America's faithful celebrate Earth Day 365x a year
All across the U.S., people of faith are joining (and, in many cases, spearheading) Earth Day celebrations in their communities. Around the country, ecumenical services and gatherings are happening just as they are in Georgia and New Hampshire. The interfaith group EarthKeepers are planting thousands of trees in Michigan while Boston-area Unitarians have accepted the challenge to decrease their carbon footprints. Similar stories abound.
In a report published today, the 39th anniversary of Earth Day, the Center for American Progress looks at the bigger picture:
Religious communities across the country are celebrating Earth Day every day this year by taking long-term, sustainable steps to help reduce global warming. Faith communities are greening their houses of worship and advocating for policies and lifestyles that protect the planet and its most vulnerable inhabitants, joining scientists, policymakers and environmental advocates as good stewards of God's creation.
The CAP report, which details 21 important ways America's faithful are fighting climate change, really gets the point: Americans expressing the principles/values of their faith through caring for the planet is no longer a novelty storyline. Just a few of the examples which have crossed the newswire lately:
A new coalition of Catholic groups has launched the Catholic Climate Covenant, a campaign designed to encourage legislators to "pass prudent legislation that takes into account the needs of the common good, specifically the poor whom they say are affected most by climate change."
FPL and Oxfam are releasing a new poll tomorrow showing religious voters' concern for climate change and its effects on the world's poor. Also, a new Congressional coalition focused on prioritizing the most vulnerable communities affected by climate change will be introduced.
Interfaith Power and Light is conducting lobbying and adaptation efforts in 28 states, from California to North Carolina.
(Many more below the fold.)
Where can we find a moral response to the climate crisis?
Climate change is no joke. In fact, the EPA has said carbon dioxide poses a threat of "likely increase in mortality and morbidity." Scary stuff. But, the thing is, this won't be happening to those of us in the developed world first. The world's most vulnerable--those living off the land in developing nations--are already suffering from effects of global warming. More than a tenth of the world's population is at immediate risk from climate change, from crop failure in Malawi to flooding and malaria in Asia.
A moral response is in order, and this week, there have been a few contenders.
Option A:
Richard Land, the "Southern Baptist Convention's top lobbyist for social and moral concerns," who prefers coal-fired power plants to a cap-and-trade plan to cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Land says, "It's called 'cap and trade,' and it's the tax that dares not speak its name... Politicians love cap and trade, because they can claim to be taxing polluters, not workers. But of course, that is never true."
Option B:
Think Progress blogger Matt Yglesias, who thinks " failure to start reducing carbon emissions in the very near term is a substantive human and ecological catastrophe... Climate change means drought and famine, flood and forest fire, all in new and unprepared places. People will die."
Land relies on the stale argument that any attempt to hold polluters accountable will break the bank and cause "greater economic hardships on every American, especially the poor..." He spouts the Republican talking point that cap-and-trade is an "energy tax." He claims to be speaking in defense of poor Americans, saying "... rushing into environmental policies based on questionable science that will create greater economic hardships on every American, especially the poor, is the wrong approach."
While figuring out how to cut back on emissions won't be easy, there are ways to avoid placing a burden on low-income Americans. (Ezra Klein quotes Dave Roberts from the CBO, who says," "Auctioning permits and rebating the revenue, compared to freely allocating permits, produces the same macroeconomic effect, but auction-and-rebate is vastly more progressive, favoring low-income taxpayers, while freely allocating permits overwhelmingly favors the rich.")
Yglesias, a secular blogger, doesn't purport to lobby for "social and moral concerns." But it seems to me that he does a vastly better job of making the moral case for curbing emissions. After all, people's lives are at stake.
P.S. Thankfully, many religious voices are making the moral case for environmental protections-- like Jonathan Merritt or Rich Cizik, as well as outstanding organizations like Interfaith Power and Light.
Tackling climate change
And it's worse than we realized.
