by Cassandra Carmichael
Photo by Paul Gilmore on Unsplash
"Ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you."
Job 12:7-8
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you."
Job 12:7-8
These words, found thousands of years ago on the lips of a man in great suffering, remain pertinent today. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused pain, confusion, loneliness, and loss of life and livelihood. The book of Job tells a similar story of a man who loses everything - his property, sons and daughters, and health. From the depths of grief, Job finds solace in God's creation. The animals, birds, earth, and sea creatures direct his gaze back towards the Maker of all that exists.
The book of Genesis reveals the intimate connections between human beings and the earth. God forms the first man from the dust, provides the fruits of the earth for food, and directs him to care for the garden. Last week, the world commemorated 50 years of Earth Day, an annual celebration of environmental stewardship. From a Judeo-Christian perspective, Earth Day is a memorial to Genesis 2:15 and an opportunity to rejoice in the beauty of creation, the great gift that is destined to be handed on from generation to generation as a living inheritance.
On the first Earth Day in 1970, 20 million Americans came together to protect creation, and Congress responded by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and passing the Clean Air Act. On the 46th Earth Day in 2016, more than 170 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change.
On the 50th Earth Day, God's creation is under threat. The Administration is exploiting the coronavirus to roll back environmental regulations. In the last month alone, the EPA has relaxed air and water pollution standards for power plants and factories, finalized a rule that allows cars and trucks to emit more pollution, and revoked the legal justification for regulating mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants.
These rollbacks are detrimental to human and environmental health. Even as the ink dried on the new regulations, preliminary research from Harvard University and the University of Cambridge linked chronic exposure to high atmospheric concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM 2.5) with increased coronavirus death rates. Principal sources of these types of air pollution include the cars, trucks, and power plants which are now allowed to increase emissions. The intimate bonds between humans and the environment could not be clearer: polluting the earth means polluting our own bodies.
And yet, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. The drab of winter has given way to the vibrant mural of spring, and God continues to bring forth new life. Let us return to the words of Job, and allow the animals and earth to "teach us," the birds to "tell us," and the fish to "declare to us." My prayer is that contemplating God's creation will renew our hope in a better future, just as it did for Job.
The book of Genesis reveals the intimate connections between human beings and the earth. God forms the first man from the dust, provides the fruits of the earth for food, and directs him to care for the garden. Last week, the world commemorated 50 years of Earth Day, an annual celebration of environmental stewardship. From a Judeo-Christian perspective, Earth Day is a memorial to Genesis 2:15 and an opportunity to rejoice in the beauty of creation, the great gift that is destined to be handed on from generation to generation as a living inheritance.
On the first Earth Day in 1970, 20 million Americans came together to protect creation, and Congress responded by creating the Environmental Protection Agency and passing the Clean Air Act. On the 46th Earth Day in 2016, more than 170 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change.
On the 50th Earth Day, God's creation is under threat. The Administration is exploiting the coronavirus to roll back environmental regulations. In the last month alone, the EPA has relaxed air and water pollution standards for power plants and factories, finalized a rule that allows cars and trucks to emit more pollution, and revoked the legal justification for regulating mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants.
These rollbacks are detrimental to human and environmental health. Even as the ink dried on the new regulations, preliminary research from Harvard University and the University of Cambridge linked chronic exposure to high atmospheric concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM 2.5) with increased coronavirus death rates. Principal sources of these types of air pollution include the cars, trucks, and power plants which are now allowed to increase emissions. The intimate bonds between humans and the environment could not be clearer: polluting the earth means polluting our own bodies.
And yet, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing. The drab of winter has given way to the vibrant mural of spring, and God continues to bring forth new life. Let us return to the words of Job, and allow the animals and earth to "teach us," the birds to "tell us," and the fish to "declare to us." My prayer is that contemplating God's creation will renew our hope in a better future, just as it did for Job.