What is Our Duty Towards the Environment?

Recent years have been replete with extreme climate events, raising questions about our responsibility to preserve God’s world. Certain examples should especially command our attention: enormous fires in the western US and in Canada, Brazil, Australia, various regions of Europe, and even in Siberia; unusually powerful storms and floods; tangible warming and frequent extreme heat. The past month of July, for instance, was the hottest on record since measurements began over a hundred years ago. Changes in temperature are not new. Still, the overwhelming majority of scientists from the relevant fields agree that the extreme events we are experiencing are related to human action. They predict that these events will take place at an ever-increasing frequency and severity. Based on updated scientific predictions, within a generation or two, the climate will alter irrevocably.