Living in Harmony With Creation
Natural resources are drawn from nature, have the ability to be used without much change, support life, and meet your needs. Oil, coal, natural gas, metals, stone, and sand are all-natural resources. Other natural resources include air, sunlight, soil, water, plants, and animals.
You depend on the natural resources which make up your environment to provide a way of life. Your goal should not be to triumph over your environment but to be in tandem, living in harmony with it.
God calls you to be a good steward of the land. Are you leaving the land better than how you received it?
Feeding People and Sustaining Life
Agricultural land is used to grow nutritious food for you and animals to eat. Wheat, corn, livestock, fruits, and vegetables are all grown using the land regeneratively.
Agriculture’s contribution to society is vital in nourishing the US and the world. Markets.businessinsider.com explains less than 2% of the population in the United States are farmers who contribute more than $100 billion to the US economy.
FarmBureau.org states the average American is at least 3 generations removed from the farm. Compared to many other countries in the world, finding food for the day is a minute thought for many Americans. Food has always been readily available your entire life. Trying to decide what to purchase for the evening meal is your biggest issue when stopping by the grocery store. You never even consider how food gets to the store because you don't need to. If time is short, plenty of drive-thru eating establishments are available for you to purchase a meal.
The land is a precious resource we cannot afford to take for granted. Legacy is about taking care of what we have. We must teach our children and grandchildren a way of life that values and improves nature and all creation. Future generations of plants, animals, and people need and depend on soil health to provide food. Soil needs to be alive and working at its full potential to continue the process of life.
Your Children Determine the Next Generation
The future of the world’s natural resources rests in the hands of the next generation, our amazing kids. We should inspire and encourage young people to treasure open spaces and engage in activities centered around stewardship of nature and managing the great outdoors.
Children that spend time outdoors in creation increase their academic science skills, become more involved in their neighborhoods, and are healthier, happier, and more exposed to careers involving natural resources. These kids experience the gift of real-life context while learning about the natural world.
As parents, teachers, and mentors, we should be striving to set the example and exemplify less screen time, demonstrating that more outside green time is important. New technologies such as geographic information systems or remote sensing can promote outdoor learning and add more insight.
You can share information to instruct young people not only to identify natural resources but also to recognize the incredible importance of trees, forests, wildlife, and insects in both rural and urban environments, highlighting their contribution to the quality of our lives. Society as a whole needs to pass along stewardship skills of our natural resources to our children and grandchildren. This will ensure life-sustaining products will remain in production as well as understanding and protecting the environment for the future.
A few examples of programs available to educate young people from the Forestry Service are adopt-a-tree, feeder watch, plant-a-tree, stream cleanup, habitat creation, and invasive plant removal.