Caring for our planet and for ourselves - Rev Steve Jones

Reverend Steve Jones of the Mission Community of Exmouth, Littleham and Lympstone (Image: Steve Jones)

The era that we are currently living through has upended so many of our societal norms and lifestyle practices that it feels a bit like everything in our world is experiencing challenge.

Having lived among them, I know that the American people never thought that they would need to physically defend their halls of democracy, but this week they are. Across our own nation today people are asking themselves some anxiety-laden questions.

Will I keep my job? Will I secure my university place? Will our family business fold? Will I lose someone I love to COVID 19? Is my own life seriously at risk?

There are some potentially long-lasting and negative consequences of this shift in our view of our present reality. However, one of the advantages of this time of sea-change is that it has reopened many minds to think through some larger world issues that rarely get mature reflection.

One of those larger issues is the impending environmental catastrophe about to be faced, not just by the planet, but by the human race itself. During this past decade, many of us have had rising concerns about what is happening to the natural environment.

I recently watched David Attenborough’s film A Life on Our Planet. If you have not watched it yet, can I invite you to do so.

Ninety-three-year-old Attenborough paints a shocking picture of how rapidly expanding humanity has been voraciously consuming and damaging the resources, space, and atmosphere of Planet Earth.

What was most shocking to me in the film was the manifest changes that have occurred during Attenborough’s own lifetime.

Vast wild areas of our world, like the carbon-absorbing and oxygen-producing rainforests, have been decimated due to an exponential increase in domestication, farming, water-diversion, industry, and housebuilding.

It might surprise you to learn that most animals alive on Earth today are raised for us to eat, with only four per cent of animals ‘from mice to whales’ living as wild creatures.

I find it hard to process the reality of that number. The once seemingly limitless stocks of fish in our oceans have been weakened due to persistent over-fishing.

Beautiful coral reefs are starting to die due to an increase in the temperature of the oceans. We are also seeing many species of animals and birds across the globe facing extinction due to the relentless eradication of their natural habitats.

Concerningly for all of us, these changes in the natural world are prefiguring for us coming changes in our weather patterns, global temperatures, and in our ability to adequately feed our rising population numbers.

Where we have ended up causes me a crisis both as a human being and as a Christian. As a human being, I want to hand on to my descendants a world just as wonderful as the one that I have had the privilege of exploring.

As a Christian, in the Book of Genesis God entrusted the world, with all its rich and diverse resources, into the hands of our forebears with the instruction to steward it all well. I do not know what I will say to God if I have done nothing to protect His treasure and our future.

But what can I do? I can do something. If we all do something, those little somethings will add up to a big something which will literally change the future. Can I invite you to visit the website ourplaceourplanet.org, created by Transition Exmouth and endorsed by Exmouth Town Council, where you will find a whole host of small steps that we can take to make a big difference?

This week in Devon, a number of babies will be born into our community. My prayer is that when they are old, they will laud us for what we did to protect what will then be their world.