Extinction

A key word scientists use to describe the biodiversity crisis may surprise you. “Extinction” literally refers to putting out a fire or light, and some of its early uses appear in Christian texts. The 1549 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, for example, petitions Christ to “grant that all sin and vice here may be so extinct” and so extinguish the fire of one’s sin. Other uses of the word are perhaps more familiar. In the King James Bible, an exasperated Job cries, “My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me” (17:1), and the Oxford English Dictionary declares “the dodo went extinct.” This last example is what we might recognize. The passenger pigeon, ivory-billed woodpecker, or any number of other creatures come to mind. But a scientific account of animals and plants cannot by itself describe the significance of extinction. Driving an entire group of creatures to oblivion is more than a biological act: it is the extinguishing of a light kindled by the One whom James refers to as “the Father of lights” (1:17). Extinction is a theological act.

What Is a Species? How Many Are There?

Knowing how many kinds of animals and plants there are on this planet first requires a definition of what a species is. Scientists generally agree that two individuals belong to the same species if their offspring can reproduce themselves. For example, horses and donkeys are different species, so their offspring, mules, are infertile. This does not make counting species easy work, however. Rugged mountains, inaccessible tropical forests, and deep ocean floor communities are little-studied, and they still harbor many unknown creatures. Despite this, a good current estimate is that there are about 10 million kinds of plants and animals. Each year ecologists find and describe astonishing new kinds of birds, frogs, fish, plants, cats, and even monkeys. We read in Genesis 2;19 that God brought creatures to Adam “to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.” Adam’s work continues today—we are still naming and counting creatures.

Is There an Extinction Crisis?

Geological studies show that species come and species go. What is the expected rate of extinctions due to natural causes? Except for cataclysmic events like the one that killed off the dinosaurs, evidence from ancient marine deposits indicates that about one species in a million disappears every year. Taking this to be a ‘normal’ or background rate of loss, we can then tally extinctions in the last few centuries to assess human impacts. Studies of various organisms (birds, mussels, fish, and plants) show that these groups are now disappearing more than 100 times faster, and in some cases up to 1,000 times faster, than the background rate. Even worse, the number of species currently threatened with extinction far exceeds those recently lost, bringing future extinction estimates to potentially 10,000 times the ‘normal’ rate. How is this happening?

How do Humans Cause Extinction?

The primary human causes of declines in plants and animals are habitat loss and hunting. People are clearing more land, eating more food, and producing more waste than ever before in history. Other significant causes are the introduction of non-native species and diseases, pollution, and climate change. My own research on sea turtles examines how stronger and longer-lasting hurricanes (from warmer oceans) affect sea turtle reproduction. Sea turtles nest on beaches, and their nests are flooded and washed away by heavy rains and storm surges from hurricanes. One might think, “Hurricanes have been around as long as sea turtles, surely the turtles can handle it!” This logic ignores that sea turtle populations have already declined 90% or more in the past centuries, and that the beaches where they nest are fewer and farther between. Active hunting, coastal beach development, and incidental captures in commercial fishing nets brought us to where we are now. Sea turtles are already threatened worldwide without warmer oceans, higher sea levels, and more intense hurricanes. Climate change merely exacerbates their plight.

Dr. Kyle Van Houtan is an ecologist at Emory University. This fall he’s teaching a class in ecology and Christian ethics to students from biology, environmental studies, religion, and divinity. Kyle is a regular contributor to Creation Care. If you have questions for future columns about environmental science or ethics, write to kyle.vanhoutan@gmail.com.

Further reading from the scientific literature:

• J. H. Lawton & R. M. May. 1995. Extinction Rates. Oxford University Press. Oxford, UK.
• N. Myers, R. A. Mittermeier, C. G. Mittermeier, G. A. B. Fonseca & J. Kent. 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature. 403: 853-858.
• S. L. Pimm. 2004. A Scientist Audits the Earth. Rutgers University Press. New Jersey.
• K. S. Van Houtan & O. L. Bass. 2007. Stormy oceans are associated with declines in sea turtle hatching. Current Biology. 17(15): R590-591.

Related article: Peter Illyn’s “A Covenant with Creation” appeared in the same issue of Creation Care magazine.

