Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/84

Contributor - Audrey VanderSchans

Title - Give to the Earth Your Constant Care

Topic - Environment

What do you do with your garbage? Do you bring your newspapers and glass jars to the nearest recycling pick-up centre? Do you drop your cigarette ends and candy wrappers on the street or out of your car window? Do you teach your children to be neat and tidy outside as well as inside? Do you sit idly by while the government allows big industries to clear-cut your forests or strip-mine your hillsides? In other words, are you being a responsible Christian steward Of all the gifts God gave you? Too often we let our stewardship of this earth take aback seat to other, more pressing, concerns. Yet how can we ignore the fact that we were given dominion over the land, sea and air, and the animals as well? When our Lord asks, "How have you taken care of My creation?", what will our answer be?

"And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good " Gen 1:31

How often do we stop to look at the beauty all around us, and praise God for it? Think of the variety and beauty in Canada alone. On the East Coast we have the idyllic beauty of the Maritimes and the power of the Atlantic Ocean. The west into Quebec, where those beautiful forests in the Laurentians astound us. Ontario holds a world wonder - the Great Lakes. Nowhere else is there anything quite like them! Northern Ontario and Manitoba share the beautiful scenery of thousands of little and big lakes; and who can forget the astonishing grandeur of the prairies with that big sky continually changing. The imposing magnificence of the Rocky Mountains strikes you when you enter Alberta, and British Columbia is possessed of a varied wilderness near desert, grassland and forest as well as the marvelous coast with its whales and sea lions. Over it all the vast celestial canopy, itself a wonder to contemplate! All of this is just in Canada; now bend your thoughts to the rest of the world ... What a marvel!

"And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land and made mine heritage an abomination. " Jer. 2: 7

"With a total population now estimated at 3 billion plus, the global pile of excrement (all types) increases at the rate of 1.5 million tons per day."' When we look at the statistics, the numbers are overwhelming. When we look at the effects on our land, air and water we must - and rightly so - be appalled. We have, both as individuals and as nations, created a mounting horror. As nations dependent on industry we have rushed into the technological era without stopping to consider the side effects; side effects so blatantly obvious as a great lake so polluted that even the fish avoid it or die. Towns where the surrounding mountains are made of mine tailings, not earth and rock- Lakes whose clarity is not from nature but from acid rain. Forests whose acres have been denuded but not replenished. Skylines overcast by a brownish pall. Animal species obliterated by the indiscriminate use of sprays and traps. All these and many more. But we cannot lay all the blame at industry's feet. We as individuals are equally responsible: ". . . extravagant 'throwaway' items in the U.S. each year include 48 billion metal cans, 26 billion bottles, 65 billion metal bottle caps and 7 million junked cars." We in Canada are not much better. Not only do we throw away all these items, we also abuse our air with them: cars are still the principal contributors to city smog, and smokers also add their share.

Our carelessness does not only affect the world we live in; it affects the people who live in it. Our recreation is seriously curtailed when there are no lakes to swim in or fish in, and no wild animals to catch a glimpse of and marvel at Our drinking water has to be treated, and in some instances, such as the Love Canal incident families have been uprooted because of pollution. Day to day noise pollution affects us all - do you know what silence sounds like? Or do you only relax when there is noise in the background? Evidence points to loss of efficiency and irreversible deterioration of the auditory apparatus as results of the constant noise we subject ourselves to. Our health is also impaired by air pollution. Those who smoke carry their own air pollution around them - cigarette smoke contains all well known air pollutants. In closed buildings with their own ventilation systems ". . . the smokers' action ... goes beyond the question of individual choice and may have significant population repercussions.

How then shall we rectify our mistakes and clean up our world? The answers are clear enough. We must train ourselves and our children to be responsible for our surroundings. We can be aware of our communities' recycling programs and participate in them, or start new ones where there are none. We must let industry know that we object to practices which pollute or destroy our world. We must move away from the " throw- away" mentality to a "recycle" mentality. We can become personally responsible in our work places to control other types of pollution. As Christians we are responsible for the earth; and its contents, so take the words of the following hymn and place them where they will be a constant reminder.

Give to the earth your constant care.,To bird and plant and tree

The mark of excellence is there,

God made it all, not we

Be good to all that lives and grows,

It has a special claim:

The Lord has blessed it, and He knows

Each living thing by name

Give to this earth your constant care,

Don't plunder or pollute

the Lord commands us to prepare

The earth to yield its fruit

Be good to all that lives and grows;

It is God's work of art.

All careless killers are His foes,

They trample on His heart.

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.