Proactive, Prudent, and Grateful:

A Christian’s Responsibility to the Environment

In today’s society there is so much pressure to be environmentally conscious and aware.

There is even more pressure to be an active participant in the conservation and preservation of

our planet. When I was stationed at Fort Huachuca in Southern Arizona, I was responsible for

developing realistic combat training for soldiers that included using paintball guns. When

choosing a training area I was required to consult a map of the area that was created by the

environmental conservation office on base. The map consisted of areas that were marked in red

identifying training areas that were populated by some random endangered bird. The areas

marked in red doomed me from using paintball guns in those areas. Every time I was preparing

to conduct training and had to go through the painstaking task of picking out a training area, I

always thought that the preservation of some unknown, insignificant bird against the training of

American soldiers, the custodians of peace, to be a little unbalanced, in the bird’s favor. The

preservation of our environment and precious resources is important, but not at the expense the

human race. God proclaims that we must “Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky,

and all the animals that scurry along the ground” (New Living Translation Bible, Gen. 1:28).

Then since we have dominion over this earth are we at liberty to use up its resources without

consequence? As a result of Adam’s disobedience to God and his lack of responsibility in the

Garden of Eden, God cursed the earth (Gen. 3:17). There are definitely polar extremes for the

preservation of the environment, those that believe that the human race should be exterminated

for the good of mother earth and those that believe we should use up all its resources because it

is all going to burn anyway. In a day when people are forced to take sides for the environment,

Christians must stay in line with the Word of God and not forget what our ultimate mission is; to

bring the lost to Christ! Therefore, as Christians, in regards to the conservation and preservation

of the environment we must be “proactive, prudent, and grateful” (Robaina 55).

 Being proactive means “measures taken today will lessen the potentially devastating

effects” on the environment in the future (Robaina 54). In response to “one of the worst air

pollution problems in the world in Delhi,” the government of India “succeeded in reducing the

level of carbon dioxide by banning all diesel vehicles…in the city” (Nicholls 120). India’s

actions in solving their pollution problem might be a little on the extreme side, however, India’s

example shows that being proactive works. Consider the issue of deforestation, “Deforestation is

clearing Earth's forests on a massive scale, often resulting in damage to the quality of the land.

Forests still cover about 30 percent of the world’s land area, but swaths the size of Panama are

lost each and every year” (“Deforestation: Modern-Day Plague”). On a basic level, forests

provide oxygen for our atmosphere, habitats for many species, and help prevent ground erosion

from rain fall. Deforestation, on the other hand, reduces the oxygen put into the air, leaves many

species homeless, and causes habitable land to wash into the oceans. If 30 families recycle the

daily newspaper everyday for a year, then they are “saving about 15 trees per year, which is

enough habitat for two colonies of Acorn Woodpeckers, or half a dozen nests of Brown

Creepers” (Marcot). Of the more than 60 million married couples in America, if only 1.6% of

them recycled their daily newspaper for one year that would save more than 2 square miles of

forests per year (Edwards, par. 5). Those 2 square miles could be the setting of your daughter’s

first wedding, or the first camping trip you take with your family.

Being prudent means “Hasty actions without thorough study... might cause bigger

problems than we currently have” (Rabaina 54). What does this mean? Completely off the

subject, but which displays my point perfectly is the current economical slump we find our

country in at this very moment. We find our economy in the state it is in right now due to the

hasty decision of banks and lenders loaning money to borrowers that should not have been

borrowing money in the first place. If the banking industry, and more over the government, who

lifted restrictions in the first place, would have done some study, they might have foreseen this

type of crisis occurring. Let’s bring it back to the current topic of the environment; many people
feel we should eliminate the use of gasoline in automobiles. What would this do to the world

economy if all of a sudden the United States alone cut its oil consumption to a third of what it is

right now? The price of oil would skyrocket, causing other petroleum based products to rise

dramatically in price. Vaseline petroleum jelly would go from $4.49 a tub to over $15.00 a tub.

Now the cost of raising your baby just went up.

Being grateful means being a good steward of what God has entrusted us with. Many

Christians are familiar with the passage in Luke that states, “When someone has been given

much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even

more will be required” (Luke 12:47). God has entrusted us with this planet and its inhabitants,

how much more do you think God expects from us in return? The least we can do is turn off the

lights, recycle the newspaper, and reuse the old bed sheets. God may not expect each individual

person to go out and purchase a high dollar, eco-friendly vehicle or build their next home out of

foam packing peanuts, but we can all actively play a part in being good stewards of this planet. I

will leave with a story, when I was a young boy growing up in Northern Arizona, my parents

would take my two sisters and I on a walk around all the new construction sites throughout our

growing neighborhood. During our adventures, from the perspective of a 6 year old boy, we

would walk through skeletons of houses, imagining what the house might look like when they

were finished and what families would live in them. We talked about what we would do as a

family if we lived in the different houses that we toured. While we walked from framed house to

framed house, we carried a big black plastic trash bag with us and during our conversations we

would pick up crushed and discarded aluminum cans. As I look back on our mini-adventures,

they served several purposes. First, we grew closer as a family. Second, we got some exercise.

And third, we played a small part to conserve and preserve our planet.
 Works Cited

“Deforestation: Modern Day Plague.” National Geographic Society. 12 April 2009

<http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-

overview.html>.

Edwards, Tom “As Baby Boomers Age, Fewer Families Have Children Under 18 at Home.”

U.S. Census Bureau News. 25 February 2009. 12 April 2009

<http://www.census.gov/Press-

Release/www/releases/archives/families_households/013378.html>.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 2004. <http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/index.php?

action=getVersionInfo&vid=51&lan g=2>.

Marcot, Bruce. “How Many Recycled Newspapers Does It Take to Save A Tree?” 12 April 2009

< http://www.spiritone.com/~brucem/savetree.htm>.

Nicholls, Bruce. "Our Christian response to the global environment crisis." Evangelical Review

of Theology Apr 2004 (01 Apr. 2004). Christian Periodical Index. EBSCO. 12 Apr. 2009

<http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=33h&

AN=33h-AFE93852-F3A8581A&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.

Robaina, Holly Vicente. "It's not easy being green." Todays Christian Woman Apr 2008 (01 Apr.

2008). Christian Periodical Index. EBSCO. 12 Apr. 2009

<http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=33h&

AN=33h-736D2F7F-F30A65EF&site=ehost-live&scope=site>.

Thesis Statement: In a day when people are forced to take sides for the environment, Christians
must stay in line with the Word of God and not forget what our ultimate mission is; to bring the
lost to Christ! Therefore, as Christians, in regards to the conservation and preservation of the
environment we must be “proactive, prudent, and grateful.”
I. Introduction
 A. Personal experience with environmental conservation
B. Man’s dominion over the earth.
C. The result of sin.
II. Being Proactive.
A. Example of India’s pollution problem
B. Effects of deforestation
C. Benefits of recycling
III. Being Prudent
A. Effects of Housing Boom
B. Supposition of excess oil
IV. Being Grateful
V. Conclusion with personal story