Everything Must Change • 8

Read Everything Must Change • 7.

In continuing his theme of the societal machine, Brian McLaren illustrates how this machine is not disconnected from the rest of the world (the environment), but how it interacts with it. The machine takes in matter and energy, matter in the form of raw materials, and energy in the form of oil, nuclear, hydroelectric, etc. The machine produces products and waste. The waste is divided into garbage/sewage and energy, which would be in the form of heat or radiation. (60f)

Some resources are non-renewable. Others can be replenished, but even these can be used up faster than they can be replaced. (61)

If the machine is small in comparison to the ecosystem in which it is contained, everything goes along fine. However, if not stewarded adequately, the machine can grow to the point where resources cannot keep pace with demand, and excess wastes build to toxic levels. (62)

McLaren points out the great LIE: That, of course, could never happen to us. (63) Falling for that kind of denial is what eventuates the societal machine turning into a suicide machine. (64)

Does humanity’s mandate to exercise dominion over the earth give us license to exploit its resources without restraint? Or do we have a responsibility to steward the planet so that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be blessed by the legacy we leave behind? On the other hand, how does our belief about the end times influence our behavior toward the earth?