Readings: Job 12:7-10, Romans 8:19-22, Rev 22:1-5, Matt 6:19-24 We ended last week with a new creation story, one that included the whole of the universe and of life. This new creation story, with God at its centre, revealed a picture of interdependence, unity with all other life forms and an emerging creation, reliant on its relationships with one another to survive and flourish.

However we come to this story with baggage from our religious past, which separated us from the rest of the natural order for a very long time. Unfortunately this past leaves us a natural order, which we will see today, is in very serious trouble.

As Albert Einstein said:

A human being is part of the whole, called by us the universe. A part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons dearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures.

This optical delusion Einstein was talking about is shattered when we consider ourselves as part of the natural order. Not just in terms of where we have come from, but how we live today and every day. The ancient Greeks believed that all things visible and invisible were composed of four different substances, or elements. These elements were air, water, earth and fire, intermingling in infinitely varied proportion, but capable of an exquisite balance. That dynamic balance formed the structure and sustainers of life, for all creation at every level. This idea lasted a long time, until biologists and scientists discovered how the body really worked. Yet the concept that these four elements are giving life can be revisited in terms of our planet and ourselves. Without these elements there is no life, for either.

Job, in the reading today, understood this intimate connection, between nature, ourselves and with God. Interestingly it comes from a group of biblical writings known as the wisdom literature.

Job 12:7-10

The biosphere is very thin, a layer of air, water and land where all species live. It is very thin, so much so that if the earth was shrunk to the size of a basketball, the layer of topsoil on which our food is grown would be a single atom thick.This soil is made up of the bodies of micro-organisms, plants and animals together with clay, sand and gravel. It takes centuries to create but only decades to destroy. Each year an estimated 24 billion tons of topsoil is lost throughout the world, mainly because of agricultural practices and desertification. This thin layer which keeps us alive is getting thinner.

The sun is the primary source of energy for life on earth. Through photosynthesis plants capture that sun, transforming it into energy we and other animals can use, and releasing oxygen into the air. They should be precious to us, yet 75% of the world`s original forests have been eliminated. We use the energy stored in the earth, the fire held for centuries, as though it was limitless, polluting the air we breathe and destroying the land.

Oceans cover 71% of the earth`s surface. We are 75% water as babies, dropping down to about 50% as elderly people. The world needs water for our climate cycle while we need water for our cells to function, found both inside and outside the cells, for our brains to work, and to cool us. We are intimately connected to water, yet it is disappearing at a rapid rate, particularly fresh water, which makes up only 0.0001% of water readily available. Yet we use it like it will never run out, pouring it on to gardens not designed for arid environments, using it in industry at a colossal rate, polluting it with chemicals and toxins and fighting over it when the time comes to share it.

The atmosphere supports all organisms on the planet with oxygen and provides the source of weather and climate. It is not as big as you might think, and while it extends 2,400 km from the earth surface, 99% is within 30km and 50% is within 6 km. The first 11 km is the troposphere and it is the zone where life is found and weather occurs. In a remarkable process of adaptability we are in balance with the plant life on this planet, which by photosynthesis takes CO2, our waste, and converts it into oxygen which it releases into the air. Plants existed well before us, and it was by their activity that the atmosphere was transformed to sustain humans.

While everyone knows something about climate change, I cannot talk about the atmosphere without addressing global warming just a little bit. We are acutely aware that greenhouse gases like CO2, methane and CFCs thicken the blanket effect of the atmosphere, reflecting back heat onto the earth. The question that many argue is whether we, as humans are responsible for it and should we do something about it. There have recently been a number of reports written, one particularly from the Royal Society of London, one of the oldest scientific societies in the world, that seek to clarify the situation. Let me summarise.

The earth is definitely warming, based on research from surface temperature stations, and satellites. The earth`s oceans are warming, glaciers, sea ice and ice sheets are receding, sea levels are rising and spring is arriving sooner each year. And the warming is continuing, the 2000s were hotter than 1900s, which were hotter than the 1980s. 2010 is on pace to be at least in the top three hottest calendar years on record. There is overwhelming evidence that humans are the dominant cause of warming, mainly due to our greenhouse gas emissions. Based on fundamental physics and maths, the amount of warming that human activity is causing can be quantified, and shows we are responsible for almost all of the warming over the last three decades. And this makes sense based on the industrialisation that has occurred in the last 100 years. It is also known that if we continue to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases the planet will continue to warm and the result of this warming will be overwhelmingly negative with decreased biodiversity, water shortages, increased heat waves, decreased crop yields and displacing of millions of people. Certainly unresolved issues exist, particularly related to the amount of warming that might be expected for the amount of extra CO2 emissions. However the big picture is that the planet is warming, humans are causing it, and there is a substantial risk to continuing on our current path, even though we don`t know exactly how large the risk is.

The four elements today are not in balance, and certainly not with us.

There is today an environmental crisis. As Max Terman, an ecologist states, `There is now broad agreement in the scientific community that there are serious problems with the life supporting processes of our environment. Air, water and soil are being rapidly degraded in all countries. Species are disappearing, at a rate of about 36 500 species each year and natural habitats lost, and pollution is an overwhelming problem. Ozone is decreasing and the temperature of the earth increasing`. We have come to a time when the earth can not sustain us and our current way of life. Historically we have been a species that has lived with and on the land. In 1900 there were only a billion and half human beings in the world. Yet remarkably in a mere 100 years the population of the planet has quadrupled to over 6 billion, with more than 400 cities larger than 1 million. While advances in technology, increased agricultural productivity and medical breakthroughs keep us alive longer the earth has not increased. In fact it`s got smaller as we use more and more of its resources. As Paul said in Romans chapter 8, the earth is groaning under the weight of us.

