Dave is Director of Theology for A Rocha International, where he works to embed creation care into international Christian organizations, theological institutions, and mission movements. His past roles with A Rocha include being an International Trustee and the co-founder of A Rocha UK (with his wife Anne). He has a PhD from Cambridge University on biblical theology and biodiversity conservation, and has contributed to many books and articles, including Planetwise, available in six languages. Born and raised in India, Dave has a love for Indian food, Indian culture and Indian Christianity. Dave is also a qualified bird-ringer and loves birding, islands, running and mountains.
Once upon a time we believed ‘the sky’s the limit’. Then we discovered ‘space, the final frontier’. Now we reach out ‘to infinity and beyond’. Is there no limit to our ambition? The idea of boundaries has become counter-cultural. It’s why tackling humanity’s footprint never gets to the top of the agendas. We simply don’t want to be told ‘Enough!’
Perhaps you are like the rest of us who find it easier to count our irritations, challenges, annoyances, etc., etc., than count our blessings. Our gratitude muscles have grown flabby through lack of use. What we flabby would-be appreciators need is something to make us truly thankful. What better place to start than where we are and what we are standing upon. Dirt.
Population, Consumption, Economics: three words that are desperately important for our future on planet Earth. They are linked by one problematic word, ‘Growth’: exploding global population, increasing per capita consumption, and political obsession with economic growth. How much is enough?
Conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts often appear anti-urban. ‘Natural living’ seems to mean escaping from buildings, traffic and crowds. Those forced to find work in cities dream of escaping to a rural idyll… a little piece of heaven on earth. Isn’t in strange, then, that the bible moves from a garden to a city?
Every species on earth has its ecological niche, where it can find resources to meet its needs. We humans are able to live in almost any of this planet’s ecosystems. As we have succeeded, so we have moulded the planet to our specific needs. Does this mean that we are some kind of planetary super-predator, and have no ecological niche? Or, does it suggest that whilst we may call ourselves Homo ‘sapiens’, we are failing to be wise?
Pope Francis has been making waves. Almost every public address the new Pope has given has mentioned both justice and stewardship. Caring for the poor and caring for creation are not alternatives. Both flow from the character of God, and both are indivisible in practice.
Michael McCarthy’s poignant valedictory piece as Environment Editor of The Independent makes sad reading for Christians. But for Samuel Hung of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, it’s only because of his own Christian faith that he has been able to keep going on the difficult and painful road as one of the region’s most respected conservation leaders and campaigners.
‘Horsegate’ has become a pan-European scandal of producers, suppliers, and manufacturers, and revealed the complexity of our globalised food system. It’s not just about horsemeat, but the whole way in which food is produced. Most urbanised citizens have no idea where their food comes from. It is collective denial, because if we really did know we might have to do something about it.
I watched ‘Life of Pi’ last week, taking a break from working on a PhD which includes looking at the relevance of the book of Job for wildlife conservation. As I watched the film I noticed some parallels.
Happy New Year!? What will 2013 hold? More hurricanes, droughts, floods, crop-failures, wildlife extinctions, urban-drift, and desperate people attempting to escape poverty. Not to mention global economic gloom. Perhaps the scarcest commodity of all is hope. What hope can Christians have for the future of the earth, or of our own species?
