The Associated Press’s report today on the continuing volcano eruption on Kilauea, the main island of Hawaii, which has destroyed hundreds of homes, included the sentence, “Those who live or vacation in the area were mourning the loss of popular tide-pools where kids enjoyed swimming,” which got me thinking:

If, as they do, natural processes routinely replace one habitat with another, why is it, as so many environmentalists think, wrong for humans to do so? Is it because humans aren’t natural? If so, then what are we?

Few environmentalists will welcome the notion that we’re somehow above nature—as Genesis 1:26–28 teaches—that we’re the image of God called to fill, subdue, and rule the earth as His representatives.

Some environmentalists consider us sub-natural, which is why they embrace such anti-human philosophies and ethics.

But for those who, like most, think we are natural, why do they want to hold us to a different standard from the rest of nature? What justifies their doing so?