Speaker Bio

As an agriculturalist working in one of the least developed nations in the world, Dan offers a unique perspective on development issues and environmental problems. His research has also found a disturbing trend among Christians to accept tenets of extreme environmentalism which undermine the Great Commission. In this talk, Dan will explore the contrasting worldview of extreme environmentalism and the biblical vision of stewardship.

Patrick Moore, the founder of Greenpeace, recently expressed his growing disillusionment with the modern environmental movement, by noting that it had fallen into maniacal antihuman and sometimes genocidal thinking that was spurred on, not by science or logic, but by an ideology of class warfare. This ideology is driven by four core beliefs: (1) hatred of the white-privileged male with his exploitative corporations; (2) a view that the ecosystem is being systematically destroyed through man’s chemical applications and development activities; (3) a view that the earth is endangered because it has never been subjected to evolution under those types of pressures before; and (4) a commitment to the deep ecology environmentalist view that the earth is fragile and must be protected and preserved in its pristine state free from intrusive development. In this world view, we should aim for zero population growth; or better yet, aim to reduce the earth’s population due to problems of scarcity. This in essence is the religious belief system of the extreme environmentalists.

In contrast, a Christian worldview holds that it is our responsibility to be stewards and maximize blessing through the development of resources for the benefit of all to the glory of God. In this conversation, Dan will show that all satellite evidence shows that the earth is greening substantially and 70% of that greening comes from the “fertilizer effect” of CO2 increases. That the earth had very productive periods even warmer than today in the past. This change in mindset toward a Christian worldview, coupled with best management practices in the context of climate resilience instead of climate change, should be our focus. Dan offers a compelling vision of human ingenuity, shaped within a Christian worldview, that can greatly outpace population growth in perpetuity and raise the quality of life for all.