Let Justice Roll Down Lesson Eight

Lesson Eight: Intergenerational Justice
Scripture: 2 Kings 22:20; 23:25; 23:29–30; 24–25; 25:27–30
Economic Climate Justice
The saying, “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children,” has been making the rounds. It has been variously attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Chief Seattle, Oscar Wilde and the Amish people, among others, and has been used by World Vision, the UN Environmental Programme, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and even the greeting card industry. According to this quote investigator, its most likely source is the farmer-writer-poet-environmentalist Wendell Berry in an essay called “The One-Inch Journey” in his 1971 book The Unforeseen Wilderness: An Essay on Kentucky’s Red River Gorge. After describing the predominant form life had begun to take that was, and continues to be, destructive of both the self and the world, Berry said:
But there is another form that life can take. We can learn about it from exceptional people in our own culture, and from other cultures less destructive than ours. I am speaking of the life of a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children; who has undertaken to cherish it and do no damage, not because he is duty-bound, but because he loves the world and loves his children; whose work serves the earth he lives on and from and with, and is therefore pleasurable and meaningful and unending; whose rewards are not deferred until “retirement,” but arrive daily and seasonally out of the details of the life of his place; whose goal is the continuance of the life of the world, which for a while animates and contains him, and which he knows he can never encompass with his understanding or desire (italics added).
This is a much more thoughtful context than the saying is usually allowed, and far more meaningful. While the quip we usually see can sound scolding, Berry’s wording—despite the masculine language that was common back in 1971—offers us something else. The sensibility that views the earth and its fullness as a treasure shared across generations does not arise from guilt. Rather, Berry observed, it grows from love: love for the world and love for children.
Someone said to me yesterday, “I hope I haven’t permanently messed up my kids.” Whether wisely or not, I replied, “We all mess up our kids, even when we mean not to. We were messed up by our parents too. But we are resilient and so are they.” Reflecting on this conversation later, I wished I had added, “But we go a long way toward healing those things when we make sure they know we love them. Not just in words but in what we do.”
In this post, in the spirit of not scolding but rather building on love, I’ll refrain, except in this single sentence, from criticizing the industries and their dependents (e.g., politicians) who, in their quest to satisfy and stimulate consumption and, more importantly, fatten shareholders’ bottom line, are stripping the earth bare of both its nonrenewable bounties and its beauty. Instead, I’ll invite us who are growing in the love Wendell Berry spoke of to consider how we may thoughtfully lighten our own ecological impacts and seek paths of least despoliation.
Even when we are besotted with the earth and our children, seeking paths of least despoliation in our present social world is a difficult balancing act. It involves several principles and hundreds of habit choices. Given that our ancestors did not generate carbon pollution, and produced far less waste than we do—not because they were more virtuous, but because opportunities had not yet multiplied—it is possible to evolve ourselves away from the high-carbon and high-waste lifestyle our society is caught up in. But it does mean making thoughtful choices to jump the accustomed tracks and do differently. It is good and worthwhile work, but it is work.
Our first move may be to reexamine our personal priorities. We’ve been taught a cheap thrift of both time and money that isn’t sustaining when it means spending less today on something shoddy to spend more tomorrow on its replacement. We’ve also been taught to seek our own pleasure as consumers—ever mounting stuff, ever growing choices, ever expanding entertainments. We must ask ourselves whether these matter more, or are more deeply satisfying, than actions that exhibit love for the earth and love for children.
Once we have the basics sorted, we may consider daily habits. It is admirable to reduce household waste by recycling. It is most effective if we reuse or even refuse first, and refrain from “aspirational recycling”—throwing stuff in the bins that will be rejected. And if we recall that glass, metals, paper and cardboard fully recycle, but plastic is not only a polluting substance made from oil but can never be recycled, only at best “down-cycled.”
How about starting with goods that minimize single-use plastic? Remembering what our parents and grandparents bought and how it arrived may help us seek alternatives. Tap water and home-brewed coffee and tea are easy. Returnable bottles for local milk. Reusable containers not only for grocery carrying but also for produce picking and bulk buying. New steps include toothpaste tabs, shampoo and conditioner bars, laundry detergent sheets, containers from home for restaurant leftovers and takeout, and frequenting farmers’ markets—and returning containers—and growing and/or preparing food ourselves, or repackaging snacks from bulk instead of buying little cups of applesauce, yogurt squeeze tubes, and Lunchables and all those pricey, wasteful “conveniences.” The list of can go on and on, only limited by our critical eye and imagination. Sick of endless yogurt cups, I first started buying by the quart and then stopped even that, making my own from glass-bottled milk. Not hard at all.
If we love both the earth and our children, we’ll consider not only our visible, material, local impacts but also the invisible things we use, like energy. We can migrate from gas to electric heat pumps and electric appliances. We can learn what our electric utility’s energy mix is (start here or learn more here) and, as needed, seek alternatives like rooftop or community solar.
I have a friend who, though he lives in a city lacking good transit, admirably and inconveniently gave up driving. He has equipped his bike with all manner of carrying devises and adapted to a slower pace. I admire him and cannot go that far. But I do drive a solar-powered EV. (For people who have been convinced to draw equivalency between the minerals mined once for EV batteries and the oil mined throughout the car’s life for fuel, this is a helpful, even-handed report. This article is less technical and calls out falsehoods.) The accelerating development of battery recycling and batteries that do not rely on precious metals is a hopeful development.
I also have friends who refuse to fly. Given that half of my spouse’s and my children live in distant states, an absolute ban would mean not knowing our grandkids. But when we can, we drive our electric and hybrid cars instead.
Those of us who love the earth and love our children are also moved to address the wider social possibilities in which we live. We teach ourselves, one another and our children the awe and wonder that inspires love. We join organizations that alert us to opportunities to raise our voices with local, state and national officials. We pray and work for a world in which everyone’s children will thrive.
We can’t do everything at once. We are in this for the long haul. But we can each start from where we are and ask ourselves, how will I learn to love the earth and its children better this week, and how can I build on this love next week, and the next?
Patricia K. Tull
Author of the 2024–2025 PW/Horizons Bible study, Let Justice Roll Down: God’s Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation.
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This blog is the eighth in a series of nine blogs.
Let Justice Roll Down is the Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA), Inc. Bible study for 2024-2025. Go to presbyterianwomen.org/bible-study/justice to find more resources and purchase Let Justice Roll Down to study along with us. Call 800/533-4371 or order online.