An international team of researchers has concluded that global warming can't be backtracked as easily as we were hoping. Even if we somehow, miraculously figure out how to curb our carbon emissions, the report says global temperatures could remain high for 1,000 years.
To make matters worse, the report goes on to say that if we don't cut down on the CO2 being released into our environment, we should expect dry-season rainfall--- comparable to the 1930s North American Dust Bowl!-- around the world, in southern Europe, northern Africa, southwestern North America, southern Africa and western Australia.
This is serious, and scary, business, and we need to figure out what to do about it. I think it's going to require working together as communities, states, and countries and it's going to require sacrifices.
Keep reading!
The people have spoken... Part II
As promised, more ballot initiative analysis!
Despite some losses on Tuesday for progressive forces, there were definitely some wins as well. In addition to defeating antiabortion initiatives-- which I blogged about yesterday-- voters also defeated several anti-immigrant initiatives, including one in Oregon that would mandated "English immersion" and limited the number of years immigrant students could have English-as-a-Second-Language classes. Ballot initiatives in several states also bolstered health care for children and seniors. Montana voters approved a measure which will establish the Healthy Montana Kids plan to expand and coordinate health coverage for uninsured children under the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Montana Medicaid Program, and employer-sponsored health insurance. Voters helped protect low-income Americans against predatory pay-day lenders in both Ohio and Arizona. In Michigan, voters approved an initiative that allows the donation of embryos produced in fertility clinics that would otherwise be discarded and would allow researchers to create embryonic stem cell cultures to study disease, as well as allowing government funding of stem-cell research.
Initiatives on the environment, however, were a mixed bag.
In California, both environmental initiatives-- "Big Wind" (a rebate program for those who buy alternative energy-fueled vehicles) and "Big Solar" (a requirement that utilities companies incrementally increase alternative-energy usage to meet 50% by 2025) failed. I was surprised by this, since California is known as being one of the most progressive states in the country and because Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, is probably the most outspoken "green" Republican. Schwarzenegger as governor has pledged to prevent off-shore drilling, signed into law legislation which requires cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, and issued an executive order mandating less carbon in transportation fuel.
And yet Californian voters turned down not one, but two, attempts to (at least ostensibly) make California more green.
Cizik and Co.: Sea Change on Climate Change
The enviro-magazine Grist hosted a wonderful dialogue between three leaders at the crossroads of religion and the environment: Richard Cizik of the NAE, LeeAnne Beres of Earth Ministry and Peter Illyn of Restoring Eden.
Cizik said evangelicals have a lot to confess, namely being AWOL on climate change for so long. While acknowledging evangelicals must then earn the right to speak on the environment, he said their urgency is motivated by a desire for justice and the common good. Speaking of moving beyond polarization and tired culture wars, Cizik said: “We’re interested in something else. We’re interested more in, frankly, making a difference than in making a statement."
The conversation is also hopeful, suggesting that climate change can be a bridge-building issue. Illyn says, for example, that some politically conservative Christians are beginning to see concern for the environment as part of a widening definition of being "pro-life." Beres testifies to the sea change on this issue, noting an "organic" interest among mainline Protestants and saying that youth especially understand the need to engage.
Finally, Cizik discusses how far evangelicals' numbers and political capital can help move the dialogue:
Sharing the Earth - A Jewish, Evangelical Conversation
An interview between Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, the spiritual leader of Congregation Pnai Or of Central Conn, and Dr. Lowell “Rusty” Pritchard, the National Director of Outreach for the Evangelical Environmental Network and the editor of Creation Care magazine, a Christian environmental quarterly.
Andrea Cohen-Kiener: Does your mandate for climate change come from Genesis?Rusty Pritchard: Yes, but as an Evangelical Christian, I often go to John 3:16 which starts off, “for God so loved the world.” Most Evangelicals hear that word “world” and think it means all the people in the world. But the word is cosmos. And it fits with the story of creation in Genesis that God loves his whole creation.
