The Good Lord and the Environment - Lent 2022: Day 22

"The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away."  Book of Job, 1:21. The reference here is to human life, but I'd want to expand this to include not just life, but the means of life - our planet, the energy we need to live from. News that temperatures in Antarctica reached 40C over the average for this time of year while at the same time temperatures in the Arctic reached 30C over the average is as alarming to me as Russian threats to nuke Warsaw.

When at the petrol station, filling your car with single-use fossil fuel that converts into energy and climate-changing emissions - pray to the planet for forgiveness for what you are about to do. Ask the Lord, with humility, for permission to drive. And soon you shall do so more sparingly, with thought as to the consequences.

Using fossil fuels is an example of the Tragedy of the Commons; whose environment are you spoiling when you burn coal, gas or oil? Everyone's. If it's everyone's, then it's no one's. 

There is an environmental and social cost to this, but there's also the metaphysical or spiritual side to it. Christianity has not adapted to a world shaped by environmental concern, but it should do so quickly. The Biblical idea that Man was placed on Earth above all the other creates, to tend the Garden, and wrestle with nature to shape it to his desires, is no longer sustainable. 

My personal quest to understand the bodily transmigration of (admittedly slim) shards of consciousness, in the form of anomalous qualia memory flashbacks, makes care for our environment a spiritual duty - a mitzvah. If I believe that my consciousness will in some weak form reincarnate on this planet, it is my duty to do what I can to keep this planet habitable for the future. For myself, if not for all humanity. Too many older people tend to think "sod it, I'm not long for this world, so I'm going to carry on as I always have done, I won't inconvenience myself for the sake of the younger generations."

I see the answer as being behavioural change across populations. Do we need to wash our clothes so often? Should we shower every other day rather than every day? How much of the things we buy do we really need? Don't own a car if you don't need one. (I've not owned a car since 2013.) If you do need one, buy the smallest and most economical car for your needs (not wants). Insulate your house properly and install solar panels if possible. Above all, think through your energy-use footprint. Save as much energy as possible - don't fill the kettle with more water than you need to boil. Turn down the thermostat and wear and extra layer of clothing. It all adds up, multiplied by two billion people in the rich world.

The Good Lord giveth us a beautiful planet - let's keep it that way. Consciously.

This time last year:
The metaphysics of coincidence

This time two years ago:
The physical and metaphysical, science and religion

This time three years ago:
The People vs. Brexit

This time five years ago:
A leader for our times

This time six years ago:
Social justice - the Church and inequality

This time seven years ago:
Google Street View comes to Poland

This time 12 years ago:
Stalinist downtown, dusk