I was filled with awe and wonder.
Last winter I took a Red Cross First Aid course, where we studied the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and what to do if they stop working. If the victim cannot breathe, or the heart is not beating, the person will die.
I was left in awe and wonder at the perfection of the human body and a fascination with the idea of systems. This led to my becoming aware of and studying other systems.
There’s the solar system, for example. Scientists tell us that if our planet were a few million miles closer to the sun, we would bake. If a few million miles further, we would freeze. Either way, no life could be sustained. This is cause for awe and wonder.
I studied the soil system which sustains all of life. It is made up of countless microorganisms, insects, soil particles, and organic matter, all working together in relationship with each other to provide the nutrients for all growing things.
But this system is not self-sufficient. It needs oxygen from the air, rain from the sky, and heat from the sun. This most basic system of our planet is in relationship to and interdependent with all the other systems. As I studied it, I was filled with awe and wonder.
Now let us consider still another system — the Mystical Body of Christ. This system connects us with all the saints who have gone before us, even with God himself. We have contact and communication with the saints who intercede for us, enlighten us, inspire and motivate us.
In the Creed, we call this the communion of saints. This is still another big cause for awe and wonder.
So what can we conclude when we look at these systems? We can conclude that God has ordained that nothing in creation stands alone. Everything is in relationship and is interdependent. Everything!
Now let’s look at the smaller picture. Over a year ago, CBC Radio had an eight-part series called From Naked Apes to Super Species, which followed the impact of man on the natural world.
It is only in this century, with the development of technology and science, that we have made such an impact on the natural world that the very systems which sustain life on the planet are threatened.
We have all heard the stories of what is happening. With the burning of fossil fuels, greenhouse gases are destroying the ozone layer. UV radiation is causing cancer and because of deforestation, weather patterns are changing.
There are more and worse hurricanes, tornados, floods, droughts, and ice storms. The earth is becoming warmer, and scientists say that the melting of the polar ice cap would cause the flooding of coastal waters around the world. Moreover, we are pouring toxic materials into the waters of the world, poisoning them.
I could add many other examples of what we are doing to destroy our earth, but I don’t need to. You know them already.
Some environmentalists say that the Judeo-Christian ethic is responsible for this crisis, because in Genesis it says that God gave man dominion over all created things. Therefore, they are saying that man thought of himself as above and separate from the natural world around him.
But the response of Christian theologians is that the word dominion means stewardship. The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Gn 2:15).
Little people cannot do great things, but we can do little things. Surely, we can read, keep informed, and pray about the problems.
So what should the Christian response to the environment be? First of all, let us look closely at the natural world with awe and wonder. If we do, its value will grow in our eyes. We take care of the things we value.
Then let us listen to what the saints have told us. Saint Elizabeth Seton, foundress of the Sisters of Charity, said, “Live simply so that others may simply live.”
Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker, said, “The second coat hanging in your closet belongs to the one who has none.”
To look with awe and wonder, to live simply, to give away what we don’t need — that, I think, is the Christian response that the saints teach us.
One major contributing factor to environmental problems is over-consumption by the people of the modern industrialized nations. Twenty per cent of the world consumes eighty per cent of its resources.
So we can stop filling our houses with things we don’t need. And we can make more environmentally-aware decisions about the things we do buy. We can buy from companies and organizations that are good stewards of the earth and work towards better distribution of its resources.
Another thing that we can do is buy locally and eat in season. For example, why do we Canadians and Americans in the northern states need to eat fresh tomatoes in January, tomatoes that come from South America and California?
Great amounts of fuel and other resources are needed to bring these products to us. If we eat locally in winter, we can still make wonderful salads from cabbage and grated carrots and turnips.
We can go a step further and do our gardening organically and, in this way, keep chemicals and pesticides out of our gardens.
And we can buy organic foods. (It’s true that such food is more expensive, but it’s much healthier and, in the long run, we will most likely save money on medicine and doctor bills.)
There are countless things we can do, some as little as remembering to turn off lights we aren’t using. We just need to stop and think about what we do and how we live. There is nothing that just happens and that’s the end of it.
Every action we take, even the smallest, has some consequence somewhere.
Mary Davis passed away on March 20, 2024. Mary wrote this article for Restoration in 2002.
