Faith and questions of society · Question 9

“Doesn't the Church teach that only human beings matter and not the environment?”

A watercolor of caring together for trees, water, and life in a garden shaped like the earth

The question: “Didn't the Bible's ‘have dominion over the earth’ make people think they could use nature however they pleased?”

The Church's answer: Human beings are not owners who have taken the Creator's place but stewards charged with cultivating and caring for creation. The crises of climate, water and biodiversity are environmental problems and at the same time questions of life for the poor and for future generations. Alongside personal thrift, we have to demand the responsibility of corporations and states, a just transition and international solidarity.

An analogy — not the owner but the gardener for whoever comes next

A student put in charge of the school garden is not an owner free to pull up the flowers but a caretaker tending it so the next student can enjoy it too. The right to use carries the responsibility to look after.

The analogy shows that the right to use creation and the responsibility to preserve it belong together. It does not mean the earth is merely a garden, and real environmental policy has to examine the scientific data and the impact on the poor together.

First, the admission: Christians have treated creation as an endless supply of resources and blessed consumerism and development, and have ignored the voices of poor communities and Indigenous peoples who suffer the damage of pollution first. Readings that turned talk of the human being at the center into a permit for greed have to be corrected.

If they press further: “Are you saying we should block human development for the sake of the environment?” — Pushing the cost onto the poor is not just either. We have to find solutions that protect the development and the jobs that are needed while taking responsibility for the real cost of pollution and supporting vulnerable workers and regions.

In one sentence: “Catholicism doesn't tell us to consume nature as we please — it teaches the responsibility of caring for our common home, for the poor and for the generations to come.”