Not so. One organism’s trash is another organism’s treasure.

Every breath we take has two parts. During the inhale we take oxygen, a requirement for our cellular respiration. During exhale we give carbon dioxide, a waste for us but a requirement for the cellular respiration of plants.

Every bit of water we ingest is eventually returned to the environment through sweat, urine and defecation, decomposition, etc., to be recycled and used in the life process of other organisms. The same is true of every bite we ingest.

Even our bodies can be recycled when we die, rather than buried or cremated. Natural burials are another option that allows us to return to the Earth in a more sustainabe manner.

Where we differ from most other organisms is that we are builders. We can design and build for environmental optimization. We can build to correct and help recovery of ecosystems. In this manner, we humans can aid the efficiency of natural consumption/production cycles of all organisms.

Or to put in more layman’s terms, we can embrace our divine mandate to be stewards of the earth.

There has been some confusion over the term dominion with domination in biblical discussions. It is not the same. The primary definition of dominion is the power or right of governing and controlling. The act of governing may mean to dominate with power but it does not have to. When God gave us the right to dominion, he gave us the choice of how we govern. It’s up to us to decide how we use that power. We can choose to not be exploitative and not run afoul of God’s wishes or God’s design.

Further the word dominion is translated from the Hebrew verb radah which is related to words meaning to wander and spread, to go down, and to descend not the word malek which means to rule over. I believe this to be a clear indication that we are not to be exploitative and that we need a spiritual rebirth around our concepts of stewardship and our duties to our planet.