Cohen-Kiener: We need to acknowledge our grandeur and our smallness simultaneously. I've experienced a resistance in the Jewish community to environmental efforts; I've heard often over the past ten years, “we have more important issues to address.” Have you experienced similar speed bumps?Pritchard: The biggest speed bump is a limited conception of God, and a comfortable conservatism that is scared of change. I ask people, “what is it that conservatives should be conserving?” Of course we need to conserve natural resources, families and the ability of families to make a living. We need also to conserve beautiful places, including small towns and farms, all that makes human civilization good and beautiful and diverse. We can respect diversity because it's a blessing from God. That takes us past the shallow conservatism of fearing new ideas and deeper to a conservatism that says we ought to do our best to take care of the natural world.
Cohen-Kiener: In my community, there are primarily two speed bumps. First, my people are a minority and there's a natural tendency toward particularism — taking care first of oneself, one's people, one's family. The universalism of environmental makes some Jews feel it's not an essentially Jewish issue.Pritchard: Even though it's not demographically true, Evangelicals also feel like an embattled minority culture. Our dominant myth is that we're a faithful remnant that acknowledges the truth even though the world has gone another direction. Until recently, our community viewed environmentalism as a liberal issue, or as a popular fad. But because our theology says that God's character can be seen in the created world, many conservative Christians are beginning to be concerned about creation care. In that view, destroying creation and permitting ecological degradation are like ripping pages out of scripture.
The rest is on the flip. . .Wall Street Panjandrums vs. People of Faith
In today's Wall Street Journal piece, "Global Warming as Mass Neurosis," editorial board member Bret Stephens rips into the faithful:
A second explanation is theological. Surely it is no accident that the principal catastrophe predicted by global warming alarmists is diluvian in nature. Surely it is not a coincidence that modern-day environmentalists are awfully biblical in their critique of the depredations of modern society: "And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." That's Genesis, but it sounds like Jim Hansen. And surely it is in keeping with this essentially religious outlook that the "solutions" chiefly offered to global warming involve radical changes to personal behavior, all of them with an ascetic, virtue-centric bent: drive less, buy less, walk lightly upon the earth and so on.So radical, that idea to consume less and walk more. I guess that would baffle the car service elite.
If Mr. Stephens wants to attack folks who care for creation as being "awfully biblical in their critique of the depredations of modern society," I can think of tens of million Americans who would accept that critique.
Furthermore, this op-ed shows that the men who wield the most control on the market are more than happy to pay lip service to our religious values, except when, as during the fights over abolition or now over climate change, the results would mean a few less million in their pockets.
The heads of the Wall Street Journal call Americans "Biblical" and "radical" if they drive less, buy less, and walk more. Talk about sophistry. The deniers are not only content to dismiss science, now they attack Americans for their religious values and private decisions over consumption. That's not even good faith in markets, that's panjandrum presumption.
"Greening" the faith: an ordinary revolution
Last week, I spotlighted my pastor after he advocated for creation care in a newspaper article. I felt proud to be part of a faith community seeking to understand how its beliefs interact with all areas of life.
Today, I feel the same pride but to a much greater degree. I just finished reading Faith in Action, the Sierra Club’s first national report on how people of faith are confronting environmental issues with courage and grace. The report highlights the work of one group from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The simple fact that the Sierra Club, viewed as a "secular" group (the report states almost half of Sierra Club members attend church monthly), released the report is reflective of just how valuable the faith community is becoming in combating environmental problems. Multiple faiths are represented, each group has found a unique, and ultimately prophetic, way to live responsibly within their community.
Creation care begins at home
There was good news from my hometown of Columbia, Missouri this weekend: My church was well-represented in the public square by a friend crying out that God cares how we care for creation.
