Responsibility of Dominion
According to the Bible, the first humans were created during the sixth creative period after the light was separated, the seas and mountains were organized, and the planet was beautified with various plant and animal species. Placing human creation here sets Adam and Eve — and the rest of us as their successors — apart as the darlings of Genesis’ story. As we perceive ourselves as heirs to this privileged position, it’s easy for us to view this role as an indication of our superiority, our natural dominion over nature. But is it?
Joseph Smith taught that the Earth will be renewed and one day receive its paradisiacal glory, but this does not negate our divinely mandated responsibility. Like our bodies, our planet is a gift from God, a staging place for our mortal experience. As a gift from God, the Earth has inherent worth and is worth protecting. We’re instructed to follow a minutious dietary code to protect our bodies, as we consider them temples. Why don’t we give similar attention to protecting the Earth, our shared temple?
In the encyclical Laudato Si’, Pope Francis wrote about our divine responsibility, insisting that ”we embrace the moral dimensions of problems that have heretofore been viewed primarily as scientific, technological, and economic.” He makes it clear that the climate crisis is a moral dilemma, that to turn away from the irrefutable science indicting humans in the destruction of global ecosystems would be a sin.
During the 1910 Christmas devotional, the First Presidency released a statement saying, “Our religion is not hostile to real science, that which is demonstrated we accept with joy.” The reality of climate change is irrefutably demonstrated by real science:
In 1856 Eunice Newton Foote published her research demonstrating that carbon dioxide could trap heat in the atmosphere. Over a century later, research at the sacred Hawaiian mountain Mauna Kea proved that atmospheric CO2 concentrations are increasing. Before beginning their lobbying efforts that would sow the seeds of climate denial, ExxonMobil executives were warned in 1977 that “there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels,” and that “man has a time window of five to ten years before the need for hard decisions regarding changes in energy strategies might become critical.” The effects of human activities on atmospheric CO2, shifts in the nitrogen cycle, and resultant weather patterns have been indisputably demonstrated by scientists around the world, and thus it falls to us to “accept with joy” our responsibility to mitigate the threat posed by climate change and work with hope towards a sustainable future.
We know that God’s plans are carried out through small and simple means, and we are familiar with individual lifestyle changes that will help mitigate the climate crisis, like recycling, taking shorter showers, and carpooling. The power of small and simple individual choices can’t be overstated, BUT we also need to demand accountability from those in power: the 100 organizations (corporations and governments) that have caused 71% of global carbon emissions since 1988. Individual effort and striving for goodness are our personal responsibilities, but our global salvation and the greater good of humanity hinge on large scale, structural change. The importance of this lesson, especially for members of the Church, cannot be overstated. Our responsibility as consumers, disciples, and stewards is to strive for individual sustainability while fighting for structural change.
As we step into the future, we must approach climate solutions with the Savior’s reminder in mind: Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me. Environmental justice must be a tenet of faith-driven sustainability efforts — Jesus would never work towards solutions that favor only the rich and white. Across the globe, communities of color live closer to hazardous waste sites and pollutants. 80% of the people displaced by natural disasters are women. Indigenous lands in Louisiana and Alaska are literally being lost to rising ocean levels. Power blackouts after an unprecedented winter storm are disproportionately affecting Black and Hispanic communities in Texas. Climate solutions must include the already marginalized and oppressed. Discussions of overpopulation reek of eco-fascism, whose fallacies of limited resources and an overextended planet fall apart when we compare the average carbon footprints of an American (16 tons/year) and a Kenyan (0.38 tons/year). Our problem isn’t too many people, it’s too many people living unsustainably and out of touch with their place in creation.
It’s important for us to consider how our relationship with the Earth has been shaped by our understanding of Adam and Eve, sent forth into the lone and dreary world to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. What if we saw our time on and stewardship of the Earth as less of a trial to endure and more of a source of knowledge and important lessons? The sanctity of the Earth is an inherent part of its divine nature and our relationship with it is part of ours.