It is not yet clear whether the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is necessarily connected to the observed temperature changes or will result in the dire predictions of further temperature increase and changes in precipitation patterns. Because of this uncertainty, it is probably too early to begin developing public policy on carbon dioxide emissions related to temperature increases. However, because of evidence that other pollutants produce harmful effects, and the potential that carbon dioxide may also be a problem, it may be time that we reconsider our personal role as stewards of this earth. We should not adopt the secular view that "Mother Earth" must be protected at all costs. This is to fall into the error of pantheism, which teaches that the earth, the sun, and the stars are all there is. Such a view is wrong, because it attributes deity to the earth. We need to understand the mandate to "have dominion... over all the earth" that God has given us in Genesis 1:26. Man is responsible to use the earth to sustain himself, and to occupy until the owner returns, as described in Matthew 25:14-30. God expects us to use the earth, and to keep it in good repair, much as a landowner would expect his tenants to keep up his farm while he was away.