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Brenda Lovick
May 6, 2008
Future of Creation
One-Hour Lesson Plan for Adult Forum Class
Human Population Issues
“Simply stated, human populations are the prime cause of environmental stress.” [1]In the last century, the human population has skyrocketed from less than 2 billion into well over 6 billion.[2] There is a great deal of controversy over whether or not the planet can sustain this number of people on the planet. There are many estimated projections on how much the population will continue to grow by the end of this century. One projection, estimated by the United Nations, is 9 billion by 2050. Another estimation is 25 billion people by 2100.[3] Either way, as the population increases, so does poverty, hunger, disease,health care issues, and international violence. On the surface, this does not appear to be an environmental issue. However, it is a serious environmental issue when humankind becomes more concerned about the immediate need and neglects the long-term effects of their contemporary actions. Population growth will account for 35% of global increase in greenhouse gas emissions.[4] Also, human action is putting serious strain on the globe, and the issue is that many of us choose not to admit it. People need space to live, material things to survive, clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and proper sewage and waste control. Without these basic needs, the effects of poverty, hunger, and disease could be disastrous. The earth can only hold so many humans before irreversible damage is done. Have we gotten to that point yet? We need to care for the environment not only for the well-being of the planet and future generations, but also for the well-being of today’s human population.
What can be done about this issue? Most population analysts agree that the developing countries population can be controlled by advocating literacy, reproductive health, and family planning. By providing all people with basic primary and secondary education (and providing it especially to women and girls), people can participate in their society in a healthier manner with better jobs and better incomes. Basic education also teaches women and girls about family planning and reproductive health. These things have proven to give women choices to control their lives, and many countries have found a decrease in fertility rates from educating the people, teaching family planning, providing contraception, and legalizing abortion (which are very controversial issues in the religious communities). Giving women educational an occupational opportunities allows them to provide for their families and gives them a voice in sometimes patriarchal societies. Fertility rates would naturally decrease as a result of these changes.[5]
In less developed countries, poverty, hunger, and disease are great concerns. These countries (like many sub-Saharan African countries) also have the greatest population increases on the global scale. These countries also consume far less than the industrialized countries like the United States. If these countries are producing larger families than those in industrialized countries, who are we (as Americans) to tell those in developing countries how many children they can or cannot have? When I first began studying this issue, I thought the issue was very culturally ethnocentric and racist. Lester Brown addresses the issue by stating that the issue is brought up to those in developing countries for the best interest of the people in these countries. If they have a lower population, they have more resources to distribute than if they had a higher population. In turn, they experience a higher standard of living and resources that provides them the necessities they and their families need for living healthy lives. Lowering their population would give them more resources to make their local environment a healthy place to live. This is really not an ethnocentric concern coming from industrialized countries; it is an option for people to make their communities a better place for their children to grow (and hopefully flourish).
We cannot say that people in other parts of the world need to change their lives and believe it if we do not expect to change our lives in significant ways. Jim Merkel strongly urges people to consider how people choose to build a family. He offers many options: have no children, adopt, have one child, or have two children.[6] We can also support a community or congregation in other countries in Africa and Asia to provide basic education, reproductive health, and health care to their children and families. We could also provide this financial assistance to those in our own community and in our country.
Theological implications
The Triune God is a God of life. The Bible tells us that God created life, sustains life, and desires life. God desires all of life, not just human life.[7] Creation includes abundant greenery and wildlife, and humanity is called to care for it and to help God sustain it all. God calls us to “be fruitful and multiply,” (Gen 1:28). In this, God blesses humans to fill the earth, but God does not command humans to do this. Today, human population explosion threatens the rest of God’s creation, and God’s blessing to humanity is not to fill the earth to destroy the earth, but to fill the earth to live healthfully and obediently in God’s abundant creation. Reproduction is a great joy to humanity, and humanity needs all of creation to reproduce for sustainability, not just humanity. Fruitfulness is for all of creation; humanity cannot be fruitful without the rest of creation being fruitful as well.[8]
Christian responsibility is to live as called, baptized Christians to love God and to love our neighbor. In order to fully love God and neighbor, we must learn to love creation. If we neglect creation, we are neglecting our neighbor and ignoring God’s creative process in our lives. Christians are one in Christ; this breaks down all human-created barriers like gender, race, and class. Our baptisms call us to break down these barriers and stand together against injustice towards others.[9] Population issues create more poverty, hunger, and disease, all of which are grave injustices to the human population. We must work toward justice for humanity and also for creation.