Fifteen years ago I cut my teeth as an environmental activist by building theological support for the protection of species and biological diversity. My story is simple. After 10 years as an evangelical minister, I bought two llamas and went on a 1,000 mile hike up the spine of the Cascade Mountains. During the four months of hiking, I developed a heart-felt relationship with the mountains, the meadows, the groves of trees, the songbirds, and the elk. Day after day, I sensed the praise and worship that Scripture says all parts of creation are offering to God. It was a sacred time.

Extinction Isn’t Stewardship

But it was also a conflicted time.

I came out of my wilderness pilgrimage and into a natural world in crisis. Spotted owls and salmon species in the Pacific Northwest were declared endangered, threatened by extinction due to habitat destruction from clear-cut logging, hydroelectric dams, and overfishing.

After years of warnings from biologists that the logging industry was taking too much of the forest and too many ancient trees, and that there would be serious repercussions for rivers and streams, species, and people, conservationists took legal action. Controversy grew, fueled in part by lawsuits and in part by the pain people had been feeling for some time as mills closed due to over harvesting and economic changes in the global timber market. Effigies were burned; anonymous phone calls were made.

Restoring Eden, the parachurch Christian ministry I now lead, got its start when I wrote a letter to the editor explaining my activism: “I’m a conservative Christian, a farmer and an outfitter. I still get thrilled at seeing a bald eagle fly by, or a salmon swim past, or by looking up at an ancient tree so tall it makes me dizzy. That is what I am standing up for.”

In writing that letter I entered a debate that had been framed with false dichotomies: jobs vs. the environment or man vs. nature. Protecting biodiversity was portrayed as pitting logging communities against fishing communities, rather than as a common sense way to ensure a richness of nature and resources for future generations. As soon as my letter was published in the newspaper, my phone began to ring, and it has never really stopped. Some called to argue with me that since God loves humans more than sparrows, we don’t need to worry about creation. Others called to thank me for speaking out, because in their hearts they knew the earth was “good” and they couldn’t figure out how to open their neighbors’ “eyes of the heart” (Ephesians 1:18) to the love they had for creation.

As a minister, I was speaking out for the interconnectedness of ecosystems and endangered species, but in doing so I also knew I was protecting the fruitfulness of creation upon which all life-including human life-depends. It was a sacred trust.

But in the mid-90’s, not everyone saw protecting biodiversity as a sacred trust. A strong attack on species protection was being launched in Congress. I participated with a group of Christian leaders in a press conference in Portland, Oregon to lend support to the moral call to protect God-ordained biodiversity. And I created a bumper sticker of an ICTHUS fish with a salmon inside. The text was straightforward: “Extinction isn’t stewardship.”

In the Pacific Northwest we had a choice-could short-term economic desires be allowed to unstitch the interconnected strands of ecosystems, species, watersheds, and climates? We were advocating that human-caused unraveling of the web of life is ultimately a foolish and short-sighted choice.

Back in 1996, largely because of the work of evangelical Christians, a group of moderate Republicans voted against gutting the Endangered Species Act, the main U.S. law that protects the integrity of the community of life. At a Washington, D.C. press conference, Christian environmentalist Cal Dewitt, speaking with a live cougar at his side, staked an evangelical stand that protecting species is the current expression of an ancient covenant between God, Noah’s descendents, and every living creature.

This evangelical stand on protecting biological diversity was instrumental in thwarting the immediate attack, but as soon as the press conference ended, the counter-arguments began. Most were based on short-term economic, not biblical, premises: that if someone could profit financially from extracting a natural resource, even if that meant destroying critical habitat and imperiling species, his or her right to make a profit would trump any other arguments based on morality, longer-term economics and sustainability, or the common good.

The case for the economic and utilitarian employ of nature is a legitimate one, but it doesn’t invalidate all other values and moral arguments. If it did, we should sell our sons to the salt mines and our daughters to the brothels. The church has always taught that we can’t serve both God and money.

Scripture’s Word on Biological Diversity

The theology for protecting species is unambiguous: Plants and animals have an inherent right to be fruitful and to thrive as God has commanded them. In Genesis alone, we read that God created the different species and called them good. God blessed them and told them to fill the earth. God protected the different species by bringing them to the Ark. And lastly, God covenanted with Noah and “with all life on earth for all generations to come” (Genesis 9:12).

