Climate Change Archives - Page 5 of 5

Any of you who have received an email from me might have noticed the Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote in my signature line: “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” I was reminded of this quote when I was up late last night talking with some colleagues after viewing clips from a film, Chasing Ice. The film is both a beautiful portrayal of glacial ice around the world as well as a sobering reminder of what we are losing. Time lapse photographs of one Alaska glacier, for example showed it receding 2.5 miles in less than four years. Another set of images showed a portion of an ice shelf ‘calving’, that is falling into the sea, that was the size of Manhatten Island.

I see changes in the climate in my own back yard. I garden. In recent years I’ve noticed that we can plant 10 to 15 days sooner and first frosts typically come 10 or so days later. We talked to our local nursery folks and they told us that the growth and hardiness zones have changed, which is reflected in their growing and purchasing of plants. In 1990, it turns out, we were in growth zone 5, now we are in 6. It appears the zones have generally shifted at least 150 miles north.

What these changes tell me, whether it is in the rapid recession of glaciers around the world, or in the longer growing season and hotter summers in my back yard is that something has changed in our climate. This week, our government released a National Climate Assessment that outlines the changes that are occurring by regions across the US. The Midwest just has to put up with greater temperature extremes, more rain and flooding, more severe storms, and shallower Great Lakes. The Southwest is facing long term drought. The Southeast and Northeast face sea level rise, more severe and frequent hurricanes.

Of course we are simply talking about the US here. Many of the world’s great cities, including large cities in the developing world are coastal cities that face flooding from sea water rise. Many are concerned about the global instabilities that will result from the displacement of people from these cities while others are fleeing drought-stricken areas.

Some try to explain away these changes but what is the more controversial issue is the implication that human beings are responsible for much of this change. What is most troubling to me is that many of my fellow believers are among the most resistant when it would seem to me that we should be among the first to care for the creation, given that we are so into the idea of creation! Even if we are not sure that all the predictions are accurate, the changes that have already occurred and the dictates of prudent wisdom suggest that we should act. What troubles me is that most of us are not listening to scientists, including those like Katherine Hayhoe, an evangelical climate scientist and wife of an evangelical pastor. We are getting our views from secular conservative sources. The scientists who are Christians that I know who are studying this are not political people–they have become advocates because of the data, and because of their love of the world God made, not because they are anti-business or part of some big liberal/communist conspiracy.

During this conversation last night one of my colleagues spoke of a friend who said she couldn’t embrace this concern because of concern for the number of abortions taking place. I’ll be candid–I’m also pro-life, but for me, being pro-life involves being deeply concerned not only about saving the lives of the unborn, but also caring about what kind of world they are born into. Similarly, if we are concerned about the poor, we should care deeply about climate change, because the poor, who probably have contributed least to the problem, will suffer the most from the results, especially the children born in poverty.

This is what troubles me most. God-willing, I hope to be a grand-parent someday. It troubles me that how I’ve lived may make the lives of children and grand-children around the world much harder. In moral societies, parents sacrifice for the sake of their children. I am coming to see that it will indeed take great sacrifice on my part and billions of others in the more prosperous parts of the world, if we are to leave a livable world to my children and grand-children. The great temptation is to think, “we won’t see the worst of it in our lives, so why bother?” Somehow, I just can’t see myself saying this to my son, or to the young children in my church. But what will be the message of my life?

This morning Ben posted his own particular take on the anti-science posture of the church including a coarse but pointed video with Louis C K. Perhaps the most telling part in this video is the idea of God coming back and asking us why we didn’t take care of this incredible place that he has given us. I have to say that I scratch my head as to why that isn’t more apparent. In particular, I puzzle about why people who fight so much for the idea of creation don’t seem particularly interested in carefully tending that loving gift from God. I also wonder why those who identify as “conservative” don’t seem terribly interested in “conserving” the resources and the other forms of life God placed here. It honestly seems like a no-brainer to me! And, whatever the pros and cons of our current understanding of climate change, it just doesn’t seem terribly wise to conduct an experiment on the only planet we’ve got that could render it inhabitable for us. Prudence, if nothing else, suggests care in these matters. And if Christians comfort themselves with the hope of heaven, I think Louis C K has it right that we will have some pretty uncomfortable reckoning with the Maker.

The larger issue that Ben points up is that this is one more place where the church is out of step with many of his generation. Kinnaman doesn’t really talk about this but I encounter many thoughtful people who have turned to the east because this worldview system at least affirms our “oneness” with all things. I have questions about the efficacy of that worldview to address environmental issues but that’s for another post. Others pursue naturalism because they see naturalist scientists as the ones caring for the beautiful world they love. Many see Christians, mostly of my generation, opposing any efforts to address climate change and not wanting to even think of a more earth-friendly way of life, and they say…I’m out of here. The fact that our environmentalist “smackdowns” and our consumption lifestyle seem more important to us than the gospel and the people alienated by our lives and rhetoric says something about our priorities, and our hearts, it seems to me.

Most troubling is that in many of our churches, we have drawn our response to environmental concerns more from certain radio and TV outlets than we have our scriptures. Also,I realize there are ideologues on both “sides” of these questions. But as Ben said, I also know scientists who are not ideologues–they simply are collecting and analyzing data that give them cause for concern. You can probably find some of them at your local university. You might even have some already in your congregation who have never felt welcome to share their work because of the rhetoric they hear from other adults or even from the pulpit. One of the ways churches might think of overcoming the “anti-science” perception Kinnaman talks about is to invite an actual scientist to come and talk about their research and what they are learning–particularly scientists in the environmental sciences. I would encourage that you do this not to argue or convert but to understand. Questions are good–questioning is a way of life for academics– as long as the questioning isn’t leading or accusatory. And I hope the adults in our congregations can be mature enough to realize that it is OK to listen to someone with whom we might not agree!

I think one of the implicit questions Kinnaman’s book and our discussion raises is “what matters more? To protect a way of life and to win arguments? Or to build bridges and engage discussions that may challenge us and open doors to win a new generation of people to the faith we cherish?” I think in this regard of the apostle Paul who wrote, “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22b, NIV)