Global Development in the Anthropocene

Abstract

The best science available warns that human impacts on global ecological and climate systems pose an existential threat to organized human life. In light of what climate scientist James Hansen describes as our “apocalyptic” future, current models of “transformational development” and “integral mission” ring increasingly hollow. Genesis 2:15 instructs us to watch over creation and take care of it, yet the most popular evangelical development texts largely omit any discussion of environmental breakdown and climate change. In response, this essay highlights the harmful effects of our slow-onset climate emergency on the very people Christian development practitioners care most about: the world’s poorest and most vulnerable peoples. It argues in favor of a seven-fold course of action, on both individual and organizational levels, that could put Christians on the frontlines of efforts to secure an “abundant life” for all without destabilizing the critical natural processes upon which it depends.