What did you do to the house of God?
Dr. Michel E. Abs
Secretary General of the Middle East Council of Churches
The first of September is the beginning of the season of creation as approved by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1989, and it constitutes, at the same time, the beginning of the liturgical year. During this season, which lasts until the fourth of October, prayers and educational activities are held that will raise people's awareness and commitment to environmental issues.
At the beginning of this blessed season, we have the right to ask humanity about what its hands have done against the gift of the Creator, who wanted it to be a beautiful and healthy place in which humanity grows, generation after generation, with the prospect of a better life.
In this article, we will stop on some environmental concepts and data that must be accessible to the public in order better to understand the environmental catastrophe that has reached the globe, our home.
The branch of science concerned with this field is Ecology, the science that studies how living creatures interact with each other and with their environment.
This science has identified a very important concept called the Environmental Challenge.
The Environmental Challenge is related to the quantities of naturally non-degradable waste produced by human activities of all kinds. This waste is difficult to digest and absorb by nature, and it causes various damages. In addition, this waste disturbs - to the point of causing damage - the rhythm of the paths of nature and the various natural life cycles, as well as the relations that link plants, animals and human life.
Therefore, we see, day after day, that the ecological systems of the globe have been disturbed and are endangered due to short-term human activities that have harmful long-term repercussions. The main problem is that those who carry out these harmful activities are limited groups of people who inflict harm on the rest of humanity.
Since time immemorial, humanity has witnessed many forms of pollution such as natural fires, volcanoes and sandstorms, but the harm caused by these so-called natural forms was limited in time and space.
As for the systematic and harmful pollution in its modern form, it began with the industrial revolution and the beginning of the machine age, when factories, trains and various types of machines spread in many parts of the world, rolling out pollution and aggressors on the environment, be it because of incomplete combustion, or because of the remnants of the production processes, the assault on the environment was launched out and has taken its course, generation after generation, according to the development of machines as well as of techniques of production.
Agriculture was by no means devoid of the responsibility of harming the environment. Despite the fact that its development has led to a process of an increase in planting and greening, the use of some types of pesticides and fertilizers has caused undisputed environmental damage.
Today, two centuries after the start of the Industrial Revolution, we can say that the environment is suffering from indigestion and is no longer able to dissolve the toxins of all kinds that are thrown into its guts.
What makes matters worse is the steady population increase that humanity is witnessing, in addition to the increasing requirements for life and luxury, facts which raise in an unprecedented way, the amount of accumulated waste.
What are the forms of damage to the natural environment of humans?
In terms of air, we all know the damage caused to the ozone layer and global warming, in addition to what is emitted by factory chimneys and vehicles exhausts every day in space.
As for water, everyone sees in the news bulletins the disasters of floods, and, in the same time, the disasters of drought in many parts of the world. We look with concern at the future of the Antiochian East and the Nile Valley in the light of the expected harm being at present prepared for them by drought - and which may lead to poverty, wars, and armed conflicts. Researchers in this field believe that water and climate wars may be worse and more ferocious than energy wars.
On the other hand, we must mention the pollution that affects the waters of rivers and seas due to industrial activities and the mismanagement of waste that results from them.
As for flora and fauna, they have been greatly affected by the destruction of forests, the spread of random urbanization, and the lack of respect for natural harmony in many forests endowed with a sensitive ecological composition.
In addition, we are witnessing the erosion of green spaces, the depletion of fertile and cultivated areas, the sliding of lands and the disappearance of some areas, either as a result of excavations taking place in their surroundings or by the cutting down trees that weakens the cohesion of the soil. Are people aware of the fact that the Amazon Forest that has thus far been relied upon for the ecological balance of the globe has become depleted at a rate of ten percent?
Moreover, we have also to point out to a different kind of pollution called noise. At first, noise pollution was considered urban pollution, but now it has spread to all parts of modern societies as machines have invaded every deep hole in many countries.
All that we have mentioned above is matched by a type that is the most dangerous and undisputedly deadly: nuclear waste! This waste is increasing year after year due to the consumption of nuclear material and the need to swerve it in many reactors in the world, the harm of which is usually inflicted upon third world and poor countries. These wastes may remain for generations without any effect, but no one knows when, how and under what circumstances they may constitute the death of part of humanity. They are time bombs, and the problem is that many nuclear waste dumps remain secret for political reasons or because of the corruption of the ruling classes in countries hosting them.
This is the extent of the calamity that we have afflicted the house of God with.
This is what the human hand has done for the beauty that the Creator has bestowed upon us.
The challenge is great, for the Church of Christ as well as for other members of human society.
He has created for us a warm, hospitable, and generous world, and we have transformed it into a cave of corruption, indifference, and irresponsibility.
The Middle East Council of Churches, as it inaugurates its activities in the environmental field at this present stage through the ecumenical celebration that has been announced in the media as well as in social media as well as through the dioceses and parishes spread in the various regions of the Antiochian East and the Nile Valley, confirms that this work is the beginning of a long path in saving, protecting, and rehabilitating the environment.
The Environmental Justice Committee established by the General Secretariat in the Council, and which is entrusted with launching out this task which is designated as “The Season of Creation “ will develop the necessary framework that will coordinate the various environmental activities it has envisaged with the various departments and programs of the Council.
We do of course affirm at this stage the commitment of the MECC’s leaders as well as that of spiritual leaders at large and their full awareness of the danger and importance of the environment as a framework drawn out by the Lord for human growth and happiness and consequently of the need to protect and support this trend in which the Church of Christ will be a distinguished actor.