It’s hard to comprehend the enormity of the impact of fossil fuel on our world. Fossil fuels have driven amazing advances but the demand for more and more has led from one environmental disaster to another. The science is clear that something has to change. Some Christians argue that reducing our reliance on coal and oil is like refusing a good gift offered to us by God. Perhaps fossil fuels have been a gift of God, but I believe there are Biblical caveats to its use and just maybe we’ve corrupted this gift with harmful and gluttonous over-use.
Our use of His gifts does not give us a mandate for wanton destruction of the land or other creatures. In Genesis, God calls his creation “good.” He places us in the midst of creation as his image bearers and representatives. He gives humankind “dominion” not in the sense that we can do whatever we want with what he has made, but in the same sense as he expected the kings of Israel to rule with justice.
In the Bible, God demonstrates an ongoing concern for his creatures and He expects us to care for them as Noah did. His covenant with Israel included care for the land, which would remain his alone. Coal, oil, and gas extraction, transportation and burning results in contamination of land and water resources and destruction of habitat for critically endangered species around the planet. It’s a mistake to believe this destruction is inconsequential for God.
Our use of His gifts does not give us the right to harm other people. The second great commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself – which means taking an active role in seeing to the well being of others, especially the poor and marginalized. Air pollution from extracting, refining and burning oil and coal results in as many as 4 million premature deaths every year. Coal burning releases mercury contaminating the food supply for millions more. Some argue that limiting our future extraction of coal and oil will harm impoverished nations by denying them the quality of life that we have achieved. This argument assumes that economic development around the world must follow the same fossil fuel pattern. Alternative energy is now cheaper and comes with fewer health consequences.
Poor countries can skip right to cell phones and solar panels – they don’t need to start with rotary dial party lines and coal fired power plants.
Our use of His gifts does not permit us to practice gluttony. Fossil fuels have allowed intensive agriculture to produce an abundance of food, yet 1.3 billion tons gets wasted. Gluttony goes beyond food to the overuse or waste of any good thing. Energy conservation, energy efficiency, even ride sharing equates to less fuel burned and less wasted.
Oil, though, isn’t just a fossil fuel, it’s the primary source of plastic. Plastic makes us safer, healthier, and more productive. But we are living in an era of plastic gluttony. Plastic fills our oceans, enters into our food supply, despoils beaches and natural areas, and damages ecosystems. Little is truly recycled and most of the plastic we throw away is one-time use containers, wrapping or devices – used for just a few days or even moments.
Without a plan to truly recycle the plastic we use and with ever more production, this waste and over-consumption is gluttony as much as overeating. Proverbs 25:16 is one of many Bible verses that address gluttony – “If you find honey, eat just enough – too much of it, and you will vomit.” It’s ironic that the name for a certain type of petroleum is “light sweet crude.”
Here in the North Country it can seem like this doesn’t apply to us. Much of our land is protected and do we really have these other problems? Yet we get most of our electricity from a coal fired power plant in North Dakota that emits sulfur pollution and mercury. The sulfur mixes with water to become acid rain and the mercury finds its way into our lakes, streams, and fish. As for plastic, our local solid waste programs are having to deal with the strain of plastic recycling, I have a hard time finding alternatives in our North Shore convenience stores, and researchers have discovered microplastics even in pristine Lake Superior. If we are honest we have to admit that we too need to change. Less may in fact be more.
Some folks like to suggest that creation care makes plants and animals more important than people. It doesn’t. In caring for creation we are in fact caring for people. It isn’t worshiping nature; it’s fulfilling a Biblical responsibility.
Daren Blanck is the Pastor of Zoar Church in Tofte, MN, a Lutheran Congregation in Mission for Christ (LCMC). Pastor Daren holds a BS in Environmental Science from Bemidji State, a MS in Education from UW-Superior, and recently completed his MA in Pastoral Theology from Kingswood University in New Brunswick. In addition he studied theatre in the UK and trained for ministry through the LCMC’s Beyond the River Academy. He’s also a part-time teacher in Silver Bay.
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