Question

In the recent past the predominant worldview was on of stewardship. Give three examples where this worldview succeeded and three where it was unsuccessful, Give a brief explanation of each.

Answer 1

Stewardship worldview refers to the idea that as a top species it is our duty to look after the welfare of the planet, its environment, and the whole ecosystem as well.

Three areas where it succeeded are:

• Wildlife: globally we have been able to increase the number of several endangered species such as Giant Panda, Southern Rhinoceros, Arabian Oryx, etc.
• Humanitarian work: globally we have been able to perform considerable humanitarian work in Africa, Middle East and succeeded to some degree to remove extreme poverty
• Disease: we have been able to contain the spread of deadly disease such as Ebola, SARS, Bird Flu on a global level.

Three areas where it failed are:

• Global warming: despite the stewardship effort, global warming has increased and we as a global citizen have not been able to counter this.
• Environmental damage: deforestation, loss of habitat and other effects of environmental damage continues.
• Ethical failures: there have been major ethical failures such as BP oil spill, Boeing 737 Max scandal, and more. As stewards we have not been able to maintain a strong ethical stance.