Aldo Leopold once said "To have an ecological education is to walk alone in a world of wounds".
As an Environmental Studies student this statement rings true. For the past two years I have been walking often in excitement, and increasingly with a sense of heaviness, learning about the world that we live in.
What I have learned and come to believe is this:
We as humans are spiritual creatures and we live in a world created by God.
There is increasing destruction, pain and brokenness in God's creation, at the hands of one creature: us.
We as humans have failed to understand the natural world as God's rather than our own and we have often failed to understand this destruction as the product of spiritual misunderstandings as well as physical actions. (This idea is not my own, it is a common theme in the expanding Religion and Ecology Movement).
Thankfully, through an awesome program at Seattle University I have also learned that faith communities around the world are taking this tragedy seriously. They are discussing it, acting on it and learning about how it impacts and is impacted by their faith traditions.
This blog is a part of that discussion. It will look specifically at what motivates people of faith to become active in living lives of stewardship toward creation, and what prevents them from doing so. Thus, this blog is a space for discussion and reflection on empowerment and disempowerment in regard to environmental-faith activism.
Please read on if this interests you and respond when you feel led to. I welcome all comments, suggestions and conversation.
Peace and Blessings
Mikaila
3 comments:
Powerful words, Mikaila. I'm looking forward to reading more of your thoughts and sharing my own.
I had never considered how my faith should play into my attitude towards the environment until I met Mikaila. Though I believe in God, and that he created all things for the benefit of His children, think about those who are offending the environment are offending God, in a way. I strongly believe that God judges people based on the knowledge that they have, the circumstances they live in ect. For instance, coming from the Latter-day Saint tradition, I believe that people who died before Christ came to the earth, or have never heard of Jesus Christ are not in hell because they did not follow him. They did not know about him, so could not follow him (as an aside, those who have died without the Gospel will have another chance to learn about it, but that is a different discussion for a different blog :) My point is here that people cannot be held accountable for what they do not know or understand. So, it is our job, as environmentally aware people, to help those around us become more environmentally aware. That said, I'm not sure how God sees "environmental sin" or actions that ruin his creation. He created this Earth and gave us all the opportunity to leave his presence and come here knowing that because we were out of His presence, we would sin. As a part of that, he must have known that we were going to destroy the beautiful Earth that He created for us, His children. At this point, I'm not sure to make of what all I have written. I know many Christians who use the Earth's resources poorly, including myself. I'm not sure what to make of it right now, but hopefully I will stumble upon some bits of understanding as I blog. Thanks for this opportunity, Mikaila.
For me the link between environmentalism and faith comes from the Christian call to fellowship. We are called to take care of what God has given us. Be that a building to worship in, a youth group to lead, or a world to protect. I look forward to exploring this more through your blog Mikaila!
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