Mark Eliot Shere states in his article, “Building trust: Conservatives and the environment,” that “People are responsible for the natural world because this world has been entrusted to us by a higher Creator.” Everyone has a part in keeping God’s creation what He made it to be by preserving and restoring it. A specific way that Christians can do this is by recycling. Some areas of recycling that will be covered in the next few paragraphs are: what exactly is recycling, the fact that God created everything, and the three R’s of recycling. Also, does recycling really matter, can you really make a difference, and how? When going through this you, keep one thing in mind; God placed each person here on His creation to prepare them for great things. As Christians, you can help preserve and restore God’s wonderful creation, called Earth, by recycling.
First, what is recycling? The definition of recycle is “to make something new from (something that has been used before)” (Merriam-Webster). There are a lot of different ways to define the word recycle. For example, some Christians see recycling as a fresh start for something. Some see it as them restoring this wonderful Earth that God has placed everyone on temporarily until they reach Heaven. However each person sees it, every person should do their very best to keep this land that God created, beautiful.
Second, God created everything. In Genesis it says, that it took the Lord seven days to create everything. It says that on the first day He created the Heavens and the Earth. On the second day, He created daylight and darkness. He also created water and land and even separated them. The third day, He ordered the Earth to sprout seeds and there were plants ...
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...comes convincing” (Merritt, Mohler Jr., & Beisner, 2010). So not only are you being a witness, but you are also preserving and restoring God’s wonderful creation, called Earth, by recycling.
References
Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Merritt, J., Mohler Jr., R., & Beisner, C. (2010, June 30). Green Plus Christian Isn't New Math | Christianity Today. Retrieved May 2014, from http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/june/26.46.html
Pearson Education, Inc. (2007). The Three R's of the Environment | FactMonster.com. Retrieved from http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0775891.html
Shere, M. E. (1997). Building trust: Conservatives and the environment. Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, 20(3), 829-866. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/235204005?accountid=12085
In the journal of Environmentalism as Religion, Paul H. Rubin discuss about how environmental is similar to religion. Rubin want everyone to know that the environment and religion are somehow similar in a way, which they both have belief system, creation stories and original sin.
Christians consequently share a close relationship by means of the whole of aspects of creation, since in relation to the environment, its unbroken humanity, not unbroken nature, that's seen to be the problem. Stewardship in simple terms means managing someone else’s property. Christians proclaim that everything belongs to God, so as Christians, we need to have the attitude that our belongings are his belongings. As stewards, we have the responsibility of being in charge of the earth. We have been placed in charge and are responsible for whatever happens to it, even though it does not belong to us, as we all know it belongs to God.
Reduce, recycle and recycle could be a construct that individuals area unit beginning to perceive and to use to each life round the world (GOV.UK, 2013). This knowledge base essay can explore info concerning use by totally different resources that are provided to use such as the web, books, journals and alternative resources that needs to offer American state info on use. This essay can discover use as business, environmental and policy perspective. Use is that the methodology by that we tend to recover valuable resources to be re-used once more and once more. However just one a part of healing the atmosphere, it's a sensible action that people altogether businesses participate in daily routines on recycling (Reclaim, 2013). While recycling is only one part to healing the environment it is a practical action that individuals in all businesses and people take part in every day.
I strongly agree with Pope Francis that if we teach younger generations not to be wasteful and show them how to be resourceful, then it won’t be such a struggle in the future. "Education in environmental responsibility can encourage ways of acting which directly and significantly affect the world around us, such as avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices.” (211). There are so many new ways to help reduce our use of natural resources that if from a young age we are taught these methods then we could help save our planet. “All of these reflect a generous and worthy creativity which brings out the best in human beings. Reusing something instead of immediately discarding it, when done for the right reasons, can be an act of love which expresses our own dignity.” (211). Again, I agree with the Pope that recycling and reusing makes you feel good because you are making an active contribution to reduce climate
I am not a big earth first person but I do believe in recycling because I work at a local recycling center and I think recycling is a good thing. In fact I think everyone should recycle to make the earth a better place as a whole. A few good reasons why recycling is a good this is, the more people recycle, the less room is filled in landfills. Also, when people recycle they are reusing materials, therefore saving resources. Another good reason is that when you recycle often times you get paid back the C.R.V. that you already paid for in the grocery store.
Some people say recycling is a waste of time. If one is a very busy person, then maybe. But taking that extra two seconds to recycle, saving energy, money, resources, and the world isn’t a bad plan either. If everyone would take the extra two seconds to recycle, the extra effort would help to make the world would be a much cleaner and more efficient place. Recycling could also help to lower taxes in the long run. Recycled materials have value, and trash costs money. A city recycling program could sell it and make money. Then, with the extra money, the city wouldn’t have to charge as much money on taxes. Now how does those two extra seconds sound now? One can better the place they live in and save some money by taking two extra seconds to recycle.
