Protecting nature is a moral issue for people of faith
Every 30 seconds, a football field worth of America’s natural areas disappears. The loss poses both an environmental and a spiritual threat to people and the planet.
That is why faith leaders are joining with scientists to support the goal that the United States should protect at least 30% of the oceans and land by 2030. It’s called the Thirty by Thirty Resolution to Save Nature.
The loss of wild places increases the impact of a changing climate and threatens community prosperity, drinking water and clean air. Habitat loss also makes the American landscape unlivable for many plants and animals.
Globally, three-fourths of the planet’s lands and two-thirds of its oceans have been degraded by human activity. Pressed by agriculture, housing sprawl, climate change, invasive species, pollution and other stressors, approximately 1 million plants and animals are threatened by extinction, one species every hour.
Human life and well-being depend on a thriving natural ecology. The imaginations of poets and storytellers have long been sparked by encounters with wildlife and experiences in nature. “Ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you” (Job 12:7).
The loss of the planet’s diversity is a profound moral failure. Our sacred scriptures call us to be stewards of the natural world, not the source of their demise. As Pope Francis explained in “Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.”
During the pandemic we have seen how essential nature is for our psychological and spiritual well-being. Parks and hiking trails are packed with people wanting to maintain their sanity, experience beauty and restore their connection with a power greater than themselves. Many affirm that time in nature reduces stress. Physicians say that nature enhances the functioning of our immune system.
People of many faith traditions affirm that they are most likely to experience the Presence of the Divine outdoors in nature.
When I have asked the people of my congregation about when they feel closest to God, unfortunately, they don’t answer, “During your sermons, pastor.” Instead, they say, “On top of a mountain,” or “beside a stream,” or “at the ocean” or “on a hike in the desert.”
People attest to feeling a sense of peace and unity in nature that we don’t experience in our divided, polarized culture. Race, class, religion and political ideology often sow discord. We search for a language or experience that might unite us.
Nature may prove to be our only common ground. We all need beauty, drinkable water, clean air and nourishing food.
My own brother and I don’t agree on much of anything. We go to the polls each election to make sure we cancel each other out.
The one thing that unites us is the occasional backpacking trip into the wilderness where we are awed by the beauty of God’s creation. Our political differences are dwarfed by daytime mountain peaks and night’s blanket of stars and distant planets.
Across the political and cultural divides there is strong support for the 30 by 30 initiative. A 2019 survey of more than 1,200 American voters found that 86% of voters support — and 54% strongly support — setting a national goal of protecting 30% of America’s lands and ocean areas by 2030.
For people of faith and conscience, the decision to protect natural spaces and the species that depend on them is not just a political or scientific issue; it is a moral and spiritual issue. That is why we support the Thirty by Thirty Resolution to Save Nature.