In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Tim Frodsham, 21 December, 2023
The crisis of faith surrounding today’s youth is driven by a number of issues: The Church’s use of wealth, gender identity, climate action, priesthood authority, diversity within Church hierarchy, and more. Though the approach I propose here could be used for many of these issues, I am going to focus on the climate debate.
In a recent sequence of Education Week classes, Tyler Johnson from Stanford University provided a thoughtful discussion on the generational disconnect within the Church on climate change. Many of our youth feel “we do not understand the depth and importance of their concerns.” According to Johnson, our youth perceive human-induced climate change as a crisis with the potential to end human life on earth. They are incensed that older generations in the Church are not responding to this crisis to their satisfaction. (‘Living Four Important Gospel Truths to Help Us Connect with Our Youth’, Tyler P Johnson, Education week, 2023).
Older generations, having seen such scares before, watch the emotional response of our youth with bemusement. Furthermore, many of us in the older generation fear that radical measures to reduce energy consumption will devastate the most vulnerable: the poor, the needy, the marginalized, large segments of impoverished nations, and the defenseless here at home—those whom our Savior has admonished us to succor.
I am not here to add fuel to this “crisis” but to show that, according to precepts taught by the Church, contention on this issue is unnecessary. I am not trivializing the importance of the climate change debate or minimizing the difficulty that each of us face in understanding the ramifications of our actions, collectively as well as individually. The gift of agency from our Heavenly Father is meant to be difficult. Not all choices we face are as easy as whether to steal that lollipop from the grocery store. We all need to understand that many of the choices we face require study, open-mindedness, soul searching, and a relationship with the Spirit.
I think most would agree that fossil fuels have vastly improved humanity’s quality of life. Fossil fuels have energized the technological revolution, underpinned unprecedented increases in food production, and revolutionized medicine. Even climate-related deaths are down by 99 percent due to fossil-fueled technology (‘Deaths in climate-related disasters declined 99% from a century ago, April 2022, New York Post) . The royal elite of generations ago would be astounded by the living conditions in an average middle-class American home today: air conditioning, running water, lights, efficient sewage removal, astounding entertainment options, and global communication at our fingertips.
I think most would agree as well that abundant energy through fossil fuels has also brought about unprecedented pollutions in our air, lakes, streams, and oceans. There are few places on earth untouched by industrial pollution. What can the Church teach us about how to respond to this accelerated consumption of the earth’s resources and the resulting impact on our environment? The Doctrine and Covenants gives us an excellent place to understand God’s position on how we use the resources with which He has blessed us. Unfortunately, one of the most misquoted scriptures concerning this issue is also in the Doctrine and Covenants:
D&C 104:17
“For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves.”
“Enough and to spare”—what does that really mean? Many take this phrase as a license to exploit and squander at will the resources of the earth, but the Lord explains it differently:
D&C 59:18–20
“Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul. And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.”
We are charged to use the earth’s resources “with judgment [and] not to excess.” Judgment to what end? What is excess? Again, the Doctrine and Covenants points us in the right direction:
D&C 136:27
“Thou shalt be diligent in preserving what thou hast, that thou mayest be a wise steward; for it is the free gift of the Lord thy God, and thou art his steward.”
Brigham Young taught this principle of stewardship from the beginning of the Church: “All that we possess and enjoy are the gifts of God to us, whether they be in earthly substance, physical constitution, or mental power; we are accountable to Him for the use we make of these precious gifts. . . . It is not our privilege to waste the Lord’s substance” (Journal of Discourses, 11:136).
The key to the climate debate is that by God’s direction, we are assigned as stewards over the earth’s resources. They are not here for us to squander, but to use judiciously and with purpose. We will be held accountable for how we used these “precious gifts.”
Brigham Young was not isolated in his admonition to tread lightly on our earth. Through the two centuries of the Church’s existence, prophets and other leaders have exhorted us to care for the earth, which is our stewardship. For example, in the April 1940 General Conference, Stephen L. Richards said the following:
“I am sure that beauty is intimately associated with pure religion. I believe that our Father in Heaven is a God of order and beauty. I doubt if any rational being ever entertained a concept of God, that is, as a personal Being, except in surroundings of beauty and exquisite loveliness. . . . Do you think it becoming in God’s children to deface the earth while we sojourn here? Being the stewards and custodians of the resources which are committed to us, have we not an obligation to use them, preserve them and return them in the best possible condition that our circumstances will permit?”
