Strength and ability

[Neutral Evil]

In my opinion, man possessed no two greater gifts than strength and ability. They are his greatest assets, the foundation of all that he is. What we can do, what we can achieve are what makes him important. Man made forces are the dominant force that makes the human race so vital.

 

[Dr.Who]

Strength and ability - or power - are very important no doubt.

All creatures have power but our race does seem to have more of it.

I would agree that they are gifts in that they were given to us by a creator. They are to be used in stewardship which is the biblical way of saying conservation or environmentalism, but without all the baggage of tree hugging. In fact, as a relatively unlimited term stewardship can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. A tree hugger can think he is a good steward and claim the term just as well as a Teddy Roosevelt conservationist.

We can use our power to steward the planet for good or bad but it would be egotistical to overestimate our impact to date. Case in point, the amount of carbon (a minor greenhouse gas) that we have contributed to the atmosphere is too small to have had a great impact. Termites have a bigger impact on global temperatures than we do.