Today’s Scripture Reading (August 25,
2014): Luke 11
The tropical
rainforests have often been called the lungs of our planet. As lungs, they play
a major role in reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide. Like our lungs process
oxygen releasing carbon dioxide and the rainforests simply reverse the process.
In fact, the tropical rainforests of the world are frontline tools in our fight
against climate change and in decreasing the effects that greenhouse gasses
have on our planet. And if you were wondering how bad all of this carbon
dioxide could be for the planet, we actually have an illustration of the
effects of a runaway greenhouse effect next door. Venus is the hottest planet
in the solar system, hotter than even Mercury which is the closest planet to
the sun. But the probability is that originally Venus was very similar to earth
– except that Venus had a natural disaster which resulted in a runaway greenhouse
effect. The reality of watching the greenhouse effect in action on Venus has
stressed how important it is for us to prioritize our fight on our own
greenhouse effect – but unlike Venus, our greenhouse effect seems to be almost
entirely man made. We have the ability to stop it.
To fight our
planets climate change, the preservation of our planet’s rainforests are
essential. But that creates our second problem. The rainforests exist in
nations where the only access to wealth is found by harvesting the rainforests,
or by destroying the rainforest to get the valuable minerals that can be found
just beneath the surface of the forest floor. Either way, wealth for these
nations means degrading the lungs of our planet.
Until now,
it would seem that the plan of the world has been to heap rules and regulations
on the nations that are in possession of the rainforests. And the plan has not
worked. Somehow the reality of life seems to intrude. So it might be time for a
radical approach. Maybe rather than heaping rules on those living within the
rainforests, we need to recognize that the living and healthy rainforest is an
essential mineral in itself. Maybe it is time that we in the developed nations started
to pay the countries in possession of the rainforests for the value that they
are giving to us – the more rainforest a nation is in possession of, the higher
the remuneration. Keep it healthy and payments keep on coming. Allow the
rainforest to die, and the payments stop. Because the resource that our world
needs more than oil, gold or precious stones is a healthy and functioning
rainforest – and the rainforest has the potential to be the gift that keeps on
giving.
And it just
might be the Christian response. Jesus tells the experts in the law that they
are guilty of heaping rules and regulations on the people. But for the people,
the weight of these rules was more than the people could carry. And to add to
the sin, they are also not willing to help them. For a people who barely
survived and lived in poverty, the experts in the law just demanded more. And
the poor of Israel had no chance of proving themselves holy, even if they
wanted to do so. This left them with only one response – to give up.
Maybe the
same dilemma applies to our rainforests dilemma. The practice of simply adding
rules to those in possession of the rainforests is inadequate. To succeed in
keeping the rainforests, we have to help the owners of the rainforests succeed
by keeping the rainforests healthy. The future of our planet just might depend
on it.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Matthew
13
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