Jeremiah’s Faithfulness – A Model for Today?

In Jeremiah 32, we read that Jerusalem is being attacked by the Chaldeans and Jeremiah is imprisoned by King Zedekiah of Judah. Jeremiah’s cousin comes to him to ask him to buy a piece of land. Jeremiah agrees, even though purchasing property during wartime when you are in prison can be an unwise venture. As the Bible tells it, Jeremiah declared it was God who told him to buy the land, explaining that buying the land protects it for future generations. “Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be brought to the land” says verse 15.

This Biblical story has resonance for us in the 21st century. Today, protecting land is important for at least three reasons: the global extinction crisis, climate change and inequitable access to the outdoors. Since all three disrupt God’s creation and God’s people, land protection offers a remedy. A recent initiative announced by President Biden, “America the Beautiful”, aims to protect 30 percent of the land and waters in the U.S. by 2030. 

Each species that is lost triggers the loss of other species within its ecosystem.

Let’s look at those three reasons: First, healthy ecosystems depend on plant and animal species as their foundations. Each species that is lost triggers the loss of other species within its ecosystem. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. More than a century of habitat destruction, pollution, the spread of invasive species, over harvest of the wild, climate change, and other human activities have pushed nature to the brink.

Humans depend on healthy ecosystems to purify our environment. Without healthy forests, grasslands, rivers, oceans and other ecosystems, we will not have clean air, water, or land. If we allow our environment to become contaminated, we risk our own health.

Everyone in North America, no matter where they live, deserves access to outdoor opportunities

Second, inequitable access to the outdoors also impacts community health. Outdoor recreation is the most common way that Americans and Canadians come to know their public lands and waters and develop a stewardship ethic. Everyone in North America, no matter where they live, deserves access to outdoor opportunities and to have the benefits of nearby green spaces for their mental and physical health. COVID-19 made very clear that not everyone has safe and accessible local green spaces.

Interlaced with inequitable access to the outdoors and biodiversity loss is the challenge of climate change, the third reality.  It is clear to most Americans and Canadians that we are experiencing wildfires, droughts, intense heat waves, intensified hurricanes, storms, sea level rise, and floods which are exacerbated by human beings. Tragically, these impacts are not felt equally. Those who are on the frontlines of climate impacts are most often communities of color and low-wealth communities.

To slow extinctions, mitigate climate change and ensure equitable access to the outdoors, the President embraced a plan to conserve 30 percent of U.S. land and 30 percent of its ocean waters by 2030. Known as “30 x 30,” it is perhaps the most ambitious commitment to conservation by a U.S. president. 

Humans depend on nature for resilience to extreme weather events, illness, and invasive species attacks on our food systems.

Behind the catchy phrase is a simple, scientifically informed understanding that conserving 30 percent of the planet’s land and 30 percent of its water is required to protect roughly 75 percent of Earth’s species, slow climate change by storing carbon in plants and soil, and provide all Americans with access to the outdoors. 

Twenty-six percent of U.S. ocean waters are now protected, consistent with the goals of 30 by 30, but only 12 percent of the land. The goal of conserving 18 percent more of the land within this decade means protecting an area more than twice the size of Texas. It is an enormous challenge and requires carefully assembling a patchwork of not only public, but also private land. 

It’s imperative that the administration takes ambitious conservation action in 2022. With only three years left in the term and eight years left before 2030, the actions taken over the next year will determine if the United States meets its conservation goals. It is also important that faith communities take action to conserve their land. 

We understand that human flourishing is dependent on our relationship with creation. Humans depend on nature for resilience to extreme weather events, illness, and invasive species attacks on our food systems. Importantly, we must embed the call for environmental justice in conservation planning to ensure the life-sustaining benefits of nature are accessible to all people, especially communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities.

Perhaps there is a similarity between the faithfulness of Jeremiah to make an investment in the future of Judah so that returning exiles could enjoy the “Houses and fields and vineyards that shall again be brought to the land” and setting a goal for the United States to protect the land for the next generations.  

Photo by Mark Bosky on Unsplash