Sitting down on a Monday evening and switching the television on a few months ago, I was captivated by a documentary presented by Prince William called ‘A Planet for Us All’.  It made me realise once again how little we are doing as a global population to look after our planet.  During lockdown, I spoke to many who repeatedly recounted how lucky they felt to live in such a beautiful area - enjoying long walks amongst beautiful mature trees and woodland, rivers and brooks, stunning wildflower and pasture meadows, visiting local coastline.  So, surely it is our responsibility to look after this precious world that we live in – to preserve its beauty and fragility?

Genesis 2:15 says “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

I think most of all it is our responsibility to encourage the younger generation to adopt this mindset of nurturing and protecting our planet, to care for God’s creation.

I was full of admiration for the primary school children in Liverpool and Cornwall on the programme who showed so much passion about preserving the environment, beachcombing - picking up the litter and objects posing a threat to sea life, and planting wildflower seeds on a grass space in the middle of a suburb of Liverpool to attract bees and insects.  It made me think about what we can do as a community to protect our environment and encourage young people to do the same. It just takes a few with passion and inspiration to lead and the benefits could really make a difference!  Some suggestions could be: litter picking groups, no plastic wrapping policies in our schools and work packed lunches, changing the paper we use in our printers to 100% recycled, walk or cycle to school or work as much as possible. It is not always possible for us all, but even to do a little more than we are doing now – and in larger numbers – will surely have an impact.  So, why not try getting a group of you together – neighbours, family, friends – see if you can make a difference.  

After all, we have been given the gift of life on this precious Earth, for which we must be forever thankful to the Lord for all we have been given, and the least we can do is look after the planet where we live:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”  Revelation 4:11

Finally, a quote from Professor Wangari Maathai:

“You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.” 

This is a really useful website, if you would like any ideas, have a look.

Claire Arculus