CANADA'S BEST-KNOWN comedian, Rick Mercer, dark humor indicates the gravity of global climate change. The sketch is a mock television commercial in which a man explains the government's new recycling program. He announces that in addition to the curbside collection of glass and plastic in blue boxes, gray boxes for paper, and green for biodegradables, the government is now introducing the white box for the collection of polar bears. Then he proceeds to hoist an expired polar bear into a large white box and wheels it out to the curb for collection, while explaining that pickup of the white box contents will happen on alternate Tuesdays.

Of course, behind this sketch lies the unfortunate truth that the polar bear's habitat is melting away—something that, along with other signs of climate change, is no laughing matter, be it in Canada, in Brazil (which contains most of the Amazon—"the lungs of the world"), or in other countries.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stated that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic [man-made] greenhouse gas concentrations." How has it happened that humanity finds itself in this situation?

While historians will probably be debating what happened culturally, scientifically, and technologically in the 20th and 21st centuries for millennia, I've found that the Bible offers intelligent insights on what humanity is doing mentally and on the effect this is having on the environment.

Most readers of this magazine likely know the Biblical allegory of Adam and Eve (see Gen. 2:4–3:24). In this story, Eve is minding her own business in the garden of Eden when a talking serpent arrives on the scene. The serpent convinces Eve that God is really lying when He says that eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would be a bad thing. According to the serpent, eating that fruit would actually be a very good thing! Eve takes the fruit and shares it with Adam. They're ejected from the garden, and humanity lives unhappily ever after.

If you look at the book of Genesis, in which the story of Adam and Eve is found, you might be surprised to learn that there's another story of creation that just precedes it. This is in the very first chapter of Genesis. There, God gives man, representing each of us, "dominion"—or, if you will, guardianship over the earth—and endows man with dignity and innocence out of God's goodness and grace.

In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy interpreted these stories in a radically innovative way (see pp. 501–557). According to her spiritual interpretation, the first story indicates who we truly are as free, loving children of our loving Parent, God. In contrast, the second story, rather than being a biography of the human race, can be seen as an allegory rich in spiritual lessons.

One of the main points to be drawn from the second story is that a sense of man as being out of control and able to upset the natural order of things is a flawed view of ourselves and of the natural order. According to this line of reasoning, evil has corrupted us to at least some degree, and nature, or the natural order, is vulnerable as a result.

Couldn't we then consider the climate change caused by humanity a contemporary living out of this second story of creation? Collectively, humanity would think that we are inherently selfish and then live out that collective thinking, just as children who are consistently told by adults that they are bad believe this, and live out that false sense of themselves. But what would happen if a child came to see himself or herself not as selfish but as good and loving? Of course, his or her behavior would change. In the same way, as individuals all over the world put off a limited, self-centered (you could even say a polluted) sense of themselves as being selfish and shortsighted, their damaging behavior will change.

Another insight that we can gain from these two creation stories is that creation is not a complex set of ecosystems that are vulnerable and subject to potential abuse. Rather, spiritual ideas make up creation, which is actually spiritual.

Infinite Spirit, God, is the sole Creator. And because Spirit is infinite, nothing exists apart from, or in addition to, God.

Everything that exists is actually Spirit's reflection and therefore manifests the eternal perfection of God.

This view of ourselves and of our world as spiritual reflections of God comes to uplift and redeem each of us and our common world environment. As we accept our spiritual nature as children of God, it changes us morally, making us better stewards of our own lives and of the natural world.

When I first learned of the book Science and Health and its teaching that each of us is spiritual, it changed the way I viewed myself. I started to expect harmony with others to be the norm. I had two difficult relationships within my family. I'd never really appreciated one of my siblings, and I hadn't felt I had anything in common with my father. But I began to think more about what I could give in those two relationships. To my great delight, I found that I could help my sibling and that we actually had much in common. Relative to my father, I saw that I could take an interest in the things that he was interested in, even if I wasn't involved in them.

Basically I became less self-centered, and that was reflected in better relationships with both of these relatives. These better relations that I have with my whole family, as well as many other changes for the better that I've made in my life, encourage in me the conviction that all humanity can make the moral improvements necessary to alter the behavior that's causing climate change.

But improving human character is sometimes hard. It requires detecting selfish thinking, or sin, becoming persuaded of one's need to change, and then persisting, if necessary, in putting that desired change into practice. Becoming purer and having higher motives can be tough work. But it's our individual and collective willingness to make those changes that contributes to improving the environment.

Another analogy: Murals have existed on cave walls and in other settings for thousands of years. In the 20th century, Mexican muralists like Diego Rivera and David Siqueiros painted huge murals that depict everyday life and the struggles of ordinary people. But imagine a mural that's much, much bigger. Now call that mural the world around us. We all contribute to that mural—not with paint but with our thoughts. So for example, all of the thoughts that everyone has about a city such as Rio de Janeiro, or New York, or Hong Kong, make the city what it is. Do we think of that city as dirty and even dangerous? Or do we see it and its citizens as being spiritual children of one infinitely good God? The way we see our own city and the way we see the world around us can make a huge difference.

As we view the world and its inhabitants as spiritual, our own behavior and that of others relative to the environment will improve. Destructive action such as the wasteful use of energy will lessen. God will lead us to new technologies that make better use of Earth's resources. We will realize more fully the reality of that first story of Genesis, in which God declares everything He sees as being "very good."

Beyond changing human behavior, global warming presents us with a collective opportunity to improve the quality of our thinking. Jesus once commented that his disciples said that in four months harvest would come. But, in contrast, he told them, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest" (John 4:35). How encouraging to know that we can uplift our thinking about ourselves and others and see immediately the good results on our common beautiful home, the Earth! |css

Reprinted from the Portuguese Herald, O Arauto da Ciencia Crista