In “Environment of contention,” Columbia Tribune writer Annie Nelson approached the intersection of faith and the issue of climate change from the perspective of several evangelical leaders. I was proud that my pastor was one of them:
Pastor Kevin Larson of Karis Community Church, an interdenominational congregation with Baptist ties, said global warming is absolutely a Christian issue because of God’s cultural mandate to be good stewards of creation. Larson said evangelicals accept that murder is a sin but have a hard time thinking of pouring motor oil in a storm drain as something they need to repent. "I see both as sins," he said.
Later, he rebutted some Christians’ use of end-times theology to excuse a lack of environmental concern:
"Since God is going to restore all things, we should work with him and not against him by destroying everything," Larson said.
What’s most gratifying is knowing Kevin and knowing he really believes this. His words aren’t for publicity or attention. I know it because, as a church, we’re humbly struggling together to live these words out. We realize this is uncharted territory for our faith tradition and we’re doing our best, knowing we’ll make mistakes.
This year, we’ve been besieged by stories about the Wrights and Hagees and Parsleys (oh my!) of the faith world. Amid this noise, it's almost surprising to find a story with a pastor making reasoned, articulate statements about a controversial topic -- but it shouldn't be.
We can't let people get away with using this election cycle as justification to divorce faith from social engagement. There are pastors and faith leaders who make their stand based on strong beliefs, rather than the shifting winds of public opinion or the directives of faith bosses from the fundamentalist fringe. We need to hear more about them. That my pastor gave me the chance to make that argument is reason enough to be proud.
Faith on the Senate Floor | Global Warming
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) lists diverse faith groups that support aggressive legislation to mandate carbon reductions to stop global warming.
My Day on Capitol Hill: A Religious Response to Global Warming
Last week, about forty lay and clergy members of Interfaith Power and Light met with Senators, Representatives and their environmental legislative directors to call for rapid and equitable action on climate change.
In the House, we asked that members sign onto a global warming principles letter circulated by Reps. Waxman (D-CA), Markey (D-MA) and Inslee (D-WA).
The principles include the following elements:Compassion Forum Focus: Climate Change
As you may know, Faith in Public Life is hosting presidential candidates Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama on April 13 for the Compassion Forum.
The Compassion Forum is focused on just five important issues to folks of faith: domestic and international poverty, global AIDS, climate change, genocide in Darfur, and human rights and torture.
Each day this week, this blog will highlight one of those five issues. See the flip side for Climate Change.
A State Debate Over Faith in Civic Life
On Friday, in its editorial "Wise Choice," The Richmond Times-Dispatch opines: The University of Virginia's Miller Center for Public Affairs recently organized a debate -- sponsored in part by this newspaper -- on the role of religion in civic life. The two sides debated whether there should be any.
Several days later, 60 area religious leaders and scholars sent a letter to Gov. Tim Kaine opposing a coal-fired power plant in Wise. The letter does not come right out and say the plant would be a mortal sin, but it strongly hints in that direction: "Our rich religious traditions tell us that 'the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,' (Psalm 24:1) and call us to live out our moral responsibility to protect the earth for our children and future generations. We also are called to serve and protect the poor and the helpless and to 'love our neighbor as we love ourselves.' (Leviticus 19:18)."
Religion has played a key role in many great causes (e.g., abolition), and some less so (e.g., the nuclear-freeze movement). It forms the basis for much opposition to abortion and gay marriage -- which frequently provokes complaints that fundamentalists are trying to "impose their values" on others.
Kaine, a former missionary, opposes capital punishment for religious reasons (he nevertheless has allowed executions to proceed). He supports the proposed plant in Wise. Is the letter from religious leaders an attempt to inject religion into a realm many liberals say ought to remain entirely secular -- or a shrewd political ploy aimed at exploiting the governor's piety? And would it seem as seemly if the governor were named, say, Mike Huckabee?On Sunday, the paper published a rebuttal by one of the Virginia religious leaders. Read it on the flip. . .
