Saving Creation: Faith Shaping Environmental Policy

Science, unaided, does not teach us what we most need to know about nature: how to value it. Ecologists may be able to tell us what our options are, what will work and what will not, and what is the minimum baseline health of the landscapes we inhabit. But there is nothing in ecology per se that gives ecologists any authority or skills at making more inclusive policy decisions: how much land to keep wild, how much to reserve for agriculture, how much to keep as working landscapes, and how much to develop. Biologists describe a wonderland Earth—even they find it wonderful—but how much biodiversity ought we to save, especially if this limits human economic development? Science does not enable us to choose between diverse options, all of which are scientifically possible. Faith urges both enjoying the abundant gifts of the Earth and saving this creation. An icon of such caring is the new Green Bible, with environmentally relevant scriptures printed in green, similar to earlier Bibles with the words of Jesus in red.

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