wfn.org | Editorial: Doing our best in the make-up exam on environmental protection

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3034 Edition

>April 19~25, 2010

Editorial: Doing our best in the make-up exam on environmental  protection

>Translated by Lydia Ma

April 22 is supposed to be a day when a point in both the North  Pole and the 
South

Pole receive sunlight simultaneously. Though this fact remained  true this 
year, what

we noticed about the north pole’s sky this year was not light  – but ash.

By now, we’ve all heard the news that a volcano beneath the  Eyjafjallajokull 
glacier in

Iceland erupted April 14 and sent a cloud of ash into the  atmosphere. By the 
next

day that cloud had reached Europe, prompting authorities to  quickly close the

airspace over safety concerns. What resulted from this decision  was the worst

disruption of air traffic since the September 11 terrorist attacks  in the 
United States

>in 2001.

This “mass closure” of airspace resulted in 2,000 or so  Taiwanese tourists

vacationing in Europe having to delay their return flights –  some for as long 
as one

whole week. Because of this delay, some tourists with chronic  disease 
reportedly

ran out of meds and had to ask their tour guides to take them to a  hospital or

pharmacy to refill their prescriptions. They soon racked up a  massive bill as 
their

Taiwanese health card was of no use in Europe.

However, these people’s misfortunes seem a trifle compared to  the respiratory

diseases that people living near Eyjafjallajokull might contract  or the 
environmental

fallouts that may result from so much ash in the atmosphere,  including famine 
and

>abnormal cooling of global temperatures.

If we look back in history, we will notice a similar incident  occurred in 
1873-1874

when Laki, a volcanic fissure situated in the south of Iceland,  erupted over a 
period

of 8 months. The eruption poured out an estimated 120 million  metric tons of 
sulfur-

>dioxide that killed a lot of livestock.

These instances of clouds of poisonous ash and fumes could be  taken as heaven

heaving a deep and angry breath on us for the harm we’ve been  inflicting on the

environment, and warning us that we will not get away with it.

The last time Iceland was in the limelight was about two years  ago, when it 
suddenly

found itself on the brink of bankruptcy. But unlike debts between  people or 
countries

which can often be placated through mediation, natural disasters  are Mother

Nature’s way of saying she’s putting her foot down when  we’ve exceeded our 
credit

limit, and they affect people indiscriminately.

In 1969, some students began preparations for a campus campaign  against the

Vietnam War. When Denis Hayes, a Harvard Law student, got involved  in this

movement, he suggested that students start a national grassroots  environmental

>movement.

With Hayes help, on April 22, 1970, more than 20 million Americans  from across 
the

US participated in an Earth Day rally. As of 1990, more than 140  countries 
around

the world have joined this movement called Earth Day Network.

It has been 40 years since the first Earth Day was celebrated and  this day 
always

reminds us to become better stewards of the earth and has helped  us avert a few

>disasters.

However, we dare not become complacent or celebrate our  accomplishments. We

know that protecting and taking care of the environment must start  with a 
humble and

grateful heart. We thank God for giving us a chance to retake our  test on

environmental stewardship so that we can reflect on the way we  spend and 
consume

>and work toward slowing down global warming.

“A man reaps what he sows” is an adage we’ve seen  played out throughout 
history.

The great flood during the time of Noah is an example. The Bible  records that

humanity’s evil acts and thoughts precipitated the flood. We  could say every 
natural

disaster we’ve witnessed recently have precipitated upon us  for the same 
reasons.

The Apostle Paul writes that Christians are justified by faith  – they’re 
reconciled to

God because of faith in Christ. The term “justification”  means “exculpation” 
or “act of

justifying”. In the same token, if we want our actions to be  proven righteous 
and

justified by God on the subject of “environmental  stewardship”, then, we 
better do our

>best in these make-up exams.

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