An engineering student's senior design prototype. (Photo courtesy of Calvin Engineering Department)
An illustrated companion to Chapter 1 of Beyond Stewardship: New Approaches to Creation Care. To view main webpage, click here:
Each May, teams of senior engineering students at Calvin College exhibit prototypes from their year-long capstone design course."
Calvin College Engineering Department Senior Projects Night
The entire day celebrates the students’ hard work and commissions them for a life of service as professionals."
[The students] have a very appropriate pride in all [they] accomplished in [their] senior year, not to mention the previous three."
What if, last night, I went completely berserk and used these tools to … demolish [these] prototypes?"
(All photos courtesy of Calvin Engineering Department)
I want to focus on lament, defined as “a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.” There are three actors in my story, and each has cause to lament. My students will lament their destroyed prototypes. I will lament my actions after I understand the harm I have done. And the prototypes, if they were sentient, would lament their inability to perform their tasks and fulfill their purposes."
My students will be devastated that their hard work has been destroyed. How much more devastated must God be at the state of God’s creation?"
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration has been steadily rising for the past century, thanks in large part to human industrialization and burning fossil fuels.
Increased greenhouse gas emissions (of Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Ozone, etc.) have led to an increase in worldwide temperature. This climate change is causing species loss and environmental degradation.
For more information on how climate change affects the Earth, click the following link to go to NASA's webpage on climate change/global warming:
Beyond Stewardship is a book for Christians who are distraught by the lament of the Maker and compelled by the lament of the creation. It is for those who recognize their role as destroyer and find themselves on a path through lament to forgiveness, improved relationships, and recommitment to repair the damage they have done in the past and to do less harm in the future. If successful, this book will equip us for that journey."
To return to the Beyond Stewardship homepage, click here: