In the movie 1776, Ben Franklin quips that calling an ox a bull may make it thankful for the honor, but he’d much rather have restored what’s rightfully his. The same is true of many projects established by business. Take the Northeast Supply Enhancement, for example. You would never guess that it’s a natural gas pipeline to go under Sayreville and under the seabed of Raritan Bay.
The company proposing this 23 mile dig under the Bay seabed claims it will protect us from possible gas leaks. Digging up the seabed will, however, wreak havoc for the life that exists there, not to mention other kinds of possible harm.
This is, of course, small potatoes compared to the White House proposal to mine the ocean seabed for rare earth minerals. Easing environmental regulations, we are letting big business to have a heyday. It’s more than sad to think of the world as little more than a commodity. It is a betrayal of God’s command to be stewards of the earth, not its destroyers.
Prayer for the Day
We come to you, O God, acknowledging you as Creator,
And we see the glory of your creation even in a grain of sand.
Even the whale, the dolphin, and the sand crab call to you
And the tortoise and the butterfly look to you in silence.
Come, O God, and remind us that we are not the owners
Of your earth and your creation, but caretakers.
In the name of the One who walked along the seashore,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The question isn’t whether we need these minerals, the question is whether deep sea mining is a smart, responsible way to get them. Based on everything I’ve seen, the answer is no.
Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), House Subcommittee on Energy
The new rule [issued by NOAA] “removes the ability to ensure effective protection of the marine environment.
Beth Orcutt, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine.
Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook,
Or press down its tongue with a cord?
Can you pull a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it make many supplications to you or speak soft words to you?
Will it make a covenant with you to be taken as your servant forever?
Will you play with it as with a bird or put a leash on it for your girls?
Will traders bargain over it or divide it up among the merchants?
Can you fill its kin with harpoons, or its head with fishing spears?
The Lord to Job 41: 1-7