Do we really need green theology?

Isn't the need to save the planet a rather obvious moral imperative? I mean, we don't have a specific theology saying that we should brake to avoid a child running into the road, so why do we need to be persuaded that actually the Bible is telling us to be good environmentalists? It gives the impression that we're robots who can't do the right thing unless someone shows us a verse from the Bible to tell us to do it (or not to do it!) Jesus gave us Himself and the Holy Spirit - a living faith that guides us and empowers us to do the right thing!

Yes it's possible to read parts of Genesis in a green way, but apart from the above point that we shouldn't need to, it also leads to a theology that is not Christ centred. Jesus didn't tell us to look after the environment, he told us to be ethical grown-ups and to work out what to do based on a few simple but awesome commandments: love your neigbour as yourself, do unto others, love your enemies and so on. It should take NO THOUGHT AT ALL to realise that doing your bit for the environment (at the very least) is covered by these.

Where we do chime with the green movement is in regard to materialism and consumerism. There is an argument, which we should be part of, about our whole way of living and working and the values these are based upon. But the green movement is, not surprisingly, focusing everything on global warming with the straightforward message that we need to change our way of living to survive.

When the green movement says that we need to change regardless of global warming we can develop a close relationship. When the discussion is about saving the planet we're in the same boat as everyone else (excuse the Noah's ark analogy) and we just have to do our obvious and human duty.

And lets face it, we Christians have poured over scripture for two thousand years without discovering a message about the environment. The suspicion people will have is that green theology is just Christians jumping on the bandwagon, and rebranding Christianity.

We should never see Christianity as a means to an end, as a way of delivering some 'higher and purer' ideal such as social justice or even climate change survival.