Tag Archives: Bible

Why Abortion Isn’t Green

A friend once asked me, “Why are you an environmentalist?” In essence, he was asking me why I cared so much. Of all the issues to be passionate about in life, why the environment?

I wasn’t sure how to answer him at first. I could have replied with any one of a hundred reasons. I thought about mentioning global warming, or cancer villages, or rainforest deforestation, or even oil spills. I had so many reasons that it felt impossible to answer the question with a single sentence.

But eventually, I decided to keep it simple. I told him that I was an environmentalist because I cared about protecting people.

In the end, I wasn’t an environmentalist because I cared that much about nature in itself. Preserving the earth’s ecosystems as its own end goal isn’t worth getting passionate about — but protecting people is.

Unfortunately, many environmentalists don’t share the same motivation. In their zeal to protect our planet’s beautiful ecosystems, they have forgotten the humane motivations behind their work. Instead of protecting people, they advocate that we kill them instead — in the form of abortion — to lower our environmental footprint (1).

They think that by having more children, we will only place greater pressure on the earth’s ecosystems. If we could only limit the birth rate, there would be fewer people alive to pollute, which would lower overall greenhouse gas emissions. Any method of population control, including killing the unborn, is a noble cause for the sake of the environment.

The Bible speaks so clearly against abortion that it leaves no room for debate. Even when a fetus is still in his mother’s womb, God considers him to be a human. As it says in one poem:

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. (Psalm 139:13-15)

From the moment of conception, we human beings bear the likeness of God’s image. Human life has sanctity — no one is allowed to arbitrarily take life away. As it says in the Bible: You shall not murder (Exodus 20:13). Terminating the life of another human, no matter how young or how small, regardless of the noble environmental intentions, is still murder.

The irony with abortion is that it doesn’t really solve any environmental crisis. In fact, we have many reasons to suspect that more abortions will simply increase our net environmental footprint.

The underlying root cause of environmental crises is overconsumption, not overpopulation. In the past, hundreds of millions of people inhabited planet earth without causing any of the environmental crises we face today. There were no problems with carbon emissions, landfills, e-waste, smog, or shrinking oil reserves. So clearly, these problems aren’t caused by overpopulation alone. It takes a short-sighted, modernized, Western culture to produce such catastrophes on a global scale.

A country’s population actually has very little to do with its levels of pollution. That’s because not all people pollute equally. The amount of pollution a person generates is roughly proportional to his wealth, since money represents control over natural resources. 80% of the world’s global income is controlled by the hands of 20% of the earth’s population. These wealthy 20%, located mostly in Western countries, are responsible for the vast majority of oil consumption, e-waste, and global warming. The remaining 80% of mankind survive on less than $10 each day; they are simply too poor to do much harm.

Ironically, it’s precisely those countries with low birth rates that are causing the most environmental damage. These nations tend to be wealthier and have stronger consumer cultures. Think of it like this: A single wealthy suburban American can produce more pollution than a hundred African slum-dwellers combined. The American lives in a McMansion, drives an SUV, takes cruise trips to Europe, eats fast food, and buys tablet computers. Slum-dwellers can’t really afford to do much besides buy food and water. And even when it comes down to basic essentials like water, we somehow manage to waste more per person as Americans than the rest of the world.

Fertility rate by country. Notice that the women in the Southern Hemisphere have lots of kids (3+ children per family) whereas women in the modern, Westernized nations in the Northern Hemisphere have far fewer children.

Carbon dioxide emissions per person per country. Notice that the most of our carbon emissions is coming from Western nations in the Northern Hemisphere.

Average daily water use per person by country. The average American uses around 10-30 times as much water as the average person from the Third World.

Encouraging a Westernized, child-free lifestyle, along with abortion, will probably make environmental crises worse. This is because families with children tend to pollute less per person than families without children. If a married couple has ten kids, they will be forced to spend most of their income on basic essentials like shelter, food, and clothing. Even if they wanted to pollute, they wouldn’t be able to afford to — they have too many mouths to feed. However, a married couple with dual-income and no kids will have plenty of extra cash. They’re more likely to buy sports car, SUVs, mansions with private swimming pools, round-the-world plane tickets, cruise vacations, and wide-screen TVs.

Clearly, what matters is not the absolute number of people on the planet, but our per person rate of pollution. This rate is determined by how much a society is influenced by our Western, consumer culture.

