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Environment

Mark Terrell
May 21, 20203 min read

A couple of weeks ago I had a profound experience pulling weeds in our garden.


The last few social media post showed the number of environmental regulations that our current President is eliminating. They came from an article in the New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html

I knew that some regulations where being abolished however, I was not sure the extent. This is an issue because I am afraid of what this will mean for our world and what it is saying about how we treat each other.


A couple of weeks ago I was weeding our garden beds. As I was pulling weeds, I had this thought, “I am connected to these weeds and dirt. We are made of essentially the same stuff.” (Genesis 2:7) You heard me correctly the weeds, dirt, and myself are connected. I decided to see if the earth and humanity are created out of the same material and what is meant by nature and the environment. Here are some definitions I found about the created world.

Definitions:

Nature:

the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. (Personally, I would add humans into the definition because we are part of the physical world. Humanity lives among/with plants, animals, etc.)

Environment:

the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.

Earth is Made of:

By mass, the Earth is composed of mostly iron (35 percent), oxygen (30 percent), silicon (15 percent), and magnesium (13 percent). It is made of distinct layers: a thin crust, upper mantle, lower mantle, outer core, and inner core, as well as transition zones.

Humans are made of:

Almost 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. All 11 are necessary for life.


While there is not a direct cross over from what the earth and humans are made up of there is enough similarities to mean that we are both connected. That is right, I believe that we (animals, plants, fish, people) are all connected. So, what does this mean? For me it means that I treat the natural world and my fellow humans with dignity, honor, respect and love.


I am also left with a couple of questions.

~ Is how we treat nature/the environment a reflection on how we take care of ourselves and others?

~ What can I learn about God from creation? (Romans 1:20)

I want to leave you with a prayer.


That in the elements of earth, sea and sky I may see your beauty, that in wild winds, birdsong and silence I may hear your beauty, that in the body of another and the intermingling’s of relationship I may touch your beauty, that in the moisture of the earth and its flowering and fruiting I may smell your beauty, that in the flowing waters of springs and streams I may taste your beauty, these things I look for this day, O God, these things I look for.

-Excerpt from 'Sounds of the Eternal: A Celtic Psalter' by John Philip Newell




 
 
 

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