If the World Is Ours, It Is Ours to Tend
We have the authority and responsibility for this world. Let’s use it.
Gene R. Anderson, of Roanoke, is a retired Episcopal priest who works part-time at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Martinsville and for the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia.
When I was a young person seven decades ago, in the spring, I woke up to the sounds of many lovely bird melodies every morning. When I arrived in Roanoke 15 years ago, I heard many birds every morning. Now there aren’t as many bird sounds.
When I drove to Abingdon 15 years ago, my windshield was covered with many dead insects; I had to wash it before I returned. Now taking that same drive, I have only a few insects on my windshield.
Many say we don’t have to take care of the creation. After all, our world is here for us to use and enjoy and not worry about it, as Rush Limbaugh said years ago.
I wonder. My faith (Christian) has a creation story that has Adam naming all the animals, fishes, plants and birds, all of creation. In that story, the power of naming something gave both authority and responsibility for it.
Some say we don’t affect the environment. Ever seen anyone throw a cigarette, soda can or a piece of paper out the window of his or her car? It has no effect?
I see all sorts of stuff like that, including plastic bags, on my daily journeys. Glass and plastic never deteriorate, as far as we know. In the Pacific, there is an area the size of Rhode Island in which pieces of plastic, Styrofoam, etc. go around and around in a big circle, following the currents of the ocean. A similar circle is building in the Atlantic.
At the end of the Mississippi River is an enormous area in which nothing lives — no fish, no algae, nothing — caused by the tons of fertilizer and insecticides washing off our wonderful land into the Mississippi and down into the Gulf.
Talk to the people in the Gulf of Mexico having to deal with the completely safe oil drill done 50 miles out into the Gulf that has started a small leak. In that area, talk to the people who are fearful of making a living; talk to the people having their beaches awash with oil; talk to the people seeing more birds die, more fish die, more swimming turtles come up for air and sinking with lungs coated with oil.
I realize that many of us have already made up our minds that humans don’t change the environment. I have grandchildren and will have, I suspect, great grandchildren. I am so afraid that they will grow up into a world where they do not hear birds sing, do not hear frogs croak, do not see clean streets, do not walk and swim on oil-free beaches.
I think we need to begin to guarantee a world for our great-grandchildren with birds, frogs, bees, gorillas, clean water, clean beaches and clean air. We do affect our environment. We have the authority and responsibility for this world. Let’s use it.
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