wfn.org | Adventist Environmentalist Reacts to Global Water Pollution Report

["Christian B. Schäffler" <APD_Info_Schweiz@compuserve.com>]

January 2, 2000
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland

Adventist Environmentalist Reacts to 
Global Water Pollution Report

Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA.       Christians should be at 
the forefront of promoting environmental care, says Seventh-
day Adventist botanist Dr. Dennis Woodland, responding to 
recent findings that over half the world's rivers are in danger 
from pollution. 

"All terrestrial life is dependent on less than one percent of 
the total world's available water-97 percent is salt water and 
two percent is ice," says Woodland, Professor of Botany at 
U.S. based Andrews University in Berrien Springs (MI). As 
custodians of God's creation, Woodland says "it's imperative 
we realise that the message of caring for the environment and 
being environmental stewards goes hand in hand with the 
Gospel message."

The Water for the 21st Century report was released end of 
November 1999 by a World Bank and United Nations panel 
meeting at The Hague, Netherlands. It concluded that the 
overuse and misuse of land and water resources has seriously 
damaged the world's waterways. Citing over-farming and 
heavy industry as major polluters, the report identifies the 
Yellow River in China, the Colorado River in the United States, 
and the Nile River in Africa as vital waterways that have 
sustained pollution damage. 

According to the report, the social costs of water pollution are 
widespread and devastating, especially in regions of China, 
Africa, and Russia where large populations exist along the 
banks of waterways. The report warns that increasing 
industrial, agricultural, and municipal pollution in these areas 
is endangering the health and livelihoods of millions of people. 

Fertiliser run-off into the Russian Amu Darya and Syr Darya 
rivers, for instance, has been linked to high levels of toxicity in 
drinking water and an increased infant mortality rate in 
surrounding regions. In China, lower reaches of the Yellow 
River ran dry for 226 days in 1997, forcing whole communities 
to relocate.

In a 1996 statement, the Adventist Church reaffirmed its 
commitment to responsible care for the environment.  
"Seventh-day Adventism advocates a simple, wholesome 
lifestyle, where people do not step on the treadmill of 
unbridled over-consumption, accumulation of goods, and 
production of waste." The statement also calls for a 
reformation of lifestyle "based on respect for nature, restraint 
in the use of the world's resources, re-evaluation of one's 
needs, and reaffirmation of the dignity of created life."
(08/2000)