“I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.” — Jeremiah 2:7
The Lord is the creator of all things — Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made is the beginning of John’s gospel, verse 3; from Genesis to Revelation God declares himself as the creator and humankind as the stewards of creation.
Like the sinners that we are, we spoil most everything, including the land. In the quote from Jeremiah above, God laments the defilement of the land. It could be rich with produce and fruit — indeed, enough to feed the world, but rather, with our feet we have trampled down the pastures and muddied the clear water (see Ezekiel 34:18)
During three years, and eight months of Donald Trump’s tenure as president, he has done much to foul the world we live in, especially the physical world. Many of the points below are taken from a concise and clear article from National Geographic: Fifteen ways the Trump administration has changed environmental policies.
(This article only deals with wildlife, clean air and water; if you would like to read a more in-depth article on energy policies, carbon and greenhouse gas emissions, I suggest you read “What is the Trump administration’s track record on the environment?” by the Brookings Institute or this Fact Check article from Politico).
- The U.S. withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement, a worldwide organization for cooperation on the environment and climate;
- The Clean Power Plan was set to cut carbon emissions in this country by 32% by 2030, but Trump’s EPA decided that was too unfair to the power companies (read Big Business);
- The EPA also announced they would loosen rules about methane gas flares, inspecting equipment and repairing leaks;
- The definition of what consists of federally protected rivers or wetlands has been narrowed;
- Two national monument parks had their acreage reduced and opened for mining and drilling companies in 2017;
- An executive order called for a 30% increase in logging on public lands; in fact, Trump will open up more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to logging and development. The Tongass is one of the world’s largest intact temperate rain forests.
It goes on and on and on… Big business and greed get the green light, and all creation groans. There are so many amazing Bible verses on creation and stewardship of the earth, that I had a hard time deciding which ones to use. So here’s a fourth:
the circle of life 