Children & Chocolate and Other Paths to God

In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.

Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green."

It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.

Okay, I'm purposely posting this on the Catholic Carnival, because I'm confused and hoping for some comments on this.

I thought I read somewhere (forgive my terrible memory) that a Catholic (though he may have just been Christian) senator made a comment one time that there was no need to protect the environment because Jesus Christ will return "when the last tree falls."  The theory here being that the environment deteriorating is all part of the "Last Days" as the Catholics understand them.

I thought that was interesting. I didn't know what to do with it, but still, it was an interesting take on things.

This doesn't mean that I stopped recycling, because I still think that huge piles of trash are a bad idea. I would at least like the earth to stay green and pretty while I'm here, and I'd like it to remain that way for my future generations if possible.

I guess what I'm confused about, is why the Vatican is coming out with this now?  It's not a revolutionary idea. And please don't think that Al Gore is some kind of fore-runner with this movement either. In the early 1900's, President Teddy Roosevelt was making a move to conserve large tracts of land from development, a record that was only to be broken years later by President Bill Clinton, who put aside 58 acres of forest and wilderness. But things go back even farther than that. Ancient civilizations showed plenty of understanding about soil conservation and timbering on their land. (Probably more than we do today because it directly impacted their livlihoods)

I suppose that, if you believe in being green, any big attention-getting motions you can do to make people stop and think for a minute is a good thing. Both Al Gore and the Vatican succeed in this regard.

So my questions are these - do Catholics view the deterioration of our enviroment as something humans can stop, or is it all part of the drama that is the Last Days? How does the Bible address how humans should take care of the earth? Do we believe that God will provide for us after the last tree is felled? Is using the earth's resources considered "damaging" it, and if so, is it too late to undo centuries of "damage"?

*Note: I found out more and posted again on this issue on March 11th.