These are merely questions that I have posed to myself. They are personal opinion, and thoughts, and should be taken as such. They are not meant to be a criticism of anyone's belief system, only to be personal musings.

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The Environment
 
Whose garden was this? It must have been lovely
Did it have flowers? I've seen pictures of flowers,
and I'd love to have smelled one.
Whose river was this? You say it ran freely?
Blue was its colour? I've seen blue in some
pictures, and I'd love to have been there.
Tell me again I need to know.
The forest had trees, the meadows were green,
the oceans were blue, and birds really flew?
Can you swear  that its true?
Whose gray sky was this? Or was it a blue one?
You say there were breezes? I've heard records of
breezes and I'd love to have felt one.
Tell me again I need to know.
The forest had trees, the meadows were green, the oceans were blue and birds really flew?
Can you swear that its true?
Whose garden was this? It must have been lovely.
Did it have flowers? I've seen pictures of flowers and I'd love to have smelled one.
Tell me again I need to know, tell me again I need to know!
              
Tom Paxton 1970
 
The first time I heard this song, I cried. This scenario could well play itself out in the not too distant future. Man is bent on the destruction of this planet on which we live. Over the course of our history we have raped the land, polluted the air and water, cause the extinction and near extinction of many species of life that shared this planet, and came close time and time again to destroying ourselves.

Oil spills, strip mining, nuclear waste, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, the systematic deforestation of the Amazon, the hole in the ozone, air pollution, are but a few examples of man's poor stewardship of Mother Earth. A teacher once told me that if man were to vanish from the planet for just 50 years, the Earth would restore itself. What does that say for man?
Most take the attitude that the Bible states that God will create a new heaven and a new Earth, therefore what happens to this planet is of little consequence, it will be destroyed and recreated anyway. They seem to feel that we can do as we please with our planet and let God clean up the mess in the end. Anyone concerned with the environment, or the effects of pollution on our planet is labeled as an "Earth-loving lunatic" or a "Tree hugger."

They say that God, upon the creation of man, gave him the earth to subdue and be master over. But what kind of master is it that destroys what he has been given care of? God placed Adam in the garden to tend and care for it, not cut it down, not to strip mine it, not to fill it with nuclear waste, and certainly NOT to bring about its destruction.
When was the last time you saw a stream, river or ocean so pure that you could drink from it without fear of becoming ill?  When was the last time you fished in that stream and not worried about eating what you caught for fear of mercury or some other chemical poisoning? When was the last time you took a deep breath and didn't smell a nearby chemical plant ,oil refinery or automobile exhaust? When was the last time you walked down a street and didn't see litter lining the curb?

You wouldn't think of allowing your home to become so filled with garbage that you couldn't live there, yet man does it to the Earth without a second thought. Whether or not it will be destroyed and recreated by God in the future is not the issue. We have to live here NOW.