By Molly Conrad
I believe it is God’s plan that we all be good stewards of his creation. We can do this in our homes, our parishes and in our schools. Not only should it be a privilege, but it is our responsibility to care for the resources and the environment of the earth and every living creature. To help fulfill our commitment of caring for God’s creation, we can start by identifying important objectives in relation to our individual daily lives. We can accomplish these objectives by looking at environmental issues in awareness, energy and water, waste, materials and travel.
The first step in protecting God’s creation is making sure others know its importance. We need to continually inform all generations of the importance of our environment and what we can do to protect it from the challenges we face. It is necessary to educate others about this commitment. It is also important that we are made aware of any environmental regulations within our county, state, country and world.
It would be of great help to our environment if we use both water and energy as needed and reduce its use whenever possible. Our resources are very valuable to our society and we are very valuable to our resources’ existence. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves simply to shut the lights off when leaving a room or to turn off the faucet when brushing our teeth.
We can minimize material waste by encouraging recycling, reusing or repairing. Many times we are anxious to get rid of what may have another benefit to our environmental needs. When disposing of waste, we need to make sure it is done in a safe and responsible way.
The loss of trees means that nature’s natural cycle is broken. Even though we may need the wood for firewood, building materials or animal bedding, it is harmful to our environment because it is taking away oxygen supply, habitats and shelter. The harvesting of trees is also adding to global warming issues.
Travel by automobile should also be limited to help reduce air pollution and fuel usage. Ways to do this are by carpooling, not traveling as much or using public transportation. Other ways include riding bikes or walking when possible, which also provides good exercise.
God gave us an amazing creation to take care of. It is our job to make every attempt to take care of it and respect it. One action leads to another and if we all join in, we as human beings can change the world for the better. We owe it to God our creator; we owe it to our friends; family and neighbors; we owe it to all living things on earth, and we owe earth itself to be good stewards as God has asked.
(Molly Conrad is a seventh-grader at Holy Trinity Catholic Junior/Senior High School in Fort Madison. She is a member of St. Mary Parish in West Point.)