EXCLUSIVE: Interview with the Man Behind the Southern Baptist Climate Initiative
Many of you caught the recent news of a growing number of Southern Baptist leaders signing onto a global warming declaration. They say their church's official stance is "too timid" and call for more action on climate change. They write:
We realize that simply affirming our God-given responsibility to care for the earth will likely produce no tangible or effective results. Therefore, we pledge to find ways to curb ecological degradation through promoting biblical stewardship habits and increasing awareness in our homes, businesses where we find influence, relationships with others and in our local churches. Many of our churches do not actively preach, promote or practice biblical creation care. We urge churches to begin doing so.This statement was pioneered by Jonathan Merritt, a graduate of Liberty University. He is currently a seminarian at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, in North Carolina. Over the weekend I wrote to Jonathan asking for an interview, and he graciously agreed to share his thoughts with the Interfaith Power and Light community.
The Interview:
Interfaith Power and Light: You've mentioned an epiphany "that broke you" and changed your perspective on the environment. What triggered it?
Jonathan Merritt: I was in a theology class at Southeastern learning about the general revelation of God. My professor likened destroying creation to tearing a page out of the bible. Obviously, these two forms are not equally important, but they are equally revelation.
IPL: What process did you go through in deciding to translate your personal conviction into a public, furthermore a community, statement of belief?
JM: I first began to examine my life, but I felt an inner nudge to do more. Then I sort of tore a page out of the SBC playbook. As Southern Baptists, we have learned that we can accomplish more when we cooperate together rather than blaze a trail individually.
Video | Catholics and Southern Baptists Get Greener
The Environment and Sin
ABC News | Churches Giving Up Carbon for Lent
The Washington Post writes:
. . .the idea is catching on: A blog, Green Lent, is devoted to the concept, and locally, Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light, a nonprofit organization that works with area congregations to spread the sustainability gospel, is promoting a Lenten carbon fast in the D.C. area, offering pledges and tip sheets for distribution at worship services and church events.The Post also notes how evangelicals are joining in giving up carbon for lent.
SEED Film | E. O. Wilson on The Creation
Harvard naturalist, theorist, and humanist E.O. Wilson discusses his work with ants, his book The Creation, and why he writes with pen and paper. It's hard to picture, if you know him only by his scientific reputation, but E.O. Wilson confesses it freely: He loves watching preachers on television," writes the WaPo.
"Wilson is an internationally renowned biologist who has based his extraordinarily productive five-decade career at that great bastion of secular humanism, Harvard University. At 77, his work and his worldview are so thoroughly entwined with Darwinian theory that they're impossible to imagine without it. His reverence is for the wondrous creatures and intricate interconnections of the natural world, not for any supreme being."
Mountaintop Removal: A Coal Crime Against Creation
Mountaintop removal / valley fill coal mining (MTR) has been called strip mining on steroids. One author says the process should be more accurately named: mountain range removal. Mountaintop removal /valley fill mining annihilates ecosystems, transforming some of the most biologically diverse temperate forests in the world into biologically barren moonscapes.
Get the facts and scriptural justification from Christians for the Mountains.A Nun Blogs from Bali
Yesterday (Wednesday) was the opening of the high-level negotiations. This means it is the time when the heads of governments arrive and speak on the issue, and work towards decisions that will move us toward a more sustainable EARTH community. Each speaker yesterday from around the world spoke of the absolute necessity of ALL countries cooperating in the decision making process. Many spoke of being motivated by our responsibility to care for creation, the most vulnerable and future generations. It was clear, without mentioning the United States directly, that each speaker was indeed saying to the United States: you need to be a cooperative party in the negotiations.
More on the flipCNN: The genesis of Interfaith Power and Light
Throughout the weekend, CNN and Headline News will be playing this footage of the Rev. Sally Bingham's environmental activism. Her Interfaith Power and Light campaign is mobilizing a national religious response to global warming while promoting renewable energy, resource efficiency and conservation.
Recently Interfaith Power and Light has:
+Screened An Inconvenient Truