Lacking Protection
Read an ad for car care products and you’ll see claims about “protection from harsh environmental elements.” This is what’s known as irony. Most of that soap will be rinsed off of the car and into the grass and soil – a biome for countless created species – and seep into the water table. Meanwhile, the sun might fade the paint on your 2019 Aston Martin DB11 Superleggera if you park it outside for a few decades. That’s about it.
The uncomfortable reality for you, the car enthusiast, is the damage this hobby imparts onto environments shared with people you know and love. There has always been an element of danger associated with cars, which is why you were taught to never leave coolant within reach of your dog, or to always open the garage door and turn on a shop fan when you’re welding so you don’t inhale lead dust. But for the car folks who believe that God himself created the Earth and everything in it, the call to limit unnecessary environmental destruction is too loud to ignore.
As an example, the staggering rate of animal extinction leaves people with fewer touch points to marvel at God’s creativity. Some species cling to survival in populations small enough to fit on a subway train (as illustrated by artist Mona Chalabi). Losing a species would be like losing a sunset, except it’s significantly more multifaceted than that. The opportunity to gaze in wonder is gone, but so is the chance to nurture and protect that particular member of created life in accordance with its particular needs. And, also, perhaps learn something unique about God through that unique animal. After all, Jesus frequently drew from his experiences with created life when he explained complex spiritual truths:
“He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.’” (Matthew 13:31-32)
Jesus also spoke of foxes, birds, grapes, sheep, fish, seeds, and much more. In the two thousand years since, countless monks, deaconesses, priests, and theologians have drawn spiritual inspiration from created life. Each one is precious. None should be lost.
Environmental destruction also leaves believers without the means to survive, or resources to extend to people struggling to survive. Decaying coral reefs and increasingly warming and acidified oceans mean God’s creatures, human and non-human, are deprived of God’s abundant provision. The permanent destruction of rainforests, glaciers, and waterways, and increasingly catastrophic natural disasters, are already swallowing mountains of money that could have been donated to good causes.
Today, one of the greatest needs for God’s intervention is the gradual destruction of his creation. God hears these cries too and is at work in the compassionate hearts of sustainability-focused believers like Evangelical Environmental Network. They also educate and empower people to eat less resource-intensive food such as red meat, repair broken things instead of replacing them, buy used and pre-owned, garden and compost, and above all keep praying that God intervenes and empowers even more people. It took two million people to evacuate two million people from Egypt and it will take such a force to generate any other meaningful change today.
The Aston Martin DB11 debuted in 2017 as a replacement for the DB9, with a twin-turbocharged V12 and a starting price around $211,000. Later Superleggera variants were pricier ($304,000), more powerful (715 horsepower), and a touch lighter thanks to bodywork made entirely from carbon fiber. Yet, like the Chevy Astro sitting in your driveway, it relies on gasoline, which contains benzene, a known carcinogen; brake fluid, which contains the toxin diethylene glycol; and a host of other lethal substances. It is an exceptional creation. Like God’s creation, it ought to receive exceptional care.
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