The Environmnet.
SOLUSI UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
TOPIC:
THE STEWARDSHIP OF THE ENVIRONMENT (TERRAIN).
A PROJECT PAPER PREPARED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE COURSE
RELT 252 STEWARDSHIP AND SELF-RELIENCE.
WRITTEN BY
LAMULANI B NGWENYA ID# 2 0 1 2 1 2 0 1 0 2
INSTRUCTOR Ps F Mhlophe
DECEMBER BLOCK 2015
The environment is the place were people live in. It is our mandate
therefore as inhabitants of this planet to ensure that the earth is
kept clean and in an order that can sustain life. The planet is our
source of life. God placed man in this planet so that he can care for
it. The first inhabitants where commanded to till the land and to
have dominion over every living creature. Due to mans' sin the
environment has experienced a lot of degradation. From the first leaf
that fell in the days of Adam to the glaciers that are supposedly
melting in the Arctic, the violent winds in Asia and the drought in
South Sudan, the earth is waxing old like a garment. It therefore
becomes the duty of the steward to recognize that there is a problem
and fix it. Where ever possible.
The Bible states that the “...earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that
dwell therein shall die in like manner...”(Isa 51:6). The earth's
resources, we are told that they are dwingling and that the few that
we are told to believe are not enough that we can share. The main
cause it is stated that it is the fact that the industrial sites are
creating toxic waste that is incresing the amount of toxins in the
atmosphere. A phrase has been coined to deal with the increase in the
amount of Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is global warming1.
What is global warming? It is the effect that caused by the accumulating carbon
based gases, which retain heat from the sun, cause the earth to heat
up. This heating up of the earth increases the temperatures, this
therefore leads to a change in climatic temperature. The changes may
also lead to unstable weather conditions with some places receiving
more weather elements while others are receiving very little.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration reports that “...global
climate change has already had observable effects on the environment.
Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier,
plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering
sooner”2.
Gillis (2015) reports in his articles in the New York times that “...
Global warming and climate change are terms for the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system and its related effects”3.
The earth is reported by the leading men in the field of science to be changing.
It is degrading and it is not improving at all. There is a need for
the inhabitants of the earth to be faithful stewards of the planet.
The care of the planet is not a work of the majority billionaires in
the world. It is the task that we must all do. The Stanford solar
center also states that “...global warming a gradual increase in
planet-wide temperatures is now well documented and accepted by
scientists as fact”4.
These effects are based on the same people who do research and they
are the ones that also tell us that the planet is going through
changes. The greenhouse effect
is the process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms
the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be in the
absence of its atmosphere5.
The measure of pollution is called the carbon foot print. It is the measure of
“...the total sets of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an
organization, event, product or individual”6.
Carbon gas emissions are related to the extent to which machinery
release carbon-based chemicals into the atmosphere. The emissions
result in an increase of CO2 in the air. Crops are
supposed to take up the CO2 but it is too much for them
to handle. Hence the excess CO2 causes the greenhouse
effect.
Pollution is the application of environmentally unfriendly substances
into the natural ecosystem. These substances can be classified into
two categories, that is chemical and energy7.
Energy includes heat, sound and light. During the night the city
streets make it very hard to see the stars because of the lights.
This is an example of energy pollution. However the one that is more
dangerous to the planet is the chemical substance pollution.
The earth can be polluted by dangerous chemical substances. Air pollution is defined as “...the
release of chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere..8.”
Chemical pollutants like carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide,
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrogen oxides produced by industry
and motor vehicles are responsible for the degradation of the
environment. Photochemical ozone and smog are created as nitrogen
oxides and hydrocarbons react to sunlight9.
Chemical substances waste our environment there by destroying the way
in which we live.
A good steward will take good care of his or her environment by
ensuring that they reduce the amount of pollution emitted.
Droughts occur when a long period of abnormally dry weather leads to
a severe water shortage. Droughts are also often caused by the
activity of humans and can have devastating effects. Human activities
causing drought10.
The abnormal dry weather is caused by man-made effects. When man
interferes with the environment the imbalance may have drastic
consequences. The future may be such conditions as droughts and
el-ninos.
