the initial calling God put on our lives: to look after His creation. We need to care about how our actions affect our world, and not just the land and the sea, but our brothers and sisters in some of the poorest nations who suffer most from the effects of climate change.
For us in England, maybe the only experience of climate change we are aware of is a bit of a hotter summer, but for others it’s a matter of life and death. In some parts of the world there are more violent storms, and in other parts of the world many families are loosing the crops they grow to survive as the land dries out with the rising temperatures and lack of rainfall.
We can ask ourselves how much we are throwing away, how much pollution we are creating and whether we recycle. This calling means changing our shopping habits and maybe even our lifestyles because God’s creation matters. And how we treat it either honours or dishonours Him.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that diving straight into being zero waste does feel pretty unachievable. So let’s break it down. The first step is being aware of our impact and how we can protect God’s creation. One small step, followed by another and another is what will make a difference.
Step one could be as simple as clicking on some of the links in this article to find out more about the impact of climate change. Or why not click right here to watch this video on how to reduce waste in your day to day life. Because that small step could be the start of making a huge difference.