Historic Christian theology has also taught that ecosystems reveal the wisdom of God and that species sing praises to him. Psalm 24:1 reads, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” Colossians 1:16 says that “all things were created by Him and for Him.” Psalm 145:10 reads, “All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.” In Genesis 1:31 we read that God saw “ALL that he had made, and it was VERY good.” We’ve just become tone-deaf and heart-blind to the beauty of the world’s songs of praise.

In Matthew 24:45 Jesus asks, “Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?” When we read this verse through the lens of creation care, instead of declaring that biodiversity and species serve little purpose and have no inherent rights, we read that if creation is a part of the God’s household, humans are called to make sure their biological needs are met. (The phrase “food at the proper time” is also used in Psalm 104 to describe how God provides for wild animals.) What God created, blessed, protected, and covenanted with is not ours to exterminate.

Renaissance and Revitalization: Christians Helping Irreplaceable Species

A new threat has emerged in recent years, imperiling people, plants, and animals: Climate change. Creating rapidly shifting weather patterns, rising temperatures, stressed ecosystems, shifting disease patterns, and loss of key food and shelter, it is predicted to hurt people-especially the poor, young, and elderly-and imperil 20-30 percent of the earth’s species, with 60 percent in danger in some areas.

But there is hopeful news about climate change. A church revival is happening. The church is expanding its understanding of community to one that is large enough to allow plants and animals to be seen as beloved parts of the heart and household of God. Christians recognize something flawed in a concept that justifies driving species to extinction for the sake of profit or because of the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of riches (Matt 13:22). This renaissance shares a greater sense of interconnectedness with nature and recognizes the link between our environmental impact and our moral responsibility. I am not responsible for all contributors to climate change. I am responsible, however, for the car I drive, the light bulbs I buy, the ecosystems I protect, and the conservation laws I support.

This revitalization is most evident in younger Christian leaders. Expect great things from them. They see a biblical mandate to struggle for the common good, and they are not frightened to stand alongside new allies to fight for the things dear to God’s heart.

A few years ago, I met with Congressman Dave Reichert, a Republican and a professing Christian from Washington State. I was asking him to vote for the protection of species. When I gave him one of my “extinction isn’t stewardship” stickers, he looked at it and said, “That’s wrong. We’re not called to be stewards. We’re called to be servants!” With that sense of servanthood, he has ever since been a voice for protecting the diversity and viability of species-a Christian call that is bigger than partisan politics and short-term profiteering. He is part of a new alliance of stewards with the courage and foresight to take a stand.

I am a part of just such a unique new coalition, one interconnected by faith, science, art, and conservation. We are religious leaders, scientists, photographers, and secular environmental groups. We have united around a belief in our moral duty to safeguard imperiled plants and animals threatened by climate change, an understanding that such protection defends systems and species vital for our own well being, and a joy in the wonder of all life.

The result of our coming together is the uplifting photography exhibit and educational campaign Irreplaceable: Wildlife in a Warming World. We have called it Irreplaceable because something that is irreplaceable is too priceless to lose. While we represent different ideologies, beliefs, and histories, we are connected by a similar sense of moral responsibility that, when united, can be a powerful agent for change. See pages 10-14 for some of the stunning Irreplaceable photos and go to www.irreplaceablewild.org for more inspiring images.

God’s Irreplaceable Creation

A recent Southern Baptist document states, “We must care about environmental and climate issues because of our love for God. This is not our world, it is God’s. Therefore, any damage we do to this world is an offense against God Himself. We share God’s concern for the abuse of His creation.”

The Baptists are right. God calls us to a theology of engaged stewardship. When Bible-believing Christians see in Psalm 104:24 that “In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures,” it is easy for them to understand that God cares about ecosystems, living communities of life, and a creation full of wonder, beauty, and interconnectedness.

I thank God for the clear eyes and sharp ears of children, and for the wisdom of nature lovers in the church. These members of the Body still whisper “hush!” and remind us of how to squint our eyes and cup our hands around our ears. They teach us to see the beauty of creation and to hear its songs of life. They will teach us the songs of praise. They will remind us of what is truly irreplaceable.

Peter Illyn is the Executive Director of the ministry Restoring Eden.

Related article: Kyle Van Houtan’s Science Gateway article on Extinction and Its Causes. Science Gateway is a regular feature of Creation Care magazine.