Children are honored and protected throughout all of Christian scriptures.[10] Jesus calls the children to come to him and points to children as a model for Christian faith and humility. The Christian community must defend children and work toward providing a world where children live without hunger, poverty, and disease. We must learn to provide these services to the children who are living. The more children that live on earth, the more difficult that will become.
Questions for Reflection and Action
- What does our society, community, and/or family think about reproduction? Do we value more or less people?
- Why are we resistant to alternative options for having a family? Why must we have our own children?
- What does the Bible tell us about humanity abusing the earth? What does the Bible say about family? Are we really willing to look at our lives and change the way we look at our families?
- How does Jesus model for us and ask us to be in relationship with other people? Just our families and local communities? How do we reach out to our global neighbors?
- How can our congregation help our global neighbors regarding population issues?
- How can our congregation help our local community regarding population issues?
For further study:
Bratton, Susan Power. Six Billion & More: Human Population Regulation and Christian
Ethics. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992.
Brown, Lester R. Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. New York: W. W.
Norton, 2008.
Coward, Harold, ed. Population, Consumption, and the Environment. Albany, New
York: StateUniversity of New York Press, 1995.
Eedle, Sue. “Better Ducks, Smaller Families: Development and Population.” Christian
Century, January 18, 1995.
EvangelicalLutheranChurch in America. “Advocacy.”
“Full House: Reassessing the Earth’s Population Carrying Capacity.” Christian Century,
February 22, 1995.
Golley, Frank B. Primer for Environmental Literacy. New Haven: YaleUniversity
Press, 1998.
Kinder, Carolyn. “The Population Explosion: Causes and Consequences.” Yale-New
Haven Teachers Institute.
Lutheran World Relief. “Clean Water.”
Martin-Schramm, James B. Population Perils and the Churches’ Response. Geneva:
World Council of Churches Publications, 1997.
Martin-Schramm, Jim. “Swirling Waters.” The Lutheran, May 2008.
Merkel, Jim. Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth. GabriolaIsland,
British Columbia: New Society Publishers, 2003.
Orcutt, Andrea Lynn. Restoring Earth: Transforming Our Economic, Political, and
Religious Visions (not yet published), 156.
Rasmussen, Larry. “Troubled by Stewardship.” The Lutheran, May 2008.
Rhoads, David, ed. Earth & Word: Classic Sermons on Saving the Planet. New York:
Continuum, 2007.
Rhoads, David, director. “Web of Creation: Ecology Resources to Transform Faith and
Society.”
Rossing, Barbara. “A Man Ran Up to Jesus…” The Lutheran, May 2008.
Santmire, H. Paul. “God’s Garden Planet.” The Lutheran, May 2008.
“Six Billion and Growing.” Christian Century, October 27, 1999.
Winchell, Kim. Awakening to God’s Earthkeeping. EvangelicalLutheranChurch in
America, 2006.
World Bank Group. “Poverty.”
[1] Anne Whyte, “The Human Context” in Population, Consumption, and the Environment, ed. Harrold Coward (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1995), 41.
[2] Andrea Lynn Orcutt, Restoring Earth: Transforming Our Economic, Political, and Religious Visions (not yet published), 156.
[3] Ibid.
[4] James B. Martin-Schramm, Population Perils and the Churches’ Response(Geneva: World Council of Churches Publications, 1997), 27.
[5] Susan Power Bratton, Six Billion or More: Human Population Regulation and Christian Ethics (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992), 34-35.
[6] Jim Merkel, Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth (Gabriola Island, British Columbia: New Society Publishers, 2003), 188.
[7] Martin-Schramm, 48.
[8] Bratton, 43.
[9] Martin-Schramm, 51.
[10] Ibid, 53.