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‘Mormon Land’: If you’re Christian, BYU ecologist says, you’ll work for the Earth and against climate change

The Utah-based faith and its members, he adds, can make a difference — globally and locally — by looking past the politics and toward the planet.

(NASA) Earth from the Apollo 10 mission in 1969. BYU ecology professor Ben Abbott says protecting the planet is part of Christian discipleship.

More than three-fourths of Latter-day Saints say they revere nature and feel a responsibility to protect it. Classes on Earth stewardship at Brigham Young University are filling up as young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wrestle with the dangers caused by climate change and feel inexorably prompted to act — to do something.

What if the church went all-in on protecting the planet, proposing concrete plans to be adopted in every region? Would being involved in an urgent global effort — much as the food storage mandates prepared members for lean times — give more young people a reason to stay in the fold?

On this week’s show, Ben Abbott, professor of ecology at church-owned BYU, discuss environmental issues, his faith, and the activism and idealism he sees in his students. He also makes the case that safeguarding the Earth and fighting climate change are part of Christian discipleship.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Ben Abbott, a BYU ecology professor, is shown at a Utah Lake overlook in 2023.

Listen to the podcast:



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