This has been demonstrated vividly if we look at humanity`s ecological footprint In terms of our planet. Our planet is singular and finite, but we act as though it is one of many we have. We act as though the environment is indestructible. Our ecological footprint is huge and getting bigger, as we try to meet the needs and wants of its human population. Humanity has been continuously increasing its resource demand to the extent that by the mid 80s we started to use more than nature can regenerate. And by 2007 we used about 30% more. Currently if everyone on earth lived as the developed countries do, we would need 5 earths, not one to sustain us. And the major part of the problem is the system itself and those of us who enjoy the benefits of this system and do not want to give them up.

David Suzuki demonstrates this fact very well, with his test tube analogy:

Economists believe the economy can grow forever. Not only do they believe it can grow forever, which it cannot, they believe it must grow forever. Since World War II they have equated economic growth with progress. Nobody wants to stop progress but, if economic growth is what we define as progress, who is ever going to ask what an economy is for? With all this growth are we happier? How much is enough? We do not ask those questions. We have fallen into the trap of believing that economic growth forever is possible and necessary.

I am going to show you why this is absolutely suicidal. Anything growing steadily over time is called exponential growth and whatever is growing exponentially has a predictable doubling time, whether it is the amount of garbage you make, the number of taxis on the road, the amount of water you use, or the human population. So, if the population is growing at 1% a year it will double in 70 years; 2% a year it will double in 35 years; 3% - 23 years; 4% in 17.5 years. Anything growing exponentially will double predictably.

I am going to show you why it is suicidal to think we can keep growing forever. Let me give you a test tube full of food for bacteria, that represents our world. I am going to put one bacterial cell into that test tube (representing us), and it is going to divide every minute; that is exponential growth. So at time zero you have one cell; one minute you have two; two minutes you have four; three minutes you have eight; four minutes you have 16. That is exponential growth and at 60 minutes the test tube is completely full of bacteria and there is no food left, a sixty minute cycle.

When is the test tube only half full? Well the answer of course is at 59 minutes; but a minute later it is filled. So at 58 minutes it is 25% full; 57 minutes 12½ % full. At 55 minutes of the 60 minute cycle it is only 3% full. So, if at 55 minutes one of the bacteria said to its companions that they had a population problem, the other bacteria would be incredulous because 97% of the test tube would be empty and they had been around for 55 minutes. Yet they would have only 5 minutes left. So bacteria are no smarter than humans and at 59 minutes they realize they only have a minute left. So they give massive amounts of money to scientists, and in less than a minute those bacterial scientists invent three test tubes full of food. That would be like adding three more planets for our use. So it would seem that they (and we) would be saved.

What actually happens is this - at 60 minutes the first tube is full; at 61 minutes the second is full; and at 62 minutes all four are full. By quadrupling the amount of food and space, you buy two extra minutes! How do we add even a fraction of 1% more of air, water, soil or biodiversity? We cannot. The biosphere is fixed and finite and every biologist I have talked to agrees with me, we are past the 59th minute. So all those leaders saying that we have to keep the economy growing are saying we have to accelerate down what is a suicidal path.

As Suzuki says the problem is one of economics as much as ecology. To go on and on expecting that we can grow forever, produce and consume forever is ridiculous without there being major consequences. Already we are suffering not just a global environmental crisis but a crisis of inequality and social upheaval. Because as the world has got cleverer and human achievements more advanced, not everyone benefits. The rich get richer and the poor poorer. And for those who are rich, more possessions and money do not necessarily make each person happy or a society well balanced or an earth sustainable. The need for more also is likely to destroy us.

When we talk sustainability, it is not just the ability for this generation to meet its needs, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs, it is also our ability to met everyone`s need at this time. It is no point asking people to be environmentally aware when they have trouble feeding their children or keeping themselves warm when we in the first world consume many times more resources. In many parts of the world it has been well documented that race and class are the best indicators as to where you might find amenities such as parks and trees and where you are going to find things like waste facilities or power plants. The poor get the bad things, the rich the good. In many parts of the world the industrialized nations` demand for oil, minerals and timber is having devastating effects on the land, air, water and people of the local people who have no control over the resources. An example is the Niger delta of Nigeria, where hundreds of millions of dollars of oil have been extracted and exported, yet most of the people live in poverty on less than one US dollar a day. In many parts of the world people are moving from environments that have sustained them for generations, into cities and into slums. Over 200,000 people are moving everyday, devastating these communities that have lasted so long.

Environmental protection and preservation is integrally involved in social justice and ethics. While Jesus may not have had much to say on global warming he had a lot to say about the effect of money and power on those who have it and those who don`t. The passage from Mathew says it all: we cannot follow God and money. Solutions to environmental issues, and particularly climate change must be designed with the needs of the poor in mind.

So in the end we are called to be involved in a transformation to a new way of living that includes all in the banquet of life in a sustainable, supportive way. This includes rich and poor, black and white, human and non human alike. It will involve seeing ourselves as part of creation, and as part of the answer to her problems. It will require us to see that we have a special role to play. Not a special place, but a special role, as co-creators to life. We as humanity have now come to a point where we can help choose the future of God`s evolving creation.

And this is where the church needs to be. Thomas Berry calls ecological restoration the great work of our time. It is time for the churches to get on with that work - and in ways that are visionary, adventuresome, prophetic, grace filed, inviting and celebratory of creation. We need to integrate ecology, economics and faith, developing a sustainable river of life for all (Rev 22:1-5). But the work has just begun, and while essential it is not going to be easy.


With thanks to -
David Suzuki, `The Sacred Balance`, Allen and Unwin, 1997.
David Suzuki, `The Legacy`, Allen and Unwin, 2010.
David Suzuki, `The Test Tube`, from his web site.