Developing New Expressions of Reconciliation Ecology in the Anthropocene: A One Health Approach to Christian Environmental Stewardship

The past century was a time of significant ecological change, driven mainly by the activities of humans. Accelerating rates of biodiversity decline, loss of important ecosystem services, and climate change are symptoms of anthropogenic stress on proximate and global environments. Both conservation paradigms and Christian perspectives on environmental stewardship of the early 20th century tended to view humans as separate from ecological systems and not affected by environmental degradation. In recent decades, environmental concerns, including the emergence of zoonotic diseases, have increased focus on mutual dependencies between humans and the environment. While models of creation care have lagged behind secular conservation approaches, recent approaches emphasizing reciprocity, such as the reconciliation ecology paradigm, provide opportunities to develop a holistic framework of mutual flourishing. Here, I introduce the One Health concept, which highlights the interdependencies of human, animal, and environmental health systems, as a logical extension of the reconciliation ecology paradigm.