Living sustainably involves caring for, supporting and where possible, enhancing the natural environment. Food isn’t the only thing we get from the natural world; there are a wider set of benefits that we gain from God’s creation. Extensive research shows that regular exposure to the natural environment, such as ‘green spaces’, enhances our mental, emotional and, indirectly, our physical wellbeing. Children who regularly encounter the natural world may also actually learn better.
Regular walks have helped many people cope with lockdown, given them a greater appreciation of nature and, for Christians, a greater awareness of the work of God the creator. But, some people are, for various reasons, unable to get out into ‘green spaces’ and miss out on the health benefits of being ‘in nature’. If we love our neighbours, as Jesus commanded, can we help people to enjoy nature who otherwise would not be able to do so?
Focussing on both general ecology and on climate change, one thing we can do is to plant trees. Trees are very effective at capturing CO2 - they pull it from the air and use it to build the ‘plant body’ where most of it remains throughout the life of the tree. I’ve just seen this tree-planting programme on Countryfile, which anyone can participate in.
We can also help to plant trees every time we do a computer search. I use the search engine Ecosia - they use the revenue from advertisements to pay for tree-planting schemes around the world. Simply by using this site we can help to increase the wellbeing of God’s world and to mitigate against climate change.
John Bryant