Why I Care About the Environment
a love story
People have different reasons why they care – or don’t care – about nature & our environment. Even if we want to have an eco-friendly lifestyle, our choices will never be perfect. We are imperfect beings making imperfect choices, and that applies to our relationship with the environment, too.
Yet more and more people are coming to understand that something went fundamentally wrong in our handling of nature. It’s not just a few choices and a few individuals or companies that went in the wrong direction in terms of their impact on the world. Over the past decades, or centuries even, our abuse of the environment has led to one of the most serious crises humanity has ever faced. Many don’t call it a climate crisis anymore. They call it a climate emergency.
Over the course of my short lifetime of 25 years, a lot has changed for our planet, and in many aspects sadly not for the better. While this is the reality we are facing today, I want to tell you my reasons for caring about the environment. In the end, it is our motivation that shapes our thoughts and actions most strongly! You might be able to relate to some of my motivations, while others might be new and even strange to you. But I believe it is equally important to talk about the motivation for our actions, as it is to live them out in practice.
So, let’s learn from each other! I will tell you my reasons for caring about the environment, and you tell me yours! What do you think? If you have other reasons than I, I’d love to hear them! If you think this is all nonsense, I won’t be offended if you tell me so. 😉 Let’s share our stories just as we share this common home called ‘Earth’.
Loving nature
Perhaps the best place to start is my childhood. More specifically, that house at the edge of a forest on the outskirts of my hometown Zagreb. It’s a sunny Saturday morning as I’m headed for the swing in our garden. With all my strength, I swing higher and higher, watching the sparkling dew drops in the grass. Reflecting the sun above, the droplets look like millions and millions of diamonds to me. And I feel immensely RICH as I gaze at the glittering spectacle before me. (I still feel like this when I see dew drops in the sunshine).
The most cherished memories of my childhood go back to this exuberant love for nature. The joy of tasting the first young hazelnuts in autumn. The adventures in the neighbouring hills and forests with my brothers and neighbours. The celebrations of spring promenading on blooming meadows. The knowledge about all kinds of plant and bird names passed on to me by my father. The watching of birds in our garden early in the morning.
And of course, the endless books about nature with colourful images, captivating animal descriptions and fascinating landmarks of our planet.
It was the Amazon rainforest that specifically caught my interest. My books were full of amazing pictures of these unique and threatened ecosystems. Though I could not fully grasp the real implications of the deforestation of the Amazon, I was genuinely concerned about it. And in my childish imagination, I was determined to do something to protect the rainforests and all its beautiful inhabitants.
Of course, the Amazon was far away, and so I focused mostly on the many animals and plants surrounding me. I kept them as pets (as in the case of wood louses, I must admit…) or learned their names and habits (of my beloved birds for instance). Above all, I spent hours and hours out in nature, observing and enjoying its wild beauty. This love for nature was passed on to me by parents, grandparents… a long line of ancestors for sure! My grandfather still lovingly tends his apple orchard. And walks around nature with my grandmother are one of my most cherished memories with her.
From passion to profession
You can guess that nature was my first love. And of course, you want to take care of what you love!
So, it is no wonder that I eventually turned my passion for nature into my profession. I enrolled in agricultural sciences at university, farming being the link to the needs of people, too (as I’m rather a pragmatic person).
And it was during my first years at university that my deep affection for nature turned into both my deepest despair and my deepest joy.
Despair, because I increasingly understood what terrible destruction our environment is facing.
And joy, because nature became one of my greatest teachers, delicately connecting me both with people on a deeper level (others and myself included) and with that wise and exuberant Creator of it all.
Loving Earth
We did talk about climate change & pollution at school, and I knew even more about it from my many childhood books. But it wasn’t until university that I fully grasped the extent to which we as humans have damaged our planet.
Rising greenhouse gas concentrations, rising temperatures, rising sea levels. Weather extremes becoming more frequent across the globe. Plastic in our seas and oceans that is killing and poisoning marine life and takes centuries to break down. Toxic and cancerous chemicals released into the environment from industry and agriculture alike. Dizzying figures of biodiversity loss in every corner of Earth. Between 1970 and 2016, we have seen a 60% decline in the sizes of wildlife populations worldwide. Over the last 30 years, insects have declined over 75%. Similar figures apply to bird-populations. More than 80% of global wetlands have been lost since 1700, wetlands being even more important for sequestering carbon than forests. I could go on with this list of environmental threats forever.
These figures aren’t just worrying. They are alarming, since these developments are speeding up at unprecedented rates. A global extinction is going on.
