Dear
JCTR Bulletin Readers:
Debates surrounding global environmental problems challenge us to recognise the interdependence between the environment and ourselves. Greater recognition of our interdependence can perhaps compel us to effectively and responsibly participate in caring for our environment at every level.
The forces of our economic and political life have tended to be about exploiting the earth in a way that is not sustainable from both a biblical and an ecological point of view. There is therefore a need for much more understanding of ourselves in relation to our interaction with the environment.
Why this urgent call to participate responsibly in caring for our environment? From a biblical point of view, when we care for the environment, we too are taken care of and when we misuse it, we and the whole of creation suffer. In other words, when we care for the environment, we are ultimately giving all of us and the whole of creation an opportunity to survive and also giving generations to come something worthwhile for their survival.
Recently the United Nations has warned that an estimated 60 percent of the atmosphere, fisheries and fresh water, the ecosystems on which life on earth depends, are being degraded and depleted at a very fast rate. If this continues at such a rate, these ecosystems will be gone by 2050. There are also appalling statistics with regard to the state of species of animals, birds and plant life. Half of all the known species is expected to be gone in this century alone. Thirty species are estimated to be lost at global level everyday. This means that each year at least ten thousand species are lost.
Complete Letter... |
