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Environmental Justice for Sustainable Development: a Biblical Perspective

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Environmental Justice for Sustainable Development: a Biblical Perspective G.J.I.S.S.,Vol.4(3):33-38 (May-June, 2015) ISSN: 2319-8834 Environmental Justice for Sustainable Development: A Biblical Perspective Makamure Clemence Zimbabwe Open University, Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Zimbabwe Abstract The growing awareness of environmental crisis has led to widespread religious reflection on the human relationship with the environment. After perceiving the goodness of the world that he had created, God created humanity in his own image. The perfectly created human being was placed in harmony with the world and was told to subdue it. Human beings were asked to rule and not to destroy the world. This implies that God placed the duty of Stewardship upon humanity. It is the role of humanity to preserve the environment. Genesis 1:27 clearly asserts that God created human beings and this is fundamental to environmental justice which affirms the social and economical right as well as environmental self determination . The basic assumption of this paper is that, environmental justice is the spring board for sustainable development. The researcher of this paper has seen to it that deforestation is devastating the environment, good arable land is eroding, streams are getting polluted or drying up and women have to go further to find ever-scarcer firewood in the rural areas. More to this people are fighting to lay their hands on gold, diamonds, silver, emeralds, ivory, petroleum and the like. All these constitute what we call environment. If people could learn to be in harmony with the environment, there will be environmental sustainability hence development. The goal of this paper is to argue that human beings were placed on this earth to maintain it and live in harmony with it. If people manage to be just to the environment then there will be peace in the world. The other basis of this paper is that the issue of environmental justice is Biblical and that human activities have an effect on the environment hence causing an imbalance in the ecosystem with no peace at all. The paper is based on Mathew 7:15-20 where Jesus talked about bearing good fruits through which God’s people are recognised. This paper will suggest that we need to rethink our understanding of the relation of humanity to nonhuman nature and to develop a more adequate theology of nature for representing God’s relation to the created order. This article intends to offer some biblical-theological considerations to be borne in mind in the ecological discussion. It does not deal with the practicalities of stewardship of the environment per se but suggests a framework within which that stewardship can be fostered. The article tries to raise the theology of environmental justice and see how it can help us to be just and peaceful in this world. The paper will argue that although the importance of individual action can't be overestimated, it will never solve a problem that is at heart. Until our profit-driven economies are redirected to take long- range effects into account, the earth will continue to be polluted and peace and justice will remain the words on the mouth but never achieved, practiced and cherished in human life. Book review and personal observations are going to be used to scrape together data for this paper. 1.0 Introduction The growing awareness of environmental crisis has led to widespread religious reflection on the human relationship with the environment. After perceiving the goodness of the world that he had created, God created humanity in his own image. The perfectly created human being was placed in harmony with the environment and was told to subdue it. This implies that, God placed the duty of Stewardship upon humanity. When God created the universe, all the resources were in a perfect and complete state, under the care of humankind. God gave the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve for their recreation in addition to other resources. However, today the scenario looks pathetic to an extent that human beings can no longer rely on the same resources for their fulfilment. Due to numerous factors in opposition to one another, human beings through their selfish actions have blundered the rich resources meant for their comfort thus reducing themselves to a state of destitution. It is in light of this background that this paper intends to argue that, the Biblical environmental justice is the spring board for sustainable development. In other words, there is a significant relationship between God, humanity and the environment. Today deforestation is devastating the environment, good arable land is eroding, streams are getting polluted or drying up and women have to go further to find ever-scarcer firewood in the rural areas. More to this, people are fighting to lay their hands on gold, diamonds, silver, emeralds, ivory, petroleum and the like. All these problems can be put to an end if people could learn to be in harmony with the environment and there will be environmental sustainability hence development. If there is no peace between God and humanity, the earth or environment also suffers unjustly. So, we need to rethink our understanding of the relation of humanity to nonhuman nature and to develop a more adequate theology of nature for representing God’s relation to the created order if we are to achieve sustainable development. This paper will kick off by defining key terms like environmental justice and sustainable development. Thereafter we discuss the concept of environmental justice in the light of the bible. The paper will end by giving recommendations on how we can manage the environment. Biblical hermeneutics, personal observations and book review were found appropriate for this study. The methods allowed the researcher to navigate the turbulent waters of environmental justice for sustainable development from a biblical perspective. 2.0 Definition of Key Terms 2.1 Environmental Justice Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people in the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies (Cole et al, 2001). Rather, environmental justice means everyone should have a safe and healthy place to live, work and play as well as making sure 33 G.J.I.S.S.,Vol.4(3):33-38 (May-June, 2015) ISSN: 2319-8834 that there are enough resources for all of us and the future generations. This implies that environmental justice can only be achieved when each one of us enjoys the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards and equal access to the decision- making process to have a healthy and secure environment in which to live learn and work (Cole et al, 2001). There should be a fair treatment of the environment. No group of people should bear a disproportionate share of the negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial, land use planning and zoning operations. Environmental justice promotes efforts to prevent pollution from impacting low income communities. Environmental justice has also been defined as an interdisciplinary body of social science literature that includes (but is not limited to) theories of the environment, theories of justice, environmental law and governance, environmental policy and planning, development, sustainability, and political ecology (Schlosberg, 2007). The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice (EJ) as "the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies." 2.2 Sustainable development Sustainable development has been defined as the need to ensure a better quality of life for all, now and into the future, in a just and equitable manner, whilst living within the limits of supporting ecosystems (Agyeman, et al., 2003:5) For Lucas (2004), sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable development builds development strategies to manage natural resources so that they provide for the needs of today while ensuring the resources of tomorrow. Sustainability is better seen as a measure of the relationship between the community as learners and their environments, rather than an externally designed goal to be achieved. All too often sustainability is seen as an outcome, a tangible situation that we strive to define and arrive at rather than a process of planned change or managed learning. This process must involve the building of sustainable relationships between people and between people and their environment. To do this requires the development of learning societies capable of adapting to feedback, with improved abilities to improve decision making through the sharing of information and communication and understanding. At the 2005 World Summit, it was noted that this requires the reconciliation of environmental, social and economic demands – also known as the three pillars of sustainability. In general it is agreed to see sustainable development as a triangle “It is usually presented as the intersection between environment, society and economy, which are conceived of as separate although connected entities” (Giddings et al. 2002: 187). Others have defined Sustainable development as the encouragement of economic growth while protecting the environment and improving our quality of life - all without affecting the ability of future generations to do the same. 3.0 The Genesis of Environmental Justice The birth of environmental justice starts in Genesis when the first people disobeyed God by eating from the forbidden tree. Instead of becoming knowledgeable, the couple discovered that they were naked. The realisation marked the beginning of the quagmire, humanity finds itself today. The shift in the economic system from socialism to capitalism has had great effects on the lifestyle of the people in the world, changing the manner in which they relate with and use the environment’s resources given to us by God.
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