By Caleb Cray Haynes

Eco-anxiety is a growing concern for many of us who have ventured into the depths of understanding what is occurring with planetary systems today. The creation, as God created it to be, has been dramatically altered through systematic overconsumption and waste.

We’ve been told things like, globally, we lose 75 billion metric tons of fertile soil from arable land every year.^[1]

We’ve been told that global pollinator decline is happening at a rapid pace further compromising the very sustenance the offers us life.^[2]

We’ve been told that wildlife populations have plummeted by over 70 percent in the last 50 years.^[3]

We’ve been told how our oceans are warming, critical reefs are dying, and deadly algae is blooming.^[4]

We’ve been told that plastic pollution is so bad that it is now inside every organ in our body, including our bloodstream.^[5]

We’ve been told there may be only five solid years left to divert from runaway climate disaster and perpetual ecological collapse.^[6]

We’ve been told a lot.

Feeling it yet? Eco-anxiety lurks and prowls for us, and too often we are easy prey.

Once I had the privilege of sitting in a room with Peter Harris, founder of A Rocha. A Rocha is an international organization that focuses on conservation through equipping local Christian creation care efforts.^[7] After over 40 years of doing this work, he’s seen a lot. As he sat sharing wisdom with us, Peter shared about the importance of our Christian faith in this work.

Faced with climate change and what’s often seen as existential crises . . . he said, “I don’t know how people continue on who don’t have faith . . . I don’t know how people can continue doing environmental work for very long at all today without belief in God.”

Underneath what Peter was communicating with us that night was the sustenance of being a people of faith. At the very core of what “faith” means, is trusting in our God.

Eugene Peterson translates the first few verses of Hebrews 11 like this:

“The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see. The act of faith is what distinguished our ancestors, set them above the crowd. By faith, we see the world called into existence by God’s word, what we see created by what we don’t see.”^[8]

While I spend most of my time attempting to mobilize people of faith into action, there comes a point when we must remember to also mobilize our action into faith.

Caleb Cray Haynes

Yes, we should be doing everything within our power to engage in and advocate for creation justice today. As Christians it is part of our special calling as people embodying the love of Jesus in the world!

Yet, there is no scenario in which you and I save the world. We simply aren’t the savior. Jesus is the only One who can and has done this. The work of the “reconciliation of all things” is already unfolding . . . despite what it may feel like on some days.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” – Col. 1:19-20^NIV

What this means is that we have the joy of participating in this healing work as Christians. We are not the savior… but knowing that creation will be saved… we are invited to joyfully be a part of that essential work today. Our faith and our loving action cannot, ever, be separated… because, really, there is no such thing as one without the other.

So, as John Wesley might say, “Give all you can.” Not out a place of panic, anxiety, or stress… but love.

Really, there’s no other way!

For continued reading I’d recommend Love’s Braided Dance: Hope in a time of crisis by Norman Wirzba. Also, stay tuned for my new book Earthbound Christian – Flourishing within limits in the age of infinite growth–coming soon!

—

Caleb Cray Haynes is a writer and speaker on issues of caring for God’s creation. He is the author of Garbage Theology, co-author of Keeping Creation, and Earthbound Christian (coming in 2026). He hosts The ecoChristian Podcast, is Director of Nazarenes for Creation Care, and serves on the Board of Directors at Creation Justice Ministries. Caleb lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, Emily, and two daughters, Story and Daily. More at CalebCrayHaynes.com

---

^[1] “Soil Erosion (GH0403) | UNDRR,” 7 June 2023, https://www.undrr.org/understanding-disaster-risk/terminology/hips/gh0403.

^[2] Doyle Rice, “North America Faces a Sprawling ‘pollinator Crisis,’ Study Says,” USA TODAY, n.d., https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/28/north-america-pollinator-crisis-study/82649992007/.

^[3] Amy Fallah, “Catastrophic 73% Decline in the Average Size of Global Wildlife Populations in Just 50 Years Reveals a ‘System in Peril,’” World Wildlife Fund, n.d., https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/catastrophic-73-decline-in-the-average-size-of-global-wildlife-populations-in-just-50-years-reveals-a-system-in-peril.

^[4] “Great Barrier Reef Suffers Largest Annual Coral Decline | World Economic Forum,” n.d., https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/08/great-barrier-reef-coral-decline-nature-climate-news/.

^[5] Lauren C. Jenner et al., “Detection of Microplastics in Human Lung Tissue Using μFTIR Spectroscopy,” Science of The Total Environment 831 (2022): 154907, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154907; Heather A. Leslie et al., “Discovery and Quantification of Plastic Particle Pollution in Human Blood,” Environment International 163 (2022): 107199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107199; Antonio Ragusa et al., “Plasticenta: First Evidence of Microplastics in Human Placenta,” Environ Int 146 (2021): 106274, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106274.

^[6] Ipcc, Global Warming of 1.5°C: IPCC Special Report on Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5°C above Pre-Industrial Levels in Context of Strengthening Response to Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Efforts to Eradicate Poverty, 1st ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2022), https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009157940, https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781009157940/type/book.

^[7] “A Rocha International,” A Rocha International, n.d., https://arocha.org/en/.

^[8] Hebrews 11:1-3 The Message