Christian theology states that God created the earth and gave it as a gift to humans to be shared with all other living creatures. This belief is known as the “Creation-centered approach to the natural environment” (Massaro, p.163). This approach emphasizes the value of nature by recognizing humans as being an equal part of God’s creation under which all “species deserve protection” (Massaro, p.163). With such publicly known cases of pollution like the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico or Bethlehem Steel’s pollution of Lake Erie decades ago, it is evident that humans have been using the environment in accordance with the Stewardship or even the Dominion model, both of which place humans above all other creations. According to Massaro, Christian theology also explains that showing “disregard for the air that others breathe and the quality of the water they drink is to sin against God” (Massaro, p.162). This type of disregard destroys humankind’s relationship with all other living organisms.
I. There seem to be some background points I must go over before I can properly persuade you to recycle; this includes definitions and standard waste makeup.
For all intents and purposes, there are two views of the beginning of the universe. One of these is the creation told in chapters one and two of Genesis. Genesis confirms that God created the Heavens and the Earth on the first day of the first week of Earth’s history.
* Fritsch, Albert J. Environmental Ethics: Choices for Concerned Citizens. Garden City: Anchor Press-Doubleday, 1980.
Genesis is the first creation story. God creates, establishes, and puts everything into motion. After putting all of this in motion he then rests. He creates everything on earth in just seven days. Before creation Gods breath was hovering over a formless void. God made earth and all of the living creatures on earth out of nothing. There was not any pre-existent matter out of which the world was produced. Reading Genesis 1 discusses where living creatures came from and how the earth was formed. It’s fascinating to know how the world began and who created it all. In Genesis 1 God is the mighty Lord and has such strong power that he can create and banish whatever he would like. His powers are unlike any others. The beginning was created from one man only, God.
One huge aspect of recycling is that it gives the recycler the fulfillment of helping the environment. W. Kip Viscusi a professor at Vanderbilt University said, “The warm glow environmental benefit that a person receives from recycling will be greater for those who place a higher value on the environment .” Therefore, the benefit of helping our environment is the greatest benefit of all. Although it might seem as if plastic is thrown away than it can not harm the environment, however, that is incorrect. Plastic is not biodegradable, therefore, it will never be able to completely decompose into the earth. With plastic not being able to decompose it takes up a large amount of space while also being capable of traveling through the air. Sati Manrich, the author of Plastic Recycling said, “The mounting volume of plastic residues, coupled with their extremely low biodegradability, generated a serious problem regarding the amount of space they took up.” Therefore, when plastic is thrown away it will last for at least four-hundred and fifty years before degrading in the landfills; thus allowing all the plastic that was thrown away in the last four-hundred and fifty years to start a stockpile in the landfills or even travel somewhere else.(Manrich
The word “recycling” usually invokes images of cardboard and plastic-bottle recycling bins, accompanied by some cliché slogan such as “Recycle. Reduce. Reuse.” However, recycling has a far greater impact on humanity than any slogan can ever imply. If one were to view the history of life on Earth as a single, 24-hour day, humans would appear just over a second before midnight! Earth is approximately 4.6 billion years old and according to scientists, modern humans did not exist until approximately 200,000 years ago. During this brief “flash-in-the-pan” of existence, they have managed to dominate the Earth in a way that no species has ever done before. This is due to the fact that as the human race expands, it demands an ever-growing amount of fuel, water, land, food, shelter, technology, and the energy necessary to produce, deliver, and operate these goods and services. Recycling not only reduces the burden that modern society places on the planet when population numbers grow, but also provides many benefits, such as: reducing or eliminating municipal, industrial and commercial waste; reducing litter; reducing energy consumption by limiting the need for mining, transporting, and converting of raw materials into goods; limiting pollution via lower energy consumption, less waste, reduced emissions, and the conservation of precious, natural resources; and stimulating the economy with new jobs, increased savings, and higher profit margins for commercial, industrial, and agricultural production.
The Environmental movement to protect nature is a failure. Their goal is noble and follows the Christian idea that we need to take care of God’s world because it is our responsibility. However, the actions radical environmentalists take are too extreme. They forget about humanity in their fervor to protect the environment. They “protect” nature by “attacking” humanity.
Lots of people consider recycling to be kind of a no-brainer, something we all should do. It’s good for the environment, it re-uses materials rather than creates new ones, it reduces landfills -- the list goes on and on. But one major benefit that people often overlook is the impact recycling programs can have on a community.