The Environment
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The Environment
Post #1How does the bible, directly or indirectly, address modern environmental concerns?
Post #2
I'll start by answering my own question, just to get things going. If you're good at seeing through things, you'll note that I started this thread with the specific intention of doing so, because it happens to be on my mind 
.
I'll start with a specific environmental problem, and extrapolate to a general problem, then use the bible to present a general root-level solution.
The Environment:
Here's a specific problem: Why are pesticides used? The immediate cost-savings outweigh the less-obvious long-term harm. [1,2,3] Because research takes many years and much cost, problems can grow for decades before solutions are created [4].
Aside from the specific example of pesticides, this trend is ubiquitous. Fossil fuels[5], asbestos[6], lead, X-rays, tobacco, and even excess sugar are known to cause harm to society (environmentally) and to individuals (i.e. cancer). And yet all of these substances were produced for many years before anything was done about it.
Research gives us hindsight, and corrects old problems[3]. But what about the innovations of today, whose ill effects will not be unveiled for decades, if not centuries? What poisons are we developing now, that look fine in small quantities, but will cause devastation when mass-produced?
We must act preemptively - to stop these problems in their infancy. We must use foresight instead of hindsight. Right action must precede understanding, rather than trailing behind it several decades.
The Biblical solution:
God, the omniscient, oversees human agriculture. In the time of Joseph, God sent 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine[7]. Plenty, not because of human effort; famine, not for lack of human industry. And even during famine, he spared a remnant - not because of their efforts or knowledge or righteousness, but because of his covenant with Abraham.
God, the just, defends the land. Possibly the most controversial chapter in the bible these days, Leviticus 18 gives the law regarding sexuality. Perplexingly, at the end of the chapter, the reason for these laws is given: nations who practice sexual immorality desecrate the land, making it unclean [8]. That doesn't make sense to us these days. How do my private habits affect the land? However, as shown above, human understanding is historically insufficient at diagnosing environmental diseases. The link between cause and effect is never obvious when it comes to harming the land. The Levitical law is no exception. But, unlike modern research, it benefits from an omniscient source.
God, the gracious, provides for our needs, and those of the plants and animals as well [9]. Thus, our survival depends not on our industry, not on our strength, not on our knowledge, but on the grace of God. It is not survival of the fittest, where the strong humans will defeat those competing for our food supply - the insects. Our survival does not depend on our ability to control and subdue nature. Instead, our survival depends on God alone - not on the bread of farms, but on the bread of heaven [10,11,12]
[1] Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/croppesticideuse.html
"The use of synthetic pesticides in agriculture is the most widespread method for pest control. "...Farmers spend approximately $4.1 billion on pesticides annually. They justify this high cost by a direct dollar return of from $3 to $5 for every $1 spent on pesticides." (1991 edition of the Handbook of Pest Management in Agriculture.)"
[2] Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/88 ... ent-spring
“It is... an era dominated by industry, in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged.�
[3] Ibid.
“We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effects and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard. Even research men suffer from the handicap of inadequate methods of detecting the beginnings of injury. The lack of sufficiently delicate methods to detect injury before symptoms appear is one of the great unsolved problems in medicine.�
[4] Environmental Protection Agency
http://www2.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pe ... and-status
"DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s.... In 1972, EPA issued a cancellation order for DDT based on its adverse environmental effects, such as those to wildlife, as well as its potential human health risks."
[5] US Department of Energy
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/education/ ... index.html
[6] The Mesothelioma Center
http://www.asbestos.com/asbestos/history/
"Despite earlier uses of asbestos products, they were mostly novelties. Asbestos manufacturing was not a flourishing industry. It wasn't until the late 1800s, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, that asbestos mining sustained strong and steady growth. That's when the practical and commercial uses of asbestos, with its myriad applications, became widespread. As the mining and manufacturing of asbestos exploded, so did its poisonous health effects on those who mined and refined the mineral, as well as those who used it....
"Asbestos is still not banned in the United States. A 1989 ruling issued by the Environmental Protection Agency banning most asbestos-containing products was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in 1991 under pressure from the asbestos industry."
[7] Genesis 45:4-11
[8] Leviticus 18:24-28
[9] Matthew 6:25-34
[10] Nehemiah 9:15
[11] John 6:51
[12] Deuteronomy 8:3
.I'll start with a specific environmental problem, and extrapolate to a general problem, then use the bible to present a general root-level solution.
