Chris Lange, FISM News

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Overview

Today marks the 52nd annual Earth Day, which will be commemorated with events across the globe. 

This year’s theme is “Invest in our Planet,” according to Earthday.org. The Earth Day organizer said its goal is to attract more than 1 billion individuals, organizations, and governments in a pledge to enact policies aimed at fighting climate change.

Digging In

• Earth Day was established in 1970 by former Democratic Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin and began as a grassroots demonstration to call attention to the need to protect the environment, according to the Earth Day Network. The April 22 date was chosen to encourage university student demonstrations, since it typically falls between spring break and final exams. 
• The movement went global in 1990, boasting a climate activist network of over 200 million people in 140 nations. Today, Earth Day is observed in 184 countries and features climate seminars, demonstrations, and community activities.
• Climate change has become a highly-politicized and polarizing issue in the U.S.Climate activists have grimly predicted the end of life on earth in the near future if climate change is not somehow reversed through radical measures, from completely eliminating fossil fuels around the planet to reducing cow flatulence. Others reject the perceived sanctimony and alarmist strategies of climate activists in D.C. and Hollywood, whom they feel are far-removed from the everyday challenges average Americans are facing amid record-high inflation, a border crisis, and a war in eastern Europe.

What people are saying

This is a matter of physics and mathematics, not about our politics or ideology. But unfortunately, we are stuck in a place where ideology is getting in the way, where the polarization of our nation is preventing us from doing what we know we have to do. And history is going to judge us very harshly if we do not find a way through this thicket at this moment.  – U.S. climate envoy John Kerry 

Time is running out; this occasion must not be wasted, lest we have to face God’s judgment for our failure to be faithful stewards of the world he has entrusted to our care.     – Pope Frances said in a November 2021 letter to Scottish Catholics ahead of Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit.

The Green New Deal will destroy the American energy industry as we know it.   – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

The conversation around climate change arguably has been irrational since it began decades ago, but the irrationality has only become more and more deeply embedded.   – Opinion writer Dan McTeague

Biblical insight

God established man’s stewardship of the earth (Genesis 1:28) and its purpose as a means of sustenance and remedy for the poor (Exodus 23:10-11) Clearly, then, believers are charged with caring for the earth in order to sustain life and alleviate suffering.

But Scripture also makes clear that the days of this earth are numbered, to be replaced by “a new heaven and a new earth” upon Christ’s return (Revelation 21:1).In other words, the demise of earth as we know it has been foreordained by God and cannot be predicted, nor altered, by man. 

The Bible suggests that Christian response to climate alarmism and climate apathy should fall between these two poles. The danger of climate extremism (or any secular extremism, for that matter) is that it can lead to idolatry. The Lord explicitly warns His children “not to love the world or the things in the world,” because “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

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News in Four is a segment of FISM News that breaks down stories in four easy to digest segments and can be read in four minutes or less. While these articles are meant to provide a biblical perspective to current events, FISM News does not intend to hold these perspectives as absolute truth, knowing that the news is often nuanced and politically driven. While our goal is to provide a jumping off point to view the news through a biblical lens, God has called all believers, like Bereans, to search the Bible for oneself (Acts 17:11-12).