Genesis 1 presents us with a portrait of creation buzzing with life.

There’s a diversity of plants, all with the ability to reproduce themselves and sustain the lives of others. Aquatic, avian, and terrestrial animals fill the waters, skies, and lands, finding plentiful nourishment from plants. And human beings carry the blessing and image of God as they too enjoy the earth’s rich botanical bounty.

At this point in the creation story, God has not yet given humans permission to kill animals and eat their flesh. That permission won’t come until after the flood and the establishment of God’s covenant with the earth in Gen 9:3, 13. But there’s more than enough food to go around, and the land and plants have the creative capacity to continue sprouting plants and bearing seed.

Simply recognizing the foundational role plants and soils play in human and animal welfare, according to Genesis 1, should be enough to inspire people to devote significant efforts to cultivating gardens, establishing green spaces, preserving vast stretches of forests, and sustaining seed stocks. Yet, we know that’s not the case when, “between 1990 and 2016,” human societies cut down “502,000 square miles (1.3 million square kilometers) of forest.”[1]

But beyond the general notion that plants are foundational, Genesis 1 gives us an even more explicit reason to pay attention to how we treat plants and soils. In verses 29-30, God explains to the humans,

We discover from these verses that God expects humans to share the earth’s provision of plants not only with each other but with all animals. For, after God blesses the human male and female and orders them to have “mastery among”[2] the other creatures, God designates their food source as plants with seed and fruit from trees. Then, demonstrating not only care for humans but also all animate life, God gives “every green plant” as food to all creatures that have the breath of life. It’s as if animals have been given a divine grant to green plants and to the healthy soils that produce them.    

However, because we humans tear up so many plants and pave over so much fertile soil, we put significant amounts of pressure on animal food sources (not to mention the sources of food for indigenous people). By disrupting and removing native forests, replacing fruit and seed-bearing native plants with manicured lawns, and spraying large expanses of land with herbicides (as in most forms of agriculture today),[3] we remove the plants on which God’s creeping, crawling, prowling, flying creatures depend.

Now, of course, we humans have to eat too. But I’m willing to bet that many of us could reduce and change our consumption patterns so that fewer rainforests, for example, are cut down (often to make way for beef cattle, soybeans, or palm plants). We could prod ourselves, our relatives, our friends, and our colleagues to consider the common good—of humanity and the rest of God’s creation—when we purchase something and otherwise make decisions about how we use land. Genesis 1 teaches it’s not just about us and the gratification of our own desires. God expects us to share this beautiful and bountiful planet with all. How might you support the ecological common good in 2020? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

For information about rainforest protection and sustainable agriculture, see:

• Rainforest Alliance, https://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
• Rainforest Partnership, https://rainforestpartnership.org/our-approach/
• ECHO, https://www.echonet.org/
• Rodale Institute, https://rodaleinstitute.org/
• The Land Institute, https://landinstitute.org/

For interesting discussions of how some human societies have positively supported biodiversity and ecosystem stability, see:

• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• “Study of human impact on food webs and ecosystems yields unexpected insights” by Jenna Marshall (https://phys.org/news/2019-02-human-impact-food-webs-ecosystems.html)

What organizations and resources do you recommend? Leave suggestions in the comment box and don’t forget to subscribe!

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[1] Christina Nunez, “Climate 101: Deforestation,” National Geographic  (February 7 2019), https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/.

[2] Ellen Davis suggests this translation rather than “dominion over” [Ellen F. Davis, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture : An Agrarian Reading of the Bible (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 55.].

[3] I’ll discuss the negative ecosystem effects of herbicides in detail in a future “Creation” post.