Environmental economics is an area of
economics that deals with economic decisions on the environment. Environmental
economics is becoming important as our society or economy is more seriously impacted
by global warming, emissions and pollution, and other environmental issues. Environmental problems arise when people pursue their own
interest or profit without considering other people and environments. Factories
pollute rivers or seas with tons of chemicals. People cut too many trees in a
forest or catch too many fish in an ocean where the property right is vague,
which is called the tragedy of commons. That is, some selfish individuals
exploit a shared common resource to the point of exhaustion. Recently people
have been paying more attention to environmental issues and social
responsibility. We can reduce the environmental issues by caring other people
and creatures.
Traditionally, a firm's behavior is
to maximize its profit without much thinking about environmental and social
responsibility. As global warming is
becoming a serious issue, a firm's goal that includes avoiding damages to
environment by reducing emissions/negative externalities is very desirable. Firms'
attention to people (social responsibility) and planet (environmental consideration)
is recent. The triple bottom line (TBL) outcomes are the profits (profit), the
avoidance of damage to the environment (planet), and the achievement of social
benefits (people). The TBL outcomes will
be a good way to do business that is beneficial not only to themselves -
companies and their employees - but also to society and other members of
society and to environments.
Although
the TBL outcomes are ideal and ethical objectives for any firm that exists
within a society, it may not be easy to find such firms in the real world
- maybe more from not-for-profit firms and less from for-profit firms. Smaller companies may have
more difficulties than larger companies in pursuing the TBL outcomes as they
try to lower their production costs to be more competitive for survival while
the TBL outcomes are costly. However, if they bear with less profit and start
to pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome now, they may make more profit later by
attracting more customers.
The
Environment in the Garden of Eden
The prosperity of human beings is closely
related with the environment as God initially gave the right to Adam and Eve to
rule over the environment – all the creatures, including animals, birds,
fishes, trees and plants (Genesis 1:28-29). God created the garden of Eden for
his first household, Adam and Eve, and the good environment for all creatures such
as the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the animals, trees and plants on
the ground. God entrusted the first people to take care of the environment. Not
only human beings but also all other creatures were supposed to live eternally
without aging or being decayed.
God tells Adam to take care
of the environment, including the garden of Eden. Genesis 2:15 states: “The
Lord
God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” The
Hebrew word for “keep” is שָׁמַר
(shamar)
which also means “watch” or “preserve.”[1] God wanted to see his people and other environments living healthy,
clean, and prospering life according to God’s blessings.
Protection of the Environment in the
Bible
God loved his creation – not only human
beings but also all other creation. God continued to communicate with his
people and lead them even after Adam and Eve fell. God wanted his people to
continue to take care of his other creation – environments.
Protection
of the environment starts with people. When we respect and love other people,
we may not harm or hurt them. Smoking in a public place, littering a can or a
bottle on a highway, honking unnecessarily, or making a loud noise during night
time may hurt or bother other people. These negative externalities are the
activities that people may do when they do not care about others. The Bible
tells us to love your neighbors, brothers and sisters, strangers, and even
enemies (Leviticus 19:18 & 34; Matthew 5:43-44, 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 6:27
& 35, 10:27; John 13:34, 15:12; Romans 12:10, 13:9-10, 15:2; Galatians
5:14; Hebrews 13:1-2; James 2:8; 1 Peter 1:22, 4:8; 1 John 2:10, 3:11, 14 &
23, 4:7, 11 & 21).
God
gives complete rest to the land during the seventh year to be environmentally
healthier and more productive later. God in Leviticus 25:1-7 instructs the
Israelites that the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest in the
seventh year (vv. 2, 4, 5). During its Sabbath year the land still produces on
its own without being cultivated, and any crops that grow shall be free for
all, including servants, slaves, foreigners, cattle and wild animals. God is
caring for all his creation.
