Lynn White's essay is about the role of religion in the ecological crisis. With technology, we alter the environment of the earth. In Northern Europe, the first revolution in technology brought on an ecological crisis. This invention was known as the "plow". Instead of the scratching the earth, it dug harshly into the earth. The plow needed oxen to pull the land. The size of the land was transformed. They were no longer plowing small portions. This occurrence had altered the environment of the earth, human life, and all of creation. God gave man the power to use resources of the world to its needs. They saw themselves once as part of nature. The plow changed the relationship that human beings had with the land. The land was no longer used with respectful regards. It shifted the way one looked at nature and how it worked. Instead of looking for symbols of the divine, man began to look at nature and how it works. Man who had been part of nature is now the exploiter of nature. Christianity is in part to blame, because it gave the right to exploit the world as God created it. In Genesis 1, Lynn White said that humans would find a charter to exploit the earth.
             White's interpretation is that we are like stewards, local sheriffs and tenants of God's land and not lord. God has given charter to human beings to be guardians over the world. Humans have dominion over the earth; however, the ultimate power resides in God. God lives and governs all of creation. God has power over nature and shows himself within nature as well. We have experienced God as part of nature through the great powers of rain, earth's fertility, flooding and more. We need to differentiate between "man's purpose" and "man's proper ends". We are not free to exploit the earth without appropriate use and proper ends of nature. Human beings exist as tenants over the land. God is the owner not humans. God's gift...