Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Polluters and Mangroves


At Queenstown last month I was disappointed at the signs of “progress” - more and larger buildings superimposed all over the gorgeous scenery. Then I looked closely again at the picture-postcard lake and mountains and trees and realised the attractive forests were almost entirely exotic pines, themselves a sort of environmental weed, really. From our chalet there was only one tiny patch of indigenous bush high up behind Bob’s Peak.

In an earlier generation we polluted this pristine environment by planting American pine trees all over the hillsides, and European willows around the lakes and rivers. These have all been turned into a tourist asset. But now we’re polluting the whole area with buildings and people and noise. Something has been lost in our frenzy to use our environment.

Part of the role of the church should be to challenge these kinds of processes in our world and to deal with their effects. I’ve been doing some theology on the role of mangroves that might provide a clue…
Have a look at Mangrove Theology on my web pages.

No comments:

Post a Comment