God blessed them (humans) and god said to them, “Be fertile an increase, fill the earth and master it; and rule the fish of the sea the birds of the sky, and all of the living things that creep on earth.”

On earth day, I invite us to consider whether “mastery” and “rule” over the Earth are really ideas with which we should be comfortable. For me, the answer is a resounding “Yes!” And I believe that my affirmative response is not at all inconsistent with being environmentally conscious and conscientious.
How does that work?

It starts by getting over the assumption that power is bad, rule is always abused and that green policies are not every bit as aggressive in their environmental impact as those they seek to overturn. Each side in the environmental debate seeks to alter the environment. The fact that one group has co-opted the language of preservation and conservation, does not make them any more correct than those who have co-opted the language of life in one side of the abortion debate.
Green and Jewish can go together quite nicely, but Green and arrogant do not.
I embrace God’s first blessing to humanity with no apologies. And I also embrace the equally ancient teachings that pare blessing with responsibility, accountability and obligation.
What do you think?