Tree Huggers & Grace College
By Ashley Brewster
It’s easy to take what we have for granted. This morning, after you stumbled out of bed, you flipped the light switch and turned on the faucet. Light and water appeared almost as if by some sort of wizardry, and there’s a significant chance you didn’t even notice.
It’s difficult to appreciate something when you don’t notice its existence. It’s even more difficult to take care of it. But electricity and water don’t appear by magic. The paper you’re holding didn’t start out as paper, and the empty can you tossed in the trashcan has to end up somewhere. Almost every action we take throughout an ordinary day has some impact on the environment — and we don’t even notice.
Ben Lowe wants that to change. As missionary kid from southeast Asia, he witnessed first hand the effects of pollution and understands its connection to poverty. His desire is that citizens of the richest country in the world stop taking for granted every day necessities like electricity and clean water and star living more mindfully, taking care of God’s creation.
Lowe never pictured himself on a speaking tour across the U.S., urging college students to live a more conscientious life. When he first started as a student at Wheaton College, he initially wanted to be a medical missionary. That dream changed, however, when he realized he could serve God’s people by caring for the land, providing them with necessities like clean water.
“Tree huggers are people huggers too,” he told Grace College students during chapel on Thursday, February 14.
In college, Lowe said he learned two important lessons: first, that when the land isn’t healthy, people aren’t healthy. And second, that creation care is a biblical priority.
“I can’t love God with all my heart, soul and mind without caring for His creation, and I can’t care for my neighbor unless I help give him basic necessities,” he explained.
Lowe says he is a member of what he calls an “intentional community,” where they make an effort to do things like bike or walk, drive hybrid cars, plant and care for a community garden, and conserve water and electricity.
“We will be called to give an account for how we live,” he said.
In five and a half years of speaking on college campuses, Lowe says he has seen leaders born and campuses take big steps to becoming better caretakers of God’s creation. His organization, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA) was born in February of 2012 and is described as “ad hoc” by Lowe, involving a variety of ways students can stand with the movement. They can sign a Call To Action, they can participate in a letter-writing campaign, or they can share their testimonies on the organization’s website or Facebook page.
Lowe says he often gets the best feedback from non-Christians who also care for God’s creation, yet have been disillusioned or burned by the church.
“They feel the church is an opponent, not an ally,” said Lowe. His role with YECA has been an open door to conversations and healing with those people.
Lowe is excited that Grace is looking into becoming a more conscientious campus. He believes Grace can set an example for other Christian schools as well. He recognizes, however, that change is often gradual.
“This is a journey,” he says. “We’re learning and growing.”