Sadly, most policymakers still think that murder by the millions is the appropriate solution. They’re even trying to export this atrocity to the developing world. Yet at the same time that we advocate abortion, we’re also advocating the American Dream.

We have seen this policy fail before. Since the 1970s, China has followed a one-child policy, which fines families for having two or more children. As expected, China’s population growth is slowing. However, its carbon footprint is growing exponentially. Within a few decades, it may even surpass the USA!

This child-free, consumer culture may also catch on in India. Yes, abortion would result in fewer people, but expect the total pollution to skyrocket. If more Indians start driving cars, eating fast food, and buying consumer electronics, pollution will rise even as the population remains stagnant.

Ultimately, there are two ways to view our planet earth:

On one hand, there are those believe that earth’s resources are scarce. Life is nothing more than an endless competition for limited natural resources like food, water, land, and oil. To survive, it is necessary to steal, attack, and kill. Unborn children aren’t human beings — they’re just competitors. So the less children we have, the greater our own share. Ultimately, this belief is either fueled by ignorance or by sheer greed.

On the other hand, there are those who believe that the earth has plenty. If society would only plan for sustainable development, there would be enough to share. Wise stewardship, not competition, would be the solution to our present environmental crises. If we only gave up consumerism, it would be possible to house, feed, and clothe all of earth’s billions of people.

There’s no false dilemma between caring for the environment and caring for humanity. They are one and the same. After all, that’s why I’m a Greenimalist — so that our future children can enjoy the earth for decades to come.

Abortion is murder, plain and simple. However, most environmentalists are willing to consider it. Grist, for example, consistently advocates this atrocity. These environmentalists forget that the reason we protect the environment is to protect people, which include the unborn.
Photo credits: tonrulkens, CC BY-SA. PlatypeanArchcow, public domain. Dbachmann, CC BY-SA. Date 360, United Nations Human Development Report 2006.

Why Don’t I Feel Rich?

14 Replies

Two years ago, if you had told me that I was fabulously wealthy, I would have laughed. Hsinya and I were mired in student loan debt. As newlyweds, we struggled each month just to pay the rent. At times, we were forced to pay for our tuition and groceries using credit cards. We studied hard, avoided parties, and did our best to live frugally. Still, each year, we kept slinking further into debt. Secretly, I thought of myself as being poor—pity me.

Relatively speaking, I truly was poor when compared to my richer neighbors. My friends were really living it up during college. Their parents paid for their tuition, room, and board. My friends had money to buy expensive clothing, laptops, and cars. They dined out, went on cruises, and studied abroad in luxury. Naturally, I felt justified to consider myself poor.

But that’s the funny thing about living in America. By surrounding myself with other rich people, I got a distorted view of reality.

As I began to learn more about the world, I started to realize how fabulously wealthy I already was. I was not merely comfortable, nor well-to-do, nor even affluent–I was filthy rich. I had been envying others, when all along I had little appreciation for how wealthy I already was.

I never understood what true poverty was. In America, even our poorest citizens are extremely well-off. Someone working for minimum wage can earn around $15,000 per year. According to the Global Rich List, that places him in the top 15th percentile in terms of global wealth. Minimum wage might not sound like a lot, but it’s enough to rent an apartment, to buy food, to get basic healthcare, and to build savings.

But you and I, as tech-savvy minimalists, probably earn far more than minimum wage. Most of us have college degrees, which places us well above the top tenth percentile in terms of wealth. In fact, most middle-class Americans probably fall in the top 1st percentile of wealth. We are incredibly rich people.

If $8/hr is financially equivalent to fabulous riches, how then does the other 90% of the world survive?

As it turns out, two thirds of the world survives on less than $10/day (1). That paltry amount is supposed to pay for all their food, shelter, and clothing needs. I can’t imagine how anyone survives on such a meager income. I’ve had meals where the appetizer alone cost more than $10. Yet the rest of the world somehow manages to get by.

