Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Environmental Responsibility

So, if you're a Christian, is it one of your responsibilities to be a steward of the environment? Newsweek profiles Allen Johnson, who says it is.
What should a Christian's behavior towards the environment be? Should they use 'green' technology whenever possible? Is it right to drive a car with low gas mileage?
In another bookI'm reading, there is a call to live a simple life--using as few resources as possible.
Is this the right answer?

8 comments:

Oneway the Herald said...

no

pepperdeaf said...

some days i envy the amish and am a little ashamed to live in such an urban area. . . is that an answer?

i strongly believe that we are to be good stewards of all of God's creation.

Westy said...

But isn't it more environmentally responsible to concentrate development and leave as many open spaces as possible?
Assuming you clean your waste.

pepperdeaf said...

>>but isn't it more environmentally responsible<<

not sure if that question was for me, but i am with you. being a good steward of the environment often means leaving it alone or at least using it in a way that will cause the environment no irreperable harm.

>>concentrate development<<

as an amishman i am not a big fan of development, but if we must have it, build higher and not wider. dekalb and kankakee should not be suburbs in 10 years.

Stephen said...

Build up, not out. Agreed. But, is that what Westy is really getting at. For instance, some might say that we have more green space and forests right now than we did 50 years ago because of acts put in place to preserve wildlife and parks. But, is this really experienced, or do or contexts just make us feel like we're constantly destroying.
Personally, i think recycling is a joke and landfills are deep. But at the same time, i don't like generating all this trash. I would consider that a core part of environmental stewardship.

Westy said...

To reply to you Pepperdeaf and Stephen, I would agree, I mean up not out. I am very opposed to the type of sprawl I'm sure you saw in Dekalb and B-N. I think there should be maximum lot sizes rather than minimums. There should also be transit oriented development rather than car. There are some examples in the Chicago area, but not enough.
And finally, in regards to waste, we need to do a better job of getting rid of it. That might mean spending some money to produce incineration systems with no harmful byproducts.

Anonymous said...

Was oneway answering "no" to all of those questions? That's sad

Oneway the Herald said...

hey anon, thanks for the worst comment ever.