“…and God gave man dominion over the earth.” Genesis 1:28
“…And God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”
Being given the entire natural world is a huge responsibility. Looking at the earth today I wonder if that was such a good idea. After all, the mere discussion over ‘Global Warming caused by humans’ is an indicator that everyone acknowledges that it must be possible.
What should being given dominion over the earth mean?
When humans use the word dominion it is a word of power over something else and we all know when someone has power over something else it implies the possibility for the abuse of it. The question is, are humans using the power of dominion in a good way or are human abusing their power over the earth.
Well, to be fair, I must admit that humans aren’t necessarily aware or “conscious’ about their own power. If a human is hungry it will kill a rabbit and eat it. A human will cut down a tree to build itself a shelter. Humans alter the shape of the earth in order to create ways for transportation. It will dig rocks out of the ground to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Most humans would not even know that they could alter the future of the earth’s well being because their little fire isn’t going to make a difference. That was fine when there were only two humans on earth, Adam and Eve.
But, there are 7 Billion people on earth. That is a lot of little fires and the cumulative affect of that over time is probably going to move the needle somewhat. The problem is, that still, many dispute whether this is true.
The sheer numbers of human’s effect on the natural world should speak for itself. And yet…many dispute it. A dangerous philosophy if they are wrong.
So, what does having dominion really mean?
God did not mean for humans to use the earth as it’s slave, but to be a servant to it. Any other interpretation is not only dangerous it is blasphemous. The Bible is full of examples of the virtue of “servant leadership” and indeed the story of Jesus is testimony to that creed. God itself has dominion over all that is, but it created everything as a service to his creation and not to enslave it but to enrich it so it could grow and become more and more beautiful.
All efforts should be placed into the mindset that we can keep what we have if we take care of what we have.
Being a environmental zealot should be everyone’s mission because we all share the common responsibility to do our best to protect the natural world regardless of any scientific or economic consideration. We shouldn’t do it out of a sense of self preservation. We should do it because it is what is expected of us as the heirs of God’s physical kingdom.
Yet, I fly in jets. I drive a car. I use plastics. I throw away waste. How can I use my powers to be a servant to the earth’s environment? This is the question we must ask ourselves.
I was reading somewhere about concepts for a perpetual energy machines or devices. The concept being that you could build things which could create enough energy to run themselves. It is a fascinating idea, but it doesn’t work.
Why? Because there will always be an energy deficit. This means that every time energy is released, even if it is to create a different form of energy, the net result is a minus. Using coal to create energy, will create electricity for sure, but it doesn’t do it one to one. Let’s say a chunk of coal has the energy of 100 units of whatever value, it doesn’t matter what you call it for this illustration. The electricity produced by coal will only be a portion of that. Let’s assume it is 80 units. That means that 20% of the energy is lost in the mere production of electricity. The actual figures are probably greater than that. The point is, when you burn energy it is transformed and in that process you are creating a debt in the world of useful energy.
This is why things like oil, wood, coal, even water are not great sources to create useable energy because they produce an energy deficit. The only thing that exists in nature which has unlimited energy is the sun and capturing that energy is the least hazardous to the environment. I must admit that the battery technology is probably the most crucial part of this and I am unsure about the environmental impact of making and using batteries.
But, clearly, slapping up solar panels on every available surface would produce way more energy than we could ever use. The only thing that can turn off the sun, is the sun and mankind won’t last that long, nor endure the death of our star, unless we travel into space and find another earth like world, which is highly unlikely.
But the bottom line is this. When we look at ourselves in the mirror we must ask ourselves honestly whether we are servants loyal to God’s sacred commission to take care of the natural world.