Disposable planet?

What do you think creation is looking forward to in 2021?

Barring the Lord’s return, this could be a significant year for the planet. Of course, people long for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. My guess is that most of creation is longing for humans to get their act together in caring for creation.

There will be two significant opportunities to do this later in 2021, at global conferences on nature (in Kunming, China) and the climate (in Glasgow). We’re likely to hear a lot more about them during the year, especially as the UK Government is hosting the climate conference.

Planet B

But why bother if, as Christians believe, there is going to be a new creation?

US pastor John MacArthur is an influential exponent of the view that we live on a ‘disposable planet’ and God gave it to us to use up. To subvert a slogan by climate activists, there is a Planet B, so we can relax and not worry about so-called environmental conspiracies. Some may quote 2 Peter 3: 10-13 in support of the disposable planet view, in an interpretation that stresses that the present creation will be completely destroyed on the Day of the Lord.

Taking what we want out of the earth regardless of the consequences certainly seems to be the way humanity is living at the moment. According to some researchers, today humanity uses the equivalent of 1.6 Earths to provide the resources we use and absorb our waste. This means it now takes the earth one year and eight months to regenerate what we use in a year. If you live an average Western lifestyle it’s much more than this. If everyone lived the same way as we do in the UK, we would need 2.4 earths. For Australia, it’s 4.8.

I prefer an alternative interpretation of 2 Peter 3, which sees it in the context of Old Testament prophecies that speak of fire purging everything that’s sinful rather than destroying the planet; renewal rather than replacement.

Reasons to care

Yet, even if there is a replacement world, there are powerful reasons why Christians should care for creation right now. Firstly, God has entrusted it into our care, that we should be good stewards of it (Gen. 2: 15). Surely one lesson of the parable of the talents is that if we are faithful in stewarding small things, then God will entrust us with bigger responsibilities (Matt. 25: 14-30). Then, it’s part of our training in godly character to care for what God cares for, both people and creation. It’s also a matter of justice if I consume an unfair share of the world’s resources when so many people have so little. And finally, we simply don’t know when the Lord will return. What happens if He delays for 1,000 or 10,000 years and in the meantime we’ve made the planet uninhabitable, causing suffering to millions of people? On our present trajectory we’re on course to do that well within those timescales.

So there’s really no excuse. Even though we believe in a new creation, care for this one as if it’s the only one.