To drive home the point, here are a few more sources:
“Teach [children] the basic knowledge that the earth is the Lord’s. He has a marvelous system of replenishment and renewal so long as we care for, conserve, and waste not” (L. Tom Perry, “Train Up a Child” [Nov. 1988], 74).
“As beneficiaries of the divine Creation, what shall we do? We should care for the earth, be wise stewards over it, and preserve it for future generations. And we are to love and care for one another” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Creation” [May 2000], 84).
For these and more references on the Church’s stand on caring for the environment, I recommend searching the phrase environmental stewardship and conservation on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
Environmental activists today want to save the earth by contracting available resources, making them unavailable for most of the world’s population by limiting energy supplies and drastically increasing the cost. This strategy would most impact the very people the Savior has admonished us to care for. To foster good stewardship, then, what should we do? How do we reconcile the hardships required by climate activists with the needs of the most vulnerable? The solutions are found in the realm of agency and stewardship. Throughout the history of the Church, the Saints have been counseled to take initiative and use the resources around us. We have been taught from our youth that all knowledge is from God. The explosion of knowledge during the Renaissance and the industrial revolution was brought about to usher in the Restoration. All scientific knowledge is inspired by Him. Good stewardship suggests we use the technological resources enabled by fossil fuels to solve the environmental issues that these very technologies created.
In any advancement, there is a technology cycle from the complex and crude to the simple and efficient. One example is the digital camera. Our youth have no concept of a film camera with expensive photo processing and hours to days before seeing the results. The first digital cameras were no match for the quality one could get from film, but early adopters embraced the technology anyway, and high-quality digital cameras have found their way even into our phones. Another example is the microwave. The first microwave, sold in 1946, weighed 750 pounds, stood almost 6 feet tall, and cost $5,000—nearly $83,000 in today’s currency. Walking through a local Walmart, I noticed a stack of microwaves on sale for $55.00.
Look how far lighting has come from Edison’s first carbon filament light bulb. Great strides have been made in LED lighting in the last decades, from a technological novelty to a ubiquitous light source in our homes and workplaces. On the other hand, electric cars are in their infancy. They have limited range and, were it not for government subsidies, would be terribly expensive. Solar and wind power are expensive, unreliable, and at the mercy of the weather. Nuclear power has made great strides in efficiency and safety since the days of Three Mile Island but still has its own environmental problems and social stigma. Technology has barely scratched the surface in addressing these issues.
There is much disinformation shouted through social media and news outlets on both “sides” of this issue. Many are using the climate change crisis to seize power and to enrich and aggrandize themselves. Finding clear direction here is difficult and confusing, but as with every other problem we face, the Spirit can guide us. As a father, I do not have all the answers, but I can discuss these issues with the Spirit and assuage the fears of my children and my grandchildren. As a neighbor and friend, I never argue these issues; contention drives away the Spirit. We can search for honest, unbiased sources of information concerning climate and environmental science, relying on the Spirit to help us find truth and reason on these issues. The Spirit can help us discern all truth, and then we can explain with reason and compassion how to confront these issues. In addition, we as a people need to find honest leaders who are willing to strive for viable, long-term solutions and support them in whatever way the Spirit leads us as we seek God’s guidance. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf said,
“Advancements in science and technology are a gift from heaven. The great miracle of the Restoration was not just that it corrected false ideas and corrupt doctrines—though it certainly did that—but that it flung open the curtains of heaven and initiated a steady downpour of new light and knowledge that has continued to this day.” (“What is Truth?” [Brigham Young University devotional, Jan. 13, 2021], speeches.byu.edu).
As sons and daughters of God, we are blessed with the wherewithal to solve these complex global problems. Solutions require changes in our own behavior to conserve and cherish these natural resources while developing technologies to minimize our impact on the earth. God has given us the intelligence to create the necessary technology, whatever that may look like, and our stewardship compels us to protect the most vulnerable while we guide this transition. The climate debate doesn’t matter. If man-made global warming is endangering the planet, we must use good stewardship to wisely conserve resources, develop new technologies to reduce pollution, and protect the vulnerable. If global warming is largely due to natural climate cycles, we must use good stewardship to conserve resources, develop new technologies to reduce pollution, and protect the vulnerable. Either way, our actions, guided by our stewardship and our faith, are the same.
Latter-Day Saints 