Background
I grew up in a very conservative religious bubble. My parents taught me that God created the world and gave mankind the job of taking care of His creation. They interpreted God giving mankind dominion over creation as an important job encompassing both use of resources and responsible care. I did not realize that my parents’ interpretation of God’s instructions in Genesis 1 was not the typical conservative Christian interpretation which has historically focused more on the use of resources than the responsibility to care for creation.
Genesis 1:26-30 (ESV) says,
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
The reference to creation being good occurs six times in the first chapter of Genesis with a seventh “very good” at the very end.
Everything was perfect. All creation lived in perfect harmony.
Till mankind disobeyed God and all creation was cursed with sin.
Since then creation itself groans and suffers the destruction of mankind's sin (Genesis 3:17-18 & Romans 10:22).
The perfection of creation was destroyed, and to this day we continually see that decay and death.
We no longer live in perfect harmony with God’s creation, other humans included.
When the wheels started turning
Ever since I discovered TedTalks I have been hooked. The variety of random information, personal stories, and experiences pulled me in! It was the school year of 2018-2019 (I think) that I discovered Lauren Singer’s Tedx Teen Talk Why I Live a Zero Waste Life. The whole “zero waste” concept was completely new to me. Through YouTube suggestions I discovered Manuela Baron with her channel The Girl Gone Green, Kathryn Kellogg with her Going Zero Waste blog and channel, and Shelbi with her channel shelbizleee. These ladies opened my eyes to a new level of information about the world we live in that I had never heard before in my years in church, homeschool, and college.
The more I read up on the zero waste movement and the stories of environmental activists, I was surprised at how many of their ideals and ethics lined up with the religious beliefs of my childhood. Among the environmentalists I found the strongest fighters for life, because they saw how our environmental choices (consciously and unconsciously) directly affect the most vulnerable among us. Sure, the reasons why they were environmentalists were not at all religious (they don’t quote Jesus’s words about caring for the least of these) but they shared similar values as I did.
This propelled me to begin to question why the religious community was not more involved with environmentalism but instead mocked and eye rolled at environmental actions.
Why, attack someone for differing beliefs when you share values?
Belief that God is in control should not be an excuse to live however you please without worry and turn a blind eye to hard uncomfortable situations that can cause good change.
The more I learned about the environmental movement the more I saw my beliefs in line with their goals and ideals.
Yet, I still didn’t see my voice reflected in the movement.
So that’s why we are here.
To add my christian, still learning voice to the amazing movement of people who selflessly care for others and the beautiful world we live in.
To educate the community of my youth and adulthood with the humble learnings of this rebel pastor’s daughter.
To create a bridge between the bubble of conservative Christian religion to God’s green earth we share.
*Genesis 1 ESV - - Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2B1&version=ESV.
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