7-92

I have spent several hours recently in our library in the sections dealing with hydrology, limnology, stream ecology, watershed management, soil conservation, and wetland management. One very interesting book I found which approaches soil conservation through uppper-end watershed management is entitled Little Waters. It was published by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service.

"The successors of Columbus beheld a continent of abundance beyond their fondest dreams--a continent rich in land, minerals, and water; in fertile soils, timber, game, fish, and furs. They believed these things to be inexhaustible, and generally their descendants still cling to that belief.

Yet today the fur-bearing animals are found in quantities only in the more remote localities; and mere fragments remain of the great pine and hardwood forests of the North Atlantic and Central States.

But, you say, there remain the rich soils and waters! We can no longer afford to be so confident, for there is something wrong, omniously wrong about these also....

Many believe...that if something effective is not done within a generation, it will be too late over numerous large areas, for this earth disease, like some human diseases, can never be cured if neglected during the early stages....

In his ruthless exploitation of land and water resources Man has violated basic arrangements in a manner which Nature will not tolerate....

This dange is a vital concern of everyone. It is as significant to merchant, manufacturer, and banker as to those who work immediately on the land. Nature's gifts are the basis of all economic life....

Progress or decadence of a people is determined by the manner in which it accepts and utilizes these gifts of Nature. Soils and waters may be so used as to remain permanent assets yielding a permanent income. On the other hand they may be destroyed as sources of income; may even be so used as to make them essentially self-destructive. A people must choose."

This was written in 1935. We have, despite thousands of subsequent studies and reports and billions of dollars spent since then, learned nothing. We are further behind than we were in 1935. We do not need anymore studies. Science is not the answer. A people must choose. The order of morality, the order of choice, infinitely transcends the order of technical knowledge. We do not need to know any more. We know enough. We need to choose.

The future of a healthy environment is not in the science of ecology but in the human sciences of choosing: in politices and sociology, law and ethics, in philosophy and religion. Science, including earth science, has become a self-fulfilling prophecy of conspicuous consumption, of self-righteous elitism funded by taxation. Enough and enough. Science has become part of the greed that generates need. We know what we must do: cherish the land, protect the waters, save the surplus, share with our neighbors. What more do we need to know? Trash, waste, selfishness, and greed are wrong--wrong in nature, wrong in our communities, wrong in our hearts. A people must choose.

The Psalmist sang:

"Thou visitest the earth and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.

Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showere: thou blessest the springing thereof.

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness,

They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.

The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing."

65:9-13

This is the divine ecology and the environmentalism of the New Creation. This is the way of God. A people must choose.