This is a post I originally wrote for Slant33. Re-posted with permission.
The Psalmist declares, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it” (Psalm 24:1, NRSV). “God saw everything that he had 
made, and indeed, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31, NRSV). God created human beings and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28, NRSV). “Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, NASB).
These verses make it clear that God created all that was made and declares that it was all very good. Human beings were entrusted to care for God’s creation.
God’s creative work was good and whole, so God ceased creating on the seventh day. Shalom saturated all of God’s creation, a shalom of wholeness, peace, and beauty. This shalom was to be the state in which all of God’s creation existed and flourished. But as the creation narrative unfolds, we are told that human beings sinned and disobeyed God, introducing a brokenness that would bring destruction and interruption to God’s shalom for all creation. Human beings are not the only part of creation to bear the consequences and brokenness of sin. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that creation itself is in bondage to decay and that the whole creation has been groaning.
Francis Schaeffer wrote, "...nature: it is not our own. It belongs to God, and we are to exercise our dominion over these things not as though entitled to exploit them, but as things borrowed or held in trust.
We are to use them realizing they are not ours intrinsically. Man's dominion is under God's dominion" (Pollution and the Death of Man, 1970, p. 69).
God’s mission is to redeem and restore creation to shalom. God is liberator and has invited the people of God to join as co-agents of restoration. Unfortunately, we have not cooperated very well with the Spirit of God. In fact, 
for the most part, it seems that we have worked against God’s plan. Wendell Berry declares, “Our destruction of nature is not just bad stewardship, or stupid economics, or a betrayal of family responsibility; it is the most horrid blasphemy. It is flinging God's gifts into his face, as of no worth beyond that assigned to them by our destruction of them”(Cross Currents, Summer93, Vol. 43 Issue 2, p149, 15p.). In response to Berry’s assertion, I pray, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me, a sinner.
How can we, God’s children, participate in such sloppy stewardship (at best) or flippant destructive behavior (as the norm) toward God’s wonderful creation? Yes, I understand how a whole generation of our fathers and mothers were turned off to environmental issues by tree-hugging crazies, but we must get beyond that stereotype and get on with recovering a theological and scriptural warrant for engaging in environmental justice.
Using the phrase “environmental justice” works for me for several reasons. First of all, our world belongs to God, and to misuse it is an injustice toward God. Secondly, it is often the poorest and most marginalized people who experience the greatest harm from a sick environment.
It wasn’t that long ago (40 years) when throwing trash out the car window wasn’t that big of a deal. But today, few people would even consider littering. The young people in our youth groups are much more environmentally aware today than the older generations of their youth workers. We have a wonderful opportunity to help them see that this is more than a political issue. This is a theological issue. This is a biblical issue. This is a spiritual issue. We must help our young people see how environmental care is a significant part of the narrative of God’s work of restoration.
I remember being mesmerized by the enchanted planet Pandora in the movie Avatar. The 3D animation allowed the flying creatures and animals to escape the screen and enter the movie theater. The luminescent fauna and flora were 
exotic. It hit me, as I watched the ground illuminate around each footprint of Neytiri and Jake as they navigated the mysteriously beautiful rainforest, that the planet I live on is equally enchanted. The beauty of creation is all around me—trees, flowers, clouds, sunsets, rainfall, thunder and lightning, waterfalls, mountains, streams, deserts; plus, creatures of all shapes, sizes, and kinds too numerous to count. What a wonderful world we live in, and what an amazing Creator we have. We have been blessed to live on such an amazingly beautiful planet. For the glory of God, let’s steward well that which has been entrusted to us by our Creator.
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