I grew up in the green movement. Here’s why I’m rethinking things now that I’m a Christian

I grew up in the 1980s with parents who recycled even before it was fashionable, let alone mandatory.

We had a rainbow Greenpeace sticker in our car, and went to protests for ‘ban the bomb’ and against the building of new roads. I got a green Blue Peter badge for my club for campaigning about the ozone layer.

At age 13 I stumbled upon a book in the local left wing radical bookshop called The Teenage Vegetarian Survival Guide and upon learning about the horrible treatment of animals in factory farming I became vegetarian.

While I still care deeply about the environment, I think very differently now that I’m a Christian. I began to see how green policies can be quite destructive towards humanity and even the environment that they are supposed to be protecting.

For example, take the practice of rewilding. I recently moved to Northumberland where there is a longstanding tradition of sheep farming. Under financial pressure some sheep farmers and landowners are now selling their land to conservation charities to be ‘rewilded.’ Rewilding sounds very lovely, but when there is less land to grow food the UK needs to import it; this means fewer local jobs, and more resources used elsewhere to grow and transport the food back to us.

Until recently I lived in a house in Italy with a very wild garden. It wasn’t that we consciously chose to ‘rewild’ it, but just found it that way when we arrived. The weeds grew and the seeds they planted were often sharp burrs that would get stuck to my dog when she was playing fetch. These burrs can be harmful if ingested and require surgery to fix the problem. It struck me that nature is fallen just like us, so we can’t just leave it to its own devices.

This little lesson taught me that we must create an environment that suits us. Non-believers can have a tendency to idolise nature, I know I used to. It’s a Pagan belief; that nature is perfect, divine even. But in reality, when the fall happened it didn’t just affect humans but the entire world too.

We must also remember that it was part of the original mandate from God to Adam and Eve; that they were given the garden to tend and care for, not just leave it to go wild. God made the earth for us, whereas green ideology often implies that nature would be better off without humans entirely.

 It’s a Pagan belief that nature is perfect. When the fall happened it didn’t just affect humans but the entire world

Net Zero is another policy that has harmful effects on human life. Aggressively attempting to reach targets for ‘clean energy’ can result in low income families struggling with energy poverty. Net Zero can mean countries are incentivised to send manufacturing production abroad to reduce their carbon emissions. This means less local jobs, while pollution levels worldwide remain the same.

Having children is considered to be one of the worst things that we can do for our ‘carbon footprint.’ On a societal level many countries are struggling with the problems associated with having a low birth rate such as an ageing population with no labour force to take care of them.

While I’m not saying we go to the extremes of the ‘quiverfull’ movement, that forbade all forms of birth control, I can’t imagine that the God who told us to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ would be okay with such a negative view of procreation.

At age 33 I started eating meat again for health reasons. The experience of recovering instantly through eating a bit of bacon once in a while led me to have a strong aversion to the pushing of vegetarianism for environmental reasons. While I look forward to the day when “the wolf shall live with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6), I also believe that human bodies in a fallen world sometimes need meat.

Many environmental policies make me think of 2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”

Just because something has been given a positive spin does not mean it’s going to be ultimately good for humanity or the earth. In a fallen world, any radical ideologies without Christ at the centre are going to be harmful.

Nevertheless, I don’t think that the answer is to have a kneejerk reaction against any policy that seeks to help us take care of the environment. Instead as believers we must prayerfully consider where the truth lies, and what we can do to keep Jesus and his love for people at the centre. In the beginning God’s creation was good, so I believe that the best solutions are ones that support human life as well as the planet. I don’t know how far we’ll get this side of heaven, but I do believe this is what we are called to do as Christians.