In today’s politically contentious world nearly every issue is up for debate— including the hot issue of global warming or climate change. On one side some say global warming is a political scam. According to some members of the other side if we do not do something soon a “Day After Tomorrow”-like Armageddon is in the works. Some believe global warming is a natural cycle of the Earth’s climate; others believe it is entirely man-made. Personally I don’t care.
I propose it doesn’t really matter if global climate change exists or not. The fact of the matter is that regardless of whether you believe in “global warming” or maybe “global cooling” (just look at Washington D.C.) there is still an undeniable brown haze above Los Angeles rainforest clear cutting entire species of animals going extinct acid rain toxic waste-dumping and ever-growing landfills. Whether we are warming it or not we are still trashing the Earth.
As many of us here at Pepperdine are Christians we should be the first to remember that God gave us this Earth as a special gift and dumping largely non-biodegradable rubbish all over its surface is extremely disrespectful. Imagine your grandma has bought you a priceless Monet for your dorm room only to visit and find out you have been using it as a doormat. The only difference is in that scenario your grandma could— although it is probably not advisable— buy you another Monet. The gift of the Earth cannot be replaced.
We should be practical. If we keep trashing the world pretty soon it will be nothing but trash. Most things are easy to lose and replace but when it comes to the Earth it’s nearly impossible to restore it to the way it was. While you may not care if your car’s emissions are potentially burning a hole in the atmosphere you should care that you and others are breathing in exhaust. So whether global warming exists or not our responsibility is still clear: to protect what we have instead of fighting over what exactly is destroying it.
