Ira Einhorn hosted the first Earth Day event on April 22, 1970. Police raided his closet seven years later and found the “composted” body of his ex-girlfriend inside a trunk.

Pope Francis said, “We see these natural tragedies, which are the Earth’s response to our maltreatment. We have sinned against the Earth, against our neighbor and, in the end, against the creator.”

Then-candidate Joe Biden, at a 2020 fundraiser, declared, “COVID…is a wake up call to action to climate change overall and to climate justice.

“I’m not against preserving the earth; I am against worshiping it.

The earth has no feelings, we cannot sin against it, it does not think about the things we do and doesn’t mete out retribution nor create wake-up calls.

It’s a planet.

Still, we all have a responsibility to be good stewards of what God has given us.

“Human beings are given a responsibility of dominion over the earth,” said Dr. Albert Mohler. “That is to say human beings are not a blight on the earth. We are the creatures who alone are the image bearers of God in creation. But we also have an assignment from God as his image bearers to exercise a sovereignty or dominion over the world on his behalf. But the biblical worldview, by no means justifies the exploitation of, the ruination of, the destruction of planet Earth.”

As Christians, we are to steward the earth because it’s God’s gift to us and he gave us that responsibility.

I’m no tree hugger, but I love trees. And flowers. Living out in the country as I do, I have developed a greater appreciation for God’s creation. When I see a tom turkey in season, even though I have a gun and a license, I admire its beauty instead. (I do purposely kill rattlers.)

I catch wolf spiders in the house and take them outside. (But scorpions are from Hell so I slaughter them mercilessly.)

I’m a “turn off the lights and water” Nazi, too. I pick up trash, hate litter and look askance at people driving cars with billows of black smoke pumping out of their broken exhausts. The earth is my responsibility to conserve, but I’m not a nut about it. I don’t support Green Peace or the Sierra Club. PETA is wonderful bread but a horrible organization.

Climate patterns are cyclical, so, of course, there will be changes. We will never kill the planet driving a Humvee.

My part is to be thoughtful, responsible and to live on this pale blue planet to the glory of God.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1)

That’s why I’ll praise Father God and thank Him for “Mother” earth.