Josh Vonhof
Professor Choi
ECON 320
2 October, 2022
Blog Post 2
The Bible makes it abundantly clear that people are to be good stewards of that which God has entrusted to them. Genesis 1:28 is known as the Biblical Creation Mandate. In this passage of Scripture it says, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (New International Version, 2011, Genesis 1:28). In this passage, God gives a clear charge to Adam and Eve that they are to utilize the resources that He has given to them to subdue the earth and multiply. The same is true today. Unfortunately, humans have a tendency to fall short in this area, as tends to be the case. According to data from an article by dosomething.org, “Pollution is one of the biggest global killers, affecting over 100 million people” (11 Facts About Pollution, n.d., para. 2). And not only is it one of the leading killers of people, that same article mentions the fact that there are an estimated 100,000 sea mammals and 1 million seabirds that die from pollution each year (11 Facts About Pollution, n.d., para. 5). This is a considerable loss of life just from pollution, and it goes to show just how far reaching the effects of pollution truly are. This is where private property enters the picture.
Now one may be asking what private property has to do with the subjects of stewardship and pollution; the reality is that private property is a vital part of the conversation. Almost every grown adult will own some portion of private property in their lives. And as an extension, everyone is responsible for being good stewards of that property. That includes maintaining it well and not littering to name a few. Certain people, business owners to be specific, have an added responsibility to ensure that their business is run in a way that limits waste and prevents hazardous materials from being released into the environment. With great power comes great responsibility, and business owners are certainly accountable for the way that they are treating the environment. Unfortunately, the reality is that despite many of the environmentally friendly laws that are in place today. People are still failing to be good stewards of their private property. The data shared earlier was a good indicator of this. The issue is especially prevalent in places such as China which do not have the same laws and checks in place to monitor pollution.
References:
11 Facts About Pollution (n.d.). Dosomething.org. Retrieved from https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-pollution
New International Version (2011) Bible Gateway. Retrieved from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%201%3A28&version=NIV
You bring up some great points, some that I often forget when I think of pollution. For example, countless animals die each year because we usually do not care about how we discard things. I believe that instead of forgetting how many animals die each year, as I’m sure I’m not the only one, it has become part of life. We often do not even realize the effects of pollution because we are so focused on what we are doing. In a way, I think it could be seen that society is selfish. We don’t seem to think about the consequences of our actions. As you said in your post, being a steward of Christ means taking care of what we are given. Thank you for your post.