As a human being we have the ability to influence our own perspectives or worldviews based on our own experiences and choices. In this modern-day era worldviews have long since shifted from the more traditional biblical worldview to one more anthropocentric in which humans are seen are superior and more important than God’s creation. I find this shift to be alarming because it poses the potential problem of humans over consuming their resources. In the following paper I will discuss my own worldview, the reasoning behind it, and what it looks like to practice my worldview in my daily life. One thing is apparent your worldview will play an important role in your environmental impact.
In recent years, I feel as though my worldview has begun to shift from the more heavily adopted anthropocentric used today to a more traditional and biblical worldview. This transition was primarily caused by me traveling extensively throughout my twenties. While traveling I have seen the destruction wreaked upon the earth in overcrowded cities in India and the degradation of forests in Africa. One country that really influenced me to become more of an earthly steward rather than a rampant consumer of resources was Germany. While I was there I saw how Germany made it easy and efficient to live more sustainable amongst the environment and I was inspired to do the same.
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I was shocked to learn that I would still need six Earths to sustain my household impact when I took the ecological impact test for this class. There are a few reasons why my household is generating so much waste right now. The first, we are a family of five people and four dogs so naturally we generate more waste than smaller households because we are larger. Second, we do not grow most of our own food because we do not have the time to garden or go to the farmers market to buy produces for canning. Finally, we live nearly twenty miles out of town which makes carpooling impossible when we have to go to different places.
Several years ago, when I moved back to Nebo from Raleigh was the point in time when my environmental worldview began to really shift. Why? First, I was living amongst my family and their old-fashioned values has led me to be more independent and not take nature for granted. Second, I jumped on board with the energy efficiency trend because it is simply better for the environment and better for the household budget. In this, I have made a lot of progress towards helping reduce my environmental impact because I was able to replace my energy inefficient trailer with a very energy efficient modular. I also replaced all high emission vehicles I had with low emission vehicles to help reduce my environmental impact.
I believe that the reasons behind my worldview are similar to others who share the more biblical view. The need to protect the natural world and its species is important not only for us but to those we leave behind. As parents, we have a responsibility to not destroy that which gives us life. If we cut down every tree, dry up every river, and harvest every animal for food then our children will be left with nothing. My reasons are not only for the protection of future generations but for the protection of the plants and species that we have today that are being driven into extinction through overhunting and harvesting.
I do not believe that it is easy to practice my worldview in this society because the entire society seems to be built upon quick convenience and consumerism. Many of the companies that manufacture our products hurt the environment. Take the oil industry for example, according to Ji, Johnson, & Marshall (2004) in the oil industry “oil and gas activities in deep-water have proceeded at an unprecedented rate which leads to concerns about oil being released by accident near the seafloor. This could lead to large amounts of oil being submerged for longer periods of time” (p. 349). This is one of the reasons that I am glad that even the automobile manufacturers are shifting towards hybrid and electric cars with less environmental impact.
While researching environmental impacts I found an interesting article by Cordero, Todd, & Abellera (2008) “polls show that 83% agree that humans are at least partially responsible for recent global warming” (para. 20). You can see the natural effects of this warming in our everyday lives. For years, we have been seeing it show up in the headlines through stories of rising sea levels from glaciers in the Arctic melting and the storm systems becoming harsher. As we do more damage to the environment we are getting closer to reaching a point at which we cannot reverse the damage that we are doing and save future generations.
The worldview that I believe in does not measure up to the life that I am living. While I am doing significantly better than I was several years ago where I was a rampant consumer who never really considered the environmental impact of my decisions I find myself falling short of where I would like to be. In order to bring my worldview into better alignment with my daily life I need to make a few changes. I believe that the areas which I produce the most environmental impact are from food, trash, and travel. My family and I can work to improve this by eating out less often, recycling more, eliminating unnecessary purchases, and finally growing and producing more at home. Also, by purchasing more from farmers markets.
In summary, understanding your ecological footprint is important to changing habits that are harming the environment. The process of reducing global footprints is not a hard process at all nor all that time consuming. The issue with reducing footprints lies in getting people to accept that they are affecting their environment in a negative way. Most people will not accept something as fact until it is proven; however, the best way to combat this problem is through education of how individual actions affect the greater environment and making those connections that make people truly realize how their purchases are affecting their environment. It’s not just the manufacturers who are making an impact, it is us as well.
References
- Cordero, E. C., Todd, A. M., & Abellera, D. (2008). CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION AND THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 89(6), 865-872. Retrieved from http://proxy112.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/232628931?accountid=12544
- Ji, Z. G., Johnson, W. R., & Marshall, C. F. (2004). Deepwater oil-spill modeling for assessing environmental impacts. Southampton: W I T Press. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2495/CENV040331
- Miller, G. T. (2018) Living in the Environment. [Chegg]. Retrieved from https://ereader.chegg.com/#/books/9781337516082/
- Sorley, C. (2011). Christ, creation stewardship, and missions: How discipleship into a biblical worldview on environmental stewardship can transform people and their land. International Bulletin of Missionary Research, 35(3), 137-140,142-143. Retrieved from http://proxy112.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/881649146?accountid=12544
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