Destroying the earth is not a human right.

There I said it.

Today is Blog Action Day and the topic is climate change. I thought about writing well reasoned pleas as to why we all need to be aware and care for the earth. I thought about addressing the Christians who even in their gnostic rejection the earth can find reason to care for people. But I’m tired and I’m fed up with self-centered excuses. So I’m just going to say that we need to get over ourselves. Our profit, our laziness, our pleasure are not sufficient reasons to do whatever the hell we want with the earth. Listening to Fox News and Christian radio give the minority opinion that climate change is a fable shouldn’t change anything. We either act like responsible mature human beings or we act like spoiled brats. We either clean up after ourselves, take care of what we have been given, and choose to respect the poor in our global community or we might just as well tattoo “It’s All About Me” on our foreheads (cuz that seems like a fairly appropriate mark of the beast imho).

Sure, we’ll struggle. Sure, we’ll stumble. Of course it’s going to be hard. That’s life. We just deal, pick ourselves up and move along. Our inability to be perfect should never become our excuse to be self-centered jerks.

I really don’t care if that is harsh. I don’t care if that is unpopular. That’s not the point. The point is to love God by stewarding his creation. And to love all people – including those that live next to refineries or smelting plants or whose islands are sinking or whose fishing economies have been destroyed. It’s not about what is easy or profitable. It’s about what is just and loving.

So let’s cut the crap and call it like it is – we can act out of selfishness or out of love. But we have to choose and we have to own our choice.