High Speed Rail and ecological balance
The rise of the ecological movement has been an undoubted blessing for the human race, pointing us to the need to look after the flourishing of the planet, the non-human species, the purity of oceans and rivers, the cycles of natural growth and decay, the ozone layer and all the interlocking dimensions of our natural context. The industrial revolution allied to the technology of engines capable of dynamics beyond earlier imagination was also a blessing but with a dark side if uncontrolled, and we now know that all kinds of ill affects as well as good for us and for nature did result.
Pollution in particular was a menace, and continues to be as scientists warn, albeit now with debated views on global warming. Christianity itself was and is accused of causing immense damage to the environment, famously in Lynn White’s The historical roots of our ecological crisis, 1967. He argued that whereas the paganism it displaced had venerated the sacred groves and rivers with their respective deities, Christianity had cut down the sacred trees and built churches on those areas, an anthropocentric approach making humanity dominate the environment. This proved quite a shock as it was not intended to do, and Christians have been seeking to catch up with the ecology movement very hard. Bartholomeus, Ecumenical Patriarch of the Eastern Church, has been the global church leader to make this a real Christian priority.
And it is no surprise that the Eastern Orthodox is the Church to take this stance very seriously as a theological priority flowing from the doctrine of creation. They have always been concerned at the West’s trust in technology and power, in human domination of the physical order. In the eyes of the East, western crusaders were a symptom of this power obsession, as was the rush to industrialise and the Nazi application of technology to nihilistic mass murder, militarism and forcible conversion of Orthodox Christians in the Balkans. Now West and East have many theologians and movements concerned to teach the good of the whole created order and respect for it as a divine gift. And yet part of our role as guardians of creation is to uncover its potential, a treasury of wonders latent in the world. Electricity and penicillin, for example, flowed from human engagement with our environment to release massive good for us. We need to consider the balance of human benefit and environmental cost.
It is into this balance that such projects as the HS2 high-speed rail project must be considered by Christians. While the project to Birmingham from London, and now to Leeds and Manchester, has been ‘approved’ and indeed rushed through, have the people been able to contribute to any debate? Is half-an-hour off a journey time sufficient reason for the devastation of areas of wonderful natural beauty? Would more jobs be created by improving existing networks, also saving journey time, and now? Is the HS2 soon to be outmoded? Is the balance right?