Osprey on man-made nesting pole, near Grand Lake, CO
The media often represents our time as one of ecological doom. We do have our ecological challenges but I think a look at our history of overcoming ecological challenges should give us great hope.
As a boy I remember seeing a periodical with a dead fish on the shore of Lake Erie with the caption, “Lake Erie is Dead”. Today the fish population of Lake Erie, although not perfect, is well managed.
When I was a boy living in Colorado, turkey and elk were seldom seen, now they are common place. At the same time the Front Range Mountains of Colorado often could not be seen due to the heavy particulate contamination present in diesel trucks and buses. The Front Range still has a pollution problem but the sky’s are much cleaner than they were decades ago.
Later I moved to Texas and became a bird watcher. I remember seeing my first Osprey at Armand Bayou Park in Houston, Texas. This was a rare sighting as Osprey populations had plummeted due to being adversely affected by the use of DDT as a pesticide. Now through legislative, ecological, and community efforts to save these magnificent birds, Osprey populations in the U.S. have grown from numbers in the hundreds to an estimated population of over 400,000 today.
Still later as an older adult I had a conversation with two college grads. They had been told that mankind was in an unavoidable direct hit with a total global disaster, the planet was going to be destroyed by infrared radiation due to the growing ozone hole letting infrared light into the atmosphere. The ozone hole did increase from 1970 to 1995 but has since stabilized. Many think this was due to the adoption of the Montreal Protocols (adapted in 1987 with implementation beginning in 1989) and others think that the ozone hole naturally oscillates due to a variety of natural phenomena. It is likely both have contributed to the stabilization of the ozone hole.
I am an engineer by trade and I don’t have all the scientific answers but I am also a study of history. I know mankind has a proclivity of messing things up and a proclivity of thinking the world is headed toward certain doom, but also mankind has been given the grace to rectify and restore.
“Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth.” ~ Genesis 1:26
We are made in the image of our Lord. Our dominion should be a peaceful, life-giving dominion like that of our Lord that “who makes his rain shine on the just and unjust”. So don’t lose hope, with God’s grace, and working together, we can prevail.
Peace be with you.
Your friends at A Nature Walk with God