World News and Trends: Cousteau's environmental warnings
With the recent death of French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, the environment has lost one of its greatest champions.
He had just completed a 400-page autobiography in whose pages he warned that environmentally speaking "our survival is only a question of 25, 50 or perhaps 100 years." This long-time nurturer of the natural world wrote that "unrenewable resources are being squandered. Waste is building up, goods are vanishing while rubbish thrives."
Mr. Cousteau minced no words in his criticisms of politicians, scientists and national leaders: "With their pesticides and their pollution, their toxic discharges and the certainty of mutual destruction . . . , scientific experts have hidden the harsh reality: They will decide whether we live or die."
Over the past generation we have seen too many men of Cousteau's stature fade from the world scene. In Isaiah 3, God said He would take away "the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the elder; the captain of fifty and the honorable man, the counselor and the skillful artisan, and the expert enchanter" (verses 2-3). And in their place? "I will give children to be their princes [rulers] and babes shall rule over them" (verse 4).
But why would God do this? He would allow these things to happen to apportion punishment for national sins (some of which are described in these pages), particularly of those nations that have most successfully spread Bibles around the world and therefore should know better. (News sources: The Times; The Man, the Octopus and the Orchid [Mr. Cousteau's autobiography].)
An Article from:
Good News Magazine: September - October 1997
Course Content
John Ross Schroeder
John died on March 8, 2014, in Oxford, England, four days after suffering cardiac arrest while returning home from a press event in London. John was 77 and still going strong.
Some of John's work for The Good News appeared under his byline, but much didn't. He wrote more than a thousand articles over the years, but also wrote the Questions and Answers section of the magazine, compiled our Letters From Our Readers, and wrote many of the items in the Current Events and Trends section. He also contributed greatly to a number of our study guides and Bible Study Course lessons. His writing has touched the lives of literally millions of people over the years.
John traveled widely over the years as an accredited journalist, especially in Europe. His knowledge of European and Middle East history added a great deal to his articles on history and Bible prophecy.
In his later years he also pastored congregations in Northern Ireland and East Sussex, and that experience added another dimension to his writing. He and his wife Jan were an effective team in our British Isles office near their home.
John was a humble servant who dedicated his life to sharing the gospel—the good news—of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God to all the world, and his work was known to readers in nearly every country of the world.
Scott Ashley
Scott Ashley was managing editor of Beyond Today magazine, United Church of God booklets and its printed Bible Study Course until his retirement in 2023. He also pastored three congregations in Colorado for 10 years from 2011-2021. He and his wife, Connie, live near Denver, Colorado.
Mr. Ashley attended Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas, graduating in 1976 with a theology major and minors in journalism and speech. It was there that he first became interested in publishing, an industry in which he worked for 50 years.
During his career, he has worked for several publishing companies in various capacities. He was employed by the United Church of God from 1995-2023, overseeing the planning, writing, editing, reviewing and production of Beyond Today magazine, several dozen booklets/study guides and a Bible study course covering major biblical teachings. His special interests are the Bible, archaeology, biblical culture, history and the Middle East.
