Table of Contents:
This teacher’s copy of the Looking after our planet lesson plan is printer-friendly.
RESOURCES:
(Optional) A gift, or an imaginary gift, to pretend to give to someone to use, but also to look after.
A measuring ruler.
STARTER:
Here is a ‘gift’.
It could be the latest game console or a car!
Let’s pretend I am going to lend you this ‘gift’.
You can use it at home, but you must look after it.
In fact, I want you to keep it in good condition for six months, then I want you to pass it on to somebody else and give them the same instructions.
Q. Do you think you could look after this gift?
Imagine if you were the next one to receive this gift, and it was given to you in a totally wrecked condition.
Q. What would you feel like?
MAIN TEACHING:
Now, let’s look at a similar situation, but instead of this little gift, it is now the whole world!
Christians believe that God created the world for us, and that includes everyone before us and everyone after us.
This ‘gift’ of the whole world is lent to all of us.
So we have a responsibility, while we are alive, to keep the world in good condition so that other people coming after us can enjoy it too.
They would not be happy to receive a wrecked world from us!
Q. What sort of things can wreck the world?
- War.
- Plastic particles in animals & plants, plastic bottles in oceans, etc.
- Food wastage.
- Dumping wood, metals, etc & not recycling.
- Pollution from chemicals, fertilisers, etc.
- Leakage of atomic waste.
- Greed for ivory, etc.
- Selfishness by not reducing energy-hungry goods to reduce CO2 emissions, etc.
Does the little we can do have any effect on the whole world?
Q. Can we help in not wrecking our world?
Yes, if lots of people recycle and don’t waste, it will make a difference.
Q. Why should we look after the world?
Answer:
Apart from the obvious answer that it is unhealthy and people will live shorter lives if we don’t look after the world, the world is a ‘gift’ to humanity.
It belongs to the original Owner who gave it (and created it for us).
We can use it, but it is on loan to us.
We do not own it.
The world needs to be handed on to the next generation of people.
It is like a rented house, we live in it and we can move the furniture around, but we don’t own it – the landlord does.
The landlord of this world is God, and He expects us to live by certain standards so we don’t wreck each other and we don’t wreck this planet!
There are so many minerals to make bad weapons
Some people may say; Okay, God made the world and He wants us to look after it, so why did He give us the materials to make bombs and destructive things like that?
Q. To answer that this ruler is used for what?
For measuring things and drawing straight lines.
But it can also be used to hit someone.
Just about anything good can be used in a bad way.
The explosives in a bomb may seem totally bad, but explosives are needed to blast through solid rock in quarries, mines, and road or rail tunnels.
Explosives can be good, but bad people use them for terrible things.
Christians believe that God wants us to use all the things that He has provided in a responsible manner.
The world has got so many people suffering from a lack of food and diseases, etc.
The residents of a country have to suffer from starvation because of the greed of their leaders.
Q. Is this God’s fault?
Discuss.
To answer this question, let’s think about some facts:
- There is enough food on this planet to feed everybody.
- Some countries hoard up food (food mountains), and vast quantities of food are thrown away. This food does not get through to those countries that desperately need it.
- Much famine is caused by war. The crops get destroyed, or they don’t even get sown, because it is too dangerous to go into the fields.
- Famine can also be caused by greed, where people strip the land bare of trees to use the timber, or they quarry out minerals, and then the land becomes a manmade desert.
- Some diseases are caused by people who don’t understand basic hygiene rules. They don’t dispose of their toilet waste properly, and it contaminates their drinking water, etc.
- Some diseases are caused by wrong moral values. (Teacher’s note: In parts of Africa, the wife sleeps with any male guest because it is the custom to show hospitality in this way, and diseases rapidly spread.)
Q. Do you still see this as God’s fault that people are starving?
Christians believe that God created the world and designed everything in it so that it was good and everything worked together.
He also gives us our lives.
For that reason, Christians believe that it is good to give God thanks for the things in their lives, because the Bible says:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father (God)”
James 1:17 NIV
Q. Do you think the world works wonderfully together?
Q. Do you think the world is worth looking after?
Either take a short time to discuss this, or leave it with them.
Teacher’s note: There is a worksheet to accompany this lesson plan:
Looking after our planet worksheet
Also see: Looking after our planet. RE resources