Choosing Life in an Age of Ecocide

“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
– Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Among all God’s creatures, great and small, only one has been given the freedom of choice. Think of that for a moment. Of all the species that have ever roamed planet Earth over the eons of time, only Homo sapiens possess this unique form of choice that is tied to abstract thought, reason, and morality. What a divine blessing that is when used rightly. And what an evil curse it can be when used wrongly. I’ve read that Jewish sages once told Alexander the Great that a wise man is the person who can see the consequences of his choices.

For the human species, life on this planet has been defined as “a series of choices.” Every action, no matter how small, contributes to the overall direction and quality of one’s life. These choices, both big and small, shape our experiences, relationships and the paths we take.

I suspect it is this truth that American poet Robert Frost was musing upon when he wrote The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

We make our choices. And then our choices make us.

This was the truth that Moses was tasked with imparting to God’s chosen people as they were about to complete their 40 year journey through life’s wilderness and step into a new land chocked full of promises, a land “flowing with milk and honey,” a place of prosperity and freedom, in contrast to their life as slaves in Egypt. There they were on the threshold of the Promised Land. And before making that auspicious step Moses tells them that first they have a choice to make, and by the way, it is a matter of Life or Death! “See, I set before you this day life and honor, death and evil . . . choose life.”

Of course, that was then, a story from ancient history spoken to a people in a far away land who are long since dead and gone. What could it have to say to this iteration of Homo sapiens living in a modern age of ecocide? What could it mean to interpret this text today as God’s stewards of creation, caretakers of God’s good Earth and arbiters of justice looking at it through the green lens of ecological theology?

Looking at the human caused distress and deterioration of this planet over the past couple centuries, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the majority of humanity has chosen the wrong path. For example, fossil fuel executives long ago chose, and continue to choose, short term profit over long-term preservation of land, water, air and a user friendly climate that supports all life forms. They did this, and continue to do so, while knowing that the consequences of extracting coal, oil, and gas would bring environmental and climate disaster. Industries and manufacturers choose to protect their bottom line instead of the people and creatures who are poisoned and communities that are polluted. Crony capitalist economies greedily propagate a climate of endless consumption that promises “the good life” while creating an endless cycle of debt, poverty and the ultimate demise of life as we know it.

In contrast, Moses’s words compel us to choose a different path than the one we have trod, one that adheres to God’s laws of reciprocity in nature and seeks to preserve a just web of life for all, rather than just the privileged few. God invokes nature itself, heaven and earth, to bear witness to our choices. God implores us to “choose life” so that not just the current generation, but future generations can not only survive, but thrive. To choose life means to let go of immediate gratification and selfish greed, to eschew comfort and convenience, privilege and power when it spells the difference between life and death for present and future generations of all species on planet Earth. History will record that this has proven to be one of the most difficult and ill-fated choices Homo sapiens has ever faced.

We are now in the middle of the critical decade in which we have the chance to repent of our wanton ways and begin to turn the climate ship around and avoid hitting the melting iceberg head on. And yet because of the errant choice made by a slim majority of voting Americans to turn the ship’s wheel over to a party of climate anarchists, we have squandered the precious and fleeting gift of time to lessen the blow of the perfect storm that we continue to ramp up through our ecological sins of commission and omission.

This is why choosing not “America First,” but “Earth First and Foremost” is key when making decisions about human activities. Only if and when we achieve that mentality and willpower can the health, well-being, and stability of Earth’s ecosystems enable all species to thrive. In this new age of ecocide, we need to focus first on Earth’s ability to sustain life through its vibrant ecosystems. We need an Earth-ethic that changes our worldview to include all that God has created on this planet.

As the Church we need to help direct people back to the life-giving path.We are called to choose life by educating each other, holding each other accountable and challenging the powers that willfully wreak havoc upon creation for personal gain. Faith communities must see the task of equipping people to grapple with complex environmental and sociopolitical challenges as part of their mission to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly throughout God’s creation. 

In an unprecedented time of ecocide, this is what to a greater extent than at any time in history it means to “choose life.”

“There is a choice you have to make in everything you do.
So keep in mind that in the end, the choice you make makes you.”
—John Wooden