Environmental impacts caused by drought also affects the planet in many different
ways. Plants and animals depend on water, just like people. When a
drought occurs, their food supply can shrink and their habitat can be
damaged11.
Plants are the primary food source. Animals and plants depend heavily
on the primary food source. When the number of plants reduces in a
given ecosystem, this may lead to an over usage one resource. People
who raise animals for consumption spend large amount of money buying
chemicals for the animals. These chemicals they leach into the soil
and they may alsy be responsible for causing drought. Where as
growing crops does not require the use of chemicals, but instead
crops can be grown organically. This though it is not economically
viable but it keeps the planet clean and user friendly.
Stewardship of the environment must be practiced by everyone. The Bible states that God
will destroy those that destroy the earth Rev 11:18. It was because
of sin that the earth was first destroyed. God took the first
prerogative to destroy the earth with a flood because it was no
longer conjunctive so inhabitation. Though theologically the
unconduciveness was not the environmental but rather social, yet it
still remains that as stewards, caring for the environment should
transcend beyond the terrain but the social environment should be
made conducive for God's people to dwell in.
In Genesis 9:11 God promised Noah and his family that the planet will no longer be
destroyed by a flood. In the days of Noah, men, animals, and trees,
many times larger than now exist, were buried, and thus preserved as
an evidence to later generations that the antediluvians perished by a
flood. God designed that the discovery of these things should
establish faith in inspired history; but men, with their vain
reasoning, fall into the same error as did the people before the
Flood--the things which God gave them as a benefit, they turn into a
curse by making a wrong use of them12.
The flood world people were very majestic both in stature and in
intellect. They are described to have perished by the flood because
they made nature and its benefits and idol. The people forgot God the
source of all life and nature was regarded as the power that pervades
life. This is called pantheism. In preserving the fossil record, God
left us a reminder that the world before the flood was very
beautiful. Destruction came when the flood broke the crust of the
earth Genesis 11:7. As the waters were subsiding the rescinding
waters caused further damage. This can be witnessed by the geological
features such as V-shaped rift valleys and gorges among others13.
The flood waters had to be tacked away some where. The initial account states that the
waters came from underneath, hence when the waters rescinded, some of
them went underneath. This process damaged the earth's structure
heavily. This damage can be seen by ragged landscapes and and very
high scary mountains and very deep crevices. The earth according to
the Bible has changed and it is waxing old like a garment. The
creatures also are looking for redemption.
Romans chapter 8 from verse 20-22 states that “...for the earnest expectation of the
creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the
creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of
him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. John in
the book of Revelation chapter 21 states that he saw a new heaven and
a new earth, where as the old one had passed away. Matthew in chapter
5 states that those who have been faithful stewards will inherit the
earth.
In conclusion, the earth is the habitat of both man and creatures. The human family was
made the stewards of the earth. The animal and the plant kingdom
belong to them for care. Yet man sinned, by doing so they have
subjected the whole of creation into bondage. They have made for
themselves machinery that is capable of destroying the earth. The
many chemicals that are used in animal husbandry which end up in the
ecosystem have drastic effects. Plants can be grown organically. The
first incidence of destroying the earth was recorded in genesis. This
was caused by the amount of evil that had been prevailing. It
therefore follows that the earth is no longer as new ans it was when
God created it and hence it needs to be cared for. We wait for a new
heaven and an new earth, inhabited by those who have always been
faithful stewards.
3
Gillis
J (2015).
"Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change".
The New York Times.
Retrieved
28
December
2015.
5
"Annex II
Glossary”, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved 28
December 2015.
7 Pollution
- Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary".
Merriam-webster.com. Retrieved
28 December 2015.
8 online
9 http://kidsenvirohealth.nlm.nih.gov/subtopic/004/water-pollution/005/chemicals-and-pollutants/
10 www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/.../drought_rev1.shtml
11 www.drought.unl.edu/droughtforkids/howdoesdroughtaffectourlives/typesofdrought
12 Patriarch
and Prophets p 112.3
13 http://grisda.org/