11 Ways to Recreate the Earth

Caring for the environment is a way of respecting God and caring for ourselves, say authors Tony Campolo and Gordon Aeschliman. Adopt their God-inspired earth-friendly ideas.

When we care for the environment, we show our deep respect for the Creator in much the same way we would admire the work of a great artist in a museum. When we fail to care for our planet, the world sees our treatment of Creation and unconsciously picks up the message regarding our disrespect.

What is more, caring for Creation is a way of caring for ourselves. Nature has a way of ministering back to us. It provides color, shapes, scents, shade, and sustenance. And by tending Creation, we also show consideration for our children's future. We demonstrate that we love them enough to provide a clean and beautiful garden that paints a stunning picture of the Artist.

Discover 11 ways that Christians--and everyone else--care for the environment.

Project # 3: Celebrate Earth Day

To really get into the spirit of Earth Day, consider volunteering at an Earth Day event in your city or region. Volunteer to do a local trash cleanup, start a recycling program and use more recycled goods, plant trees, learn how to keep your house plants growing with less water, dispose of toxins properly, and discover ways to minimize the amount of time you drive your car.

You can do these things each day of the year, or you pick one at a time and implement it into your daily routine.

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Project # 4: Noah's Ark

Most ancient traditions have stories about protecting animals and plants. Whether the saving act is for the species themselves or because of some use they bring to humans, the idea of ridding the world of everything but humans and a few crops on which they depend has never been a praiseworthy vision.

There are many ways to get involved to help protect animals and plants. A primary way is to write letters to your senators and congressmen about protecting America's public lands and wildlife preserves, confronting global warming, and preserving the Endangered Species Act.

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Project # 5: Cut the Trash

America constitutes about 5 percent of the world's population, yet we consume approximately 30 percent of the world's resources. We also produce approximately 19 percent of the world's trash.

Part of the myth that drives overconsumption is that all of this extra stuff will somehow make our lives better and our spirits happier. This myth is too costly to the earth and to our souls.

One important way to be kind to the earth is to simply use less of it. Some of the ways to begin to make a difference in the world today include: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle.

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Project # 7: Be Kind to Animals

There's a certain edge to human arrogance that views animals as a simple resource to be exploited at all costs.

Some humans have developed a kind of dominion ideology in which they believe that they have the ethical right to do with animals as they please. No compassion or moral thought enters their minds as they treat animals with total disregard.

How you can help:

Change your lifestyle to be more animal-friendly, conduct an education campaign for animals, sign-up people for community-wide efforts to end animal cruelty.

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Project # 9: Go Solar

With our country smarting from the price of overseas oil, it suddenly has become fashionable to consider solar energy as a viable option.

Some states, such as Pennsylvania, give consumers the right to choose the source of the energy they are purchasing (solar and wind are among those choices). Energy companies are required to purchase their energy from whatever source the consumer demands.

That wonderfully progressive law puts the power of consumption back into the hands of citizens rather than a few powerful corporations.

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Project # 10: Save the Rainforest

It has been estimated that the world's rainforests are being destroyed at the rate of at least 80,000 acres per day.

There is a myth in the West that these lands are destroyed primarily by indigenous people who do slash-and-burn farming. But the true culprits are people outside of the rainforest who go there to access mineral resources (such as gold), build pipelines to export oil, set up fruit farms, or clear thousands of acres to graze cattle.

These economic enterprises capture the benefits of the local rainforest for the exclusive purpose of exporting products for profit.

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