I will never forget that powerful moment at my study desk in early 2019. I was studying soil sciences for an upcoming exam, reading about pesticide residues in the soil. Specifically, I was reading the story of DDT, a toxic pesticide that had been used in farming, but then banned in many countries several decades ago. Still, its residues can be found in the soil, in breast milk, in groundwater – from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Tears were streaming down my face as I realized that there was not a single corner of this world untouched by the destructive hand of humans.
As a response to this, I wrote my trilogy ‘Healing for the land’, which is also available as a podcast.
Loving people
Soon, I came to understand that all this was more than just a concern of some climate scientists & ecologists. It causes, and will cause, real human suffering. If I am to “love my neighbour as myself”, I cannot but care about the environment!
Six examples illustrate this very well to me.
India
In 1980, there was a population of 80 million White backed Vultures in the Indian subcontinent. In the 1990ies, a drug called Diclofenac was introduced to treat cattle inflammation. Unfortunately, this drug was poisonous for the vultures feeding on their carcasses and resulted in a decline of 99,7% of the vulture population in India. That has led to a massive increase in feral rats and dogs, which has led to a huge increase in rabies throughout India, so that now, rabies kills one person every 30 minutes in India.
Tanzania
The snow-capped Kilimanjaro is located at the border of Tanzania and Kenya. In the past decades, its ice has been melting, so that the glaciers have shrunk by 85% in area since 1912. Farmers living in the valleys around Kilimanjaro depend upon the water coming down from the mountains for growing their crops. But with the glaciers disappearing, the formerly steady descent of meltwater cannot be taken for granted anymore. Food insecurity and increasing poverty are the result. The poor farmers in economically developing countries, who have least contributed to climate change, suffer most from its consequences.
South America
As an article in Nature reports, the even larger tropical ice fields of the Andes Mountains are also shrinking, which within decades will leave tens of millions of people without drinking water.
Indonesia
“Across the tropics, mangroves are found at the borderline of fresh and salt water. Their deep, intertwined root systems make them an effective shock-absorber against storms. There is a direct correlation between the worst-damaged areas from the 2004 tsunami and areas where mangroves had been removed.” (Dr. Dave Bookless, A Rocha)
Oceania
Lastly, rising sea levels are predicted to soon engulf isles, islands and entire coastlines across the globe. In Oceania and the Maldives, 280 million people will eventually not be able to live in their homes anymore. Several smaller isles in the Indian ocean have already been drowned. The relocation of villages and cities has already begun. And many more climate refugees will have to flee their hometowns due to environmental disruptions in the future.
Germany
In 2018, Europe was caught in a long-lasting heat wave. This caused the most serious drought Germany has ever faced, going on for months after the heatwave was already over. Farmers suffered, harvests were destroyed, landscapes were barren and dry. Yield losses amounted to 50, 70% less yield, in some cases 100% of the harvest of the year was lost. The economic damage of this drought was running in to billions of euros. And more frequent weather extremes are predicted to come due to climate change.
Do we realize?
Do we realize? Do we realize to which extent our damage of Earth will eventually fall back on us? On top of all, this is an immense injustice, as those who contribute least to the degradation of the environment and to climate change, are the most vulnerable to coming disruptions and catastrophes. They don’t have the means to protect themselves as well as we, in the developed countries, do. Think of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, droughts. Think of healthcare, hospitals and insurances. Think of subsistence farmers who are completely dependent upon the environment to provide for their families. Of the global poor who are spending the bulk of their income on food.
I just couldn’t look away from all these facts anymore. My attitudes, my lifestyle had to change. My choices had to reflect my love and care for people, and these choices inevitably had to do justice to the environment as much as possible.
Loving God
Where faith meets environmentalism
Then, several years ago, I came across an organization called A Rocha. A Rocha is a Christian environmental organization that runs conservation projects in over 20 countries worldwide. Wait… environmental and Christian? What’s that got to do with one another? Yes, I cared about the environment, and yes, I was Christian. But where was the connecting piece between the two? I must have had an intuitive feeling for this interconnectedness as I soaked in the majesty of creation in my early childhood. But a full understanding of this only came later…
We all believe in something. We either believe there is a supernatural reality, or we believe there is none. In my case, belief in God grew to be central to my life. It didn’t matter if the presence of God was sometimes more, sometimes less tangible – what I saw and read convinced me. What did I see and read? Well, I like to call them the two books of God: nature & the Bible. If God was the Creator* of the universe, as I believed, we could clearly see traces of Him in nature. And see I did, as I learned about the intricate details of the universe, from the miracle of the tiniest molecules and cells, over the regulating properties of entire ecosystems, to the perfect conditions making life possible on Earth.