The Environment:
Here's a specific problem: Why are pesticides used? The immediate cost-savings outweigh the less-obvious long-term harm. [1,2,3] Because research takes many years and much cost, problems can grow for decades before solutions are created [4].
Aside from the specific example of pesticides, this trend is ubiquitous. Fossil fuels[5], asbestos[6], lead, X-rays, tobacco, and even excess sugar are known to cause harm to society (environmentally) and to individuals (i.e. cancer). And yet all of these substances were produced for many years before anything was done about it.
Research gives us hindsight, and corrects old problems[3]. But what about the innovations of today, whose ill effects will not be unveiled for decades, if not centuries? What poisons are we developing now, that look fine in small quantities, but will cause devastation when mass-produced?
We must act preemptively - to stop these problems in their infancy. We must use foresight instead of hindsight. Right action must precede understanding, rather than trailing behind it several decades.
The Biblical solution:
God, the omniscient, oversees human agriculture. In the time of Joseph, God sent 7 years of plenty, followed by 7 years of famine[7]. Plenty, not because of human effort; famine, not for lack of human industry. And even during famine, he spared a remnant - not because of their efforts or knowledge or righteousness, but because of his covenant with Abraham.
God, the just, defends the land. Possibly the most controversial chapter in the bible these days, Leviticus 18 gives the law regarding sexuality. Perplexingly, at the end of the chapter, the reason for these laws is given: nations who practice sexual immorality desecrate the land, making it unclean [8]. That doesn't make sense to us these days. How do my private habits affect the land? However, as shown above, human understanding is historically insufficient at diagnosing environmental diseases. The link between cause and effect is never obvious when it comes to harming the land. The Levitical law is no exception. But, unlike modern research, it benefits from an omniscient source.
God, the gracious, provides for our needs, and those of the plants and animals as well [9]. Thus, our survival depends not on our industry, not on our strength, not on our knowledge, but on the grace of God. It is not survival of the fittest, where the strong humans will defeat those competing for our food supply - the insects. Our survival does not depend on our ability to control and subdue nature. Instead, our survival depends on God alone - not on the bread of farms, but on the bread of heaven [10,11,12]
[1] Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov/oecaagct/ag101/croppesticideuse.html
"The use of synthetic pesticides in agriculture is the most widespread method for pest control. "...Farmers spend approximately $4.1 billion on pesticides annually. They justify this high cost by a direct dollar return of from $3 to $5 for every $1 spent on pesticides." (1991 edition of the Handbook of Pest Management in Agriculture.)"
[2] Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/88 ... ent-spring
“It is... an era dominated by industry, in which the right to make a dollar at whatever cost is seldom challenged.�
[3] Ibid.
“We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effects and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard. Even research men suffer from the handicap of inadequate methods of detecting the beginnings of injury. The lack of sufficiently delicate methods to detect injury before symptoms appear is one of the great unsolved problems in medicine.�
[4] Environmental Protection Agency
http://www2.epa.gov/ingredients-used-pe ... and-status
"DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s.... In 1972, EPA issued a cancellation order for DDT based on its adverse environmental effects, such as those to wildlife, as well as its potential human health risks."
[5] US Department of Energy
http://www.fossil.energy.gov/education/ ... index.html
[6] The Mesothelioma Center
http://www.asbestos.com/asbestos/history/
"Despite earlier uses of asbestos products, they were mostly novelties. Asbestos manufacturing was not a flourishing industry. It wasn't until the late 1800s, at the start of the Industrial Revolution, that asbestos mining sustained strong and steady growth. That's when the practical and commercial uses of asbestos, with its myriad applications, became widespread. As the mining and manufacturing of asbestos exploded, so did its poisonous health effects on those who mined and refined the mineral, as well as those who used it....
"Asbestos is still not banned in the United States. A 1989 ruling issued by the Environmental Protection Agency banning most asbestos-containing products was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans in 1991 under pressure from the asbestos industry."
[7] Genesis 45:4-11
[8] Leviticus 18:24-28
[9] Matthew 6:25-34
[10] Nehemiah 9:15
[11] John 6:51
[12] Deuteronomy 8:3
