This defence was in response to environmental campaigns that seek to rewild many of our gardens, parks, and countryside. Titchmarsh stated in a written representation to the British Parliament’s House of Lords that a carefully kept garden actually attracts more insects, birds, and small mammals than those areas of land that have been set aside for rewilding purposes.
In other words, human activity, far from harming the environment, actually increases bio-diversity, and provides food and shelter for many more months of the year.
The Bible also speaks well of the garden—in fact, God planted the
first garden in Eden to be a place where Adam and Eve could live.
The New Testament also speaks of our heavenly Father being a gardener, the one who prunes the branches of the vine (Christ’s followers) so that they become more fruitful.
Following Adam and Eve’s creation, and placement in the garden, the first couple were given authority over the rest of creation in terms of managerial responsibility, or dominion [רָדָה radah].
The Bible records the dominion mandate as follows.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ … And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26, 28).
However, because of Adam and Eve’s Fall, the work in maintaining the garden became more arduous—Adam’s curse fell upon the ground.
The Bible also speaks well of the garden—in fact, God planted the
The New Testament also speaks of our heavenly Father being a gardener, the one who prunes the branches of the vine (Christ’s followers) so that they become more fruitful.
Following Adam and Eve’s creation, and placement in the garden, the first couple were given authority over the rest of creation in terms of managerial responsibility, or dominion [רָדָה radah].
The Bible records the dominion mandate as follows.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ … And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26, 28).
However, because of Adam and Eve’s Fall, the work in maintaining the garden became more arduous—Adam’s curse fell upon the ground.
Although the dominion mandate has sometimes been seen as exploitation and subjugation, God has designed the world to be a place where human beings can enhance the ecosystem through intervention.
As Titchmarsh’s testimony shows, the ‘dominion mandate,’ utilised in managing gardens and parks, actually increases biodiversity, not lessens it.
On the other hand, naïve environmental campaigns that seek to rewild nature may reduce biodiversity instead—abandoning the well-ordered garden in favor of something less managed is counter-productive." CMI