Learning from Genesis
The Bible itself talks about God being happy and deeply satisfied with His work (Genesis 1,31). If God said that it was “good”, who am I to say anything else about nature? Or to damage and pollute His beautiful creation?
Furthermore, Genesis talks about the first task of humans being to ‘take care of the garden’. Yes, humans were also told to “master the Earth’ (Genesis 1, 28) and received unique human endowments from God. But humans are also – mere animals. They are above nature, but also part of it (“dust to dust”). Doesn’t that explain it wonderfully? It’s humbling to realize that we are no more than dust, just like every plant, every animal on Earth (Genesis 2,7). Yet humans are the only ones who can steer the fate of the environment – either towards restoration & healing, or towards degradation & destruction.
We have a responsibility; however, we are not the centre of creation!
The right perspective
Only when we put God in the centre do we see things in the right perspective. Put people first, and you get a selfish, egocentric world. Put the non-human world first, and you get a misanthropic cult that confuses creation for the Creator. Put God in the centre, and you see the world in light of God’s love for both humans and the non-human world. This love, if it infuses us wholly, makes us want to extend it to everyone and everything around us. The beauty of nature, our neighbours, and yes, even our enemies. There is no power more transformative than the power of divine Love.
So, for me, caring about the environment is an expression of love and respect for God. I want to protect and conserve the environment, not just because I, or other people, benefit from it. I want to protect endangered species even when I don’t see how they are useful to me, or other people. Nature has an intrinsic value because it is the handiwork of my God, each species bearing the fingerprint of Heaven.
As Psalm 24,1 puts it:
“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.”
The core of the problem
Even further down the line, I realized that our abuse of the environment is not only a disrespect of other creatures, humans and God Himself. At its core, it is a consequence of a much deeper problem: a spiritual problem, or sin. Instead of living in harmony with God and others, people choose to do wrong things. We have all painfully experienced the consequences of it: either because of the harmful actions of other people, or because of our own actions. And that applies to the environment, too. Often, the reason behind exploitation of nature is greed and selfishness.
We have known about the damage we have been doing to the environment for decades. For example, people have already observed a decline in bird populations over 100 years ago. Yet, not much has been done to stop it – quite the contrary! Scientists and environmentalists alike are more and more acknowledging the fact that environmental destruction is, in fact, a moral issue.
Sir Ghillean Prance, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, says:
“Science alone will not be able to resolve the situation because it is a moral, spiritual and ethical one requiring major changes in our behaviour.”
I am convinced that to tackle climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss etc., we need to address sin, the core problem of humanity – starting at myself! If we really are to bring about change, we must tackle the root of evil: putting ourselves above God. The cure must be loving God and acting justly out of love and reverence for Him. As Henry David Thoreau put it:
“For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root.”
Yet, there is hope!
So, what has God got to do with the environment? Everything, really! After all, He is the genius Author of it! And the Bible is full of references to the environment & farming (see the ‘Healing for the Land’ series for this).
If environmental destruction is a moral and spiritual problem, and if Jesus died for our sins, then He’s the one opening the door back to the harmony of Eden.
Poetically, the Bible’s new testament states that “all thing were created through Jesus and for Jesus” (Colossians 1, 16). Furthermore, “Because all the fullness of God was pleased to live in him, he reconciled all things to himself through him—whether things on earth or in the heavens. He brought peace through the blood of his cross.”
That is both my hope and my major motivation for caring for the environment. I see it as an act of worshipping God. And I am convinced that He cares for His creation more than I ever could!
Perhaps, this beautiful story best illustrates my message:
Epilogue
A good part of my life will be dedicated to writing, advocating & acting for the protection of people and the environment. You could say it is part of my fabric, my calling. And my profession is a tool for that.
But whether we are professionals or not, we all have an impact on the environment through our everyday actions and choices! These actions can and will never be perfect. But let’s think about this: what do our actions reflect about us? What motivates us? What’s the driving force behind our thoughts, words and actions?
I hope I could inspire you with my story of loving nature, people & God. Now, it’s your turn – I’d love to hear your story!
Even when there’s little reason for positivity, I’d like to tell you: We are not alone. We’re in this together, our Creator grieving and celebrating along with us. The best of this love story is yet to come!
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