Dominion, Stewardship and Environmental Responsibility

Christians can place different emphasis on this authority. An interpretation stressing human control may support using animals, land and natural resources to meet human needs. An interpretation stressing responsible rule asks how those resources should be used and what harm should be avoided. Dominion does not necessarily mean permission to exploit the Earth without limits.

Stewardship: authority with responsibility

Stewardship means caring for something entrusted to you. A caretaker manages property but does not own it or have an unlimited right to damage it. In the same way, Christians understand themselves as caring for a world that belongs to God.

Genesis 2:15 describes the human task in the Garden of Eden as working it and taking care of it. Psalm 24:1 declares that “The Earth belongs to the Lord and everything on it”. These teachings help explain why many Christians interpret dominion as responsible authority rather than unrestricted ownership.

Dominion and stewardship can therefore work together: dominion describes the authority humans have, while stewardship describes how they should exercise it. Caring for God’s creation includes respecting living things and preserving the world for future generations. Many Christians also believe that they will be accountable to God for how they have treated creation.

Sustainability in everyday decisions

Sustainability means meeting present needs without undermining future generations’ ability to meet theirs. It does not require people to stop using the Earth’s resources altogether. Instead, it asks whether their way of living can continue without exhausting resources or causing lasting environmental damage.

For example, reducing waste lowers unnecessary resource use, while using renewable energy reduces dependence on finite fossil fuels. Supporting environmentally responsible businesses can also encourage less damaging production. Christians may see such choices as practical expressions of stewardship: belief in caring for creation influences what they buy and how they live.

These decisions involve balancing needs. People need energy, employment and affordable goods now, but meeting those needs through uncontrolled pollution or resource depletion can harm other people and future generations. A sustainable approach seeks to meet human needs while limiting that damage.

Why Humanists care for the environment

Humanists also support environmental responsibility, but do not explain it as a duty given by God. They use reason and evidence, together with concern for wellbeing, to decide how people should act.

Their argument begins with interdependence: humans are part of the natural world and rely on healthy environments. Pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss can damage the conditions on which life depends. Protecting the planet therefore benefits people alive today and those who will live in the future. Humanists support scientific solutions, informed policy-making and cooperation to tackle these problems.

Humanist Climate Action provides a named example of organised Humanist environmental concern. Humanists for a Better World was launched in 2011 to campaign on social and environmental issues; it became Humanist Climate Action in 2021. Its campaigning connects Humanist values with collective action on environmental problems, rather than relying only on individual choices.

Atheists may share these arguments without believing in God. However, atheism itself is simply the absence of belief in gods, so it does not mean that every atheist holds identical environmental views.

Global citizenship and shared responsibility

Environmental problems do not stop at national borders. Global citizenship means recognising responsibilities towards people and environments worldwide, including future generations. Pollution and climate change can contribute to inequality, with poorer countries often particularly affected.

Christians may connect global citizenship with care for their neighbours across the world. They can support charities working against poverty and environmental harm, buy Fairtrade products to support farmers, and live more sustainably themselves. Humanists similarly support international cooperation because global problems need collective solutions.

The two perspectives can therefore agree on action while differing over its foundation. Christians may protect the Earth because it is God’s creation; Humanists may protect it because evidence shows that environmental wellbeing and human wellbeing are connected.

Weighing up environmental duties

An argument for prioritising environmental protection is that unchecked damage threatens living things, vulnerable communities and future generations. Christians can support this through stewardship, while Humanists can support it through evidence and concern for wellbeing.

A competing argument stresses immediate human needs: people require food, energy and livelihoods, so preventing all use of natural resources would also cause harm. Dominion can support legitimate human use of creation, but does not automatically justify every use.

A justified conclusion can distinguish using resources from misusing them. Meeting present needs matters, but sustainability offers a way to do so while respecting responsibilities to others and to the future. Religious belief is one reason for accepting those responsibilities, not the only possible reason.

Environmental action

• Sustainability: meet present needs without undermining future generations.
• Actions include reducing waste, using renewable energy and supporting environmentally responsible businesses.
• Global citizenship: responsibility beyond national borders; international problems require cooperation.

Non-religious perspectives

• Humanists use reason, evidence and concern for wellbeing, not a divine command.
• Environmental damage harms interconnected life and future generations.
• Humanist Climate Action: developed from Humanists for a Better World, launched in 2011; the name changed in 2021.
• Atheism alone does not prescribe an environmental ethic.

Key comparison

Christians and Humanists can support the same environmental actions for different reasons. Balance legitimate present-day resource use against duties to protect people, nature and future generations.