Many civilizations have come and gone since the first city was built five thousand years ago. Egyptian Civilization lasted three thousand years, while others, like the Roman Empire were gone after a few centuries. They all ended; some by slow decline, others in a moment of history.
Civilizations die because in feeding themselves they overburden the land, use up mineral resources they cannot replace and ignore the needs of those beyond their borders. Ur of the Chaldees from which Abraham came, was once fertile plains that stretched to the horizon, now it is largely sand and rock, modern Iraq. The sheltering trees were cut down, wind eroded the soil until all that could grow was the poverty of its people and the greed of its rulers. Much the same can be said of Babylon and Assyria.
What will be our civilization’s future be if we continue to ignore the lessons of history?
When a civilization in former times failed its inhabitants could move on to places where forests still stood, and rivers still flowed clean and clear. Now, our civilization is world-wide. When we run out of oil and trees, when the earth is tired and barren and the sea and the sky are polluted there is nowhere else for us to run.
Easter Island, once lush and green, stands testimony to what can happen where the danger signs are ignored, and Man continues to take, take, take from the earth giving nothing back. We all live on another kind of island floating in space, it is called Planet Earth. If we do not learn the lessons of history, and take care of the planet where we live, then like Easter Island the day will come when no human being lives in our World; the brief chapter which was human history will end. The greed and cruelty of our species will be forgotten. Only God will remember that we might have lived in Eden, but instead chose our own extinction.
The story of Creation in Genesis One and Two was never meant to be history, it was meant as a warning, written clear in Holy Scripture. God gave us the Earth to rule if we wanted to, but he also told us to be its gardeners and its caretakers. It is our only planet, let us not destroy it.
+Peter Fox.
Bishop of Port Moresby.