Consider this:

As we gripe about minimum wage in America, sweatshop workers in Costa Rica are gladly working for $1/hr. For such great pay, they’re willing to endure grueling conditions to manufacture the clothes that we wear.
As we enjoy our latest and greatest electronics, scavengers in India are collecting the obsolete computer parts we throw away. Our e-waste contains valuable metals that they salvage for scrap production. But first, they must burn off the impurities, which exposes them to hazardous mercury fumes on a daily basis.
Though we often complain about our food, refugees in Sudan don’t have any choice. Each day, they receive a daily ration of rice and beans, mostly donated through charities. Each entire meal costs only a few cents per person.
While America was complaining about rising gasoline prices in the Middle East, the poor in Tunisia were literally setting themselves on fire. In an effort to protest their poverty, they doused themselves with oil and burned themselves to death.

Poverty is very real. We’re only a plane-ticket away from seeing it firsthand.

My life has been amazing. I’ve never once worried about contracting malaria. I’ve never been homeless, nor have I ever feared starvation. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with the reverse problem: excess. As a child, I was morbidly obese. By the time I was 12 years old, I weighed over 215 pounds. I had too much to eat, not too little. I didn’t exercise because I could afford to drive everywhere. Instead of playing sports, I watched TV and played video games inside my enormous house.

I thought I was poor, but I had never seen real poverty. By most global standards, I was actually insanely rich; I just didn’t realize it.

Suddenly, I remembered what Jesus taught.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

This passage does not apply only to those whom we perceive to be rich. It speaks to every Christian in the Western World; we are incredibly rich people. Being rich isn’t a sin, but being ungrateful is. We ought to put our excess money for God’s purposes—for charity, for preaching the Bible, for reaching lost souls, for encouraging the persecuted church. But all too often, we are secretly dissatisfied with the material riches that we have received. Judging by the way we whine about our money, it’s clear our hearts aren’t set on heaven—we’re still stuck on acquiring more earthly treasures.

Each day, I’m presented with two choices.

On one hand, I can ignore what I’ve learned and return to a normal life filled with ungratefulness and envy. After all, thinking about real poverty and true heavenly riches is a tremendous emotional burden. I’d rather just whine about my low salary and the high cost of taxes.

On the other hand, I can be honest with myself. I have been blessed with so many material riches from my heavenly Father. Am I using them for the sake of the Kingdom of God?

According to Global Issues, 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day, and almost half the world—over three billion people—live on less than $2.50 a day.
Photo by GlacierTim, CC BY-NC.

Are You Chasing After the Wind?

11 Replies

Minimalism can be a powerful tool for helping you chase your dreams. Once you start living a low-cost lifestyle, you’ll find yourself with more time, money, and freedom than you could have ever imagined. By passing up on the American dream, you’ll suddenly have the ability to quit your 9-to-5 job, start your own business, travel the world, and live life on your own terms.

Which, actually, is why I’m worried.

Living life on your own terms, while it can be more fun, isn’t much of an improvement over the American dream. In the long run, it’s still a chasing after the wind.

Many minimalists teach us to chase our dreams today because our time on earth is limited. Anything that stops us from achieving our goals is just wasting our precious time. So we’ve learned not to let our house, car, television, or career stand in the way of what’s important to us.

It all makes sense, except for one aspect. Have you ever stopped to wonder why we’re all in such a rush to accomplish our dreams?

It’s because we’ll all eventually die.

No one wants to admit that death is looming in the background of all our major life decisions. We prefer euphemisms instead: time is limited, seize the day, live a radical life. But we’d be more honest if we just bluntly admitted the truth: one day, death is going to take away all our life’s joys. And there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. So we’re all in a hurry to make the best with what little time we have.

The problem with chasing your dreams is that, even if you accomplish them, it won’t make a difference. You can live a life full of exciting adventures, but when you die, none of it will matter. Life experiences are just as futile as the American Dream. It’s just a less materialistic version of the same pointlessness.

I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. (Ecc 1:14)

For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. (Ecc 3:19-20)

It turns out that there is an eternity ahead of us, awaiting us after our current life. Pursue life today as if eternity matters, because one day God will judge us for what we’ve done in this life, whether that’s living the American dream or escaping the rat race. Our ultimate fate in life–death–is a result of the sinful, evil nature of man. Eventually, the Bible teaches that we’ll face the wrath of God for whatever life we choose, conventional or extraordinary, if we lived it apart from the Christ.

Greenimalist living can become a trap if we squander all our new-found freedom and wealth for endless world travel and life adventures. But Greenimalist living can also be used for the glory of God, if we use it to love God and our neighbor. The key difference is to not live for today, but rather for the eternity to come.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecc 12:13-14)