God
in Numbers 35:33-34 tells his people: “33You shall not thus pollute
the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can
be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of
him who shed it. 34You shall not defile the land in which you live,
in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord dwell in the midst of the people
of Israel.” The land represents all environments. The Hebrew word חָנֵף
(chaneph) in Verse 33 means “pollute,” “defile.”[2]
This Hebrew word is also used in Psalm 106:38, Isaiah 24:5, Jeremiah 3:1-2 and
9, and Micah 4:11 in connection with the land. The land or the environment may
be polluted by people’s behavior such as murder/blood (Psalm 106:38; Numbers
35:33), disobedience of the laws and violation of the statutes and the covenant
(Isaiah 24:5), prostitution and wickedness (Jeremiah 3:1-2), adultery (Jeremiah
3:9), and defilement (Micah 4:1).
Punishment of the Environment in the Bible
God in Genesis 3:17 says to Adam: “Because
you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree of
which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground
because of you” When Adam and Eve fell, the ground was also cursed, and all
creation was destined to be decayed, although it was not God’s original plan of
creation. There was no creature that could live forever. The destiny of the
environment was connected with the destiny of human beings.
Isaiah
in Isaiah 24:1 states: “Behold, the Lord will lay waste the earth and make it
desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.”; in 24:3-5:
“3The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled; for
the Lord has spoken this word. 4The earth mourns and withers, the
world languishes and withers; the heavens languish together with the earth. 5The
earth lies polluted under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” Although God wants his
people to take a good care of the environment, God punishes the land and other
environments not because of their faults but because of human faults as human
beings and other environments are destined to have the same end.
Literally
interpreting the Bible, the human lifespan has been reduced significantly after
the great flood. Most people in Genesis 5 lived more than 800 years – Adam
(930), Seth (912), Enosh (905), Kenan (910), Mahalalel (895), Jared (962),
Methuselah (969), and Lamech (777). Some biblical scholars do not see these
numbers are not their actual lifespans, but 900 plus years age was already a
significant reduction comparing to the eternal life that God originally planned
for the first human beings in the garden of Eden.
Then, as sin increased on
the earth (Genesis 6:5, 11), God decided to limit the human lifespan to 120
years. God in Genesis 6:3 states: “My Spirit will not put up with humans for
such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal
lifespan will be no more than 120 years” (NLT). God grieved (or regretted) that
he had made man on the earth (Genesis 6:6). When Noah began to build an ark, he
was about 500 years old. He completed it at his age of 600 years old. Noah
lived another 350 years after the great flood and died at the age of 950.
However, after Noah the human lifespan gradually decreased toward 120 years
maximum. People in Genesis 11 lived 400 plus years, and then 200 plus years.
Terah, Abraham’s father, lived 205 years (Genesis 11:32). Abraham lived 175
years (Genesis 25:7), Isaac 180 years (Genesis 35:28), Jacob 147 years (Genesis
47:28), Joseph 110 years (Genesis 50:26), Moses 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7),
and Joshua 110 years (Judges 2:8). David lived about 70 years. The Psalmist in
Psalm 90:10 says: “The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by
reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are
soon gone, and we fly away.” The average human lifespan decreased further down
then recently has been increasing but no more than 90 years yet. And we can
hardly see people living more than 120 years.
Restoration of the Environment
Can the environmental issues be resolved soon?
Although ecologists and environmental scientists make effort to improve our
environment and/or resolve the environmental problems, they may only be able to
slow down the environmental problems not remove them fundamentally. Paul in
Romans 8:19-23 states: “19For the creation waits with eager longing
for the revealing of the sons of God; 20for the creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected
it in hope; 21because the creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22We
know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; 23and
not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies.” All creatures – human beings and other creation – have been waiting
for Christ’s return on the Lord’s day. Why? When Christ Jesus returns to us,
human beings and other creation will be liberated from their current destiny of
corruption. Then, we, both human beings and other creation – the fish of the
sea, the birds of the air, the animals, trees and vegetables of the ground –
will have eternal life.
All the environmental
problems will be gone in the new heaven and the new earth. John in Revelation
21:1-4 and 22:1-5 describes how the new world will look like. The new heaven
and the new earth – the restored paradise – obviously is the place where there
will be no tears, no pain, no death (Revelation 21:4), but the tree of life
bears abundant fruit (Revelation 22:2) in the new paradise. All God’s creation
will live forever without worrying about the environmental problems. Until
then, we can slow down the environmental problems by considering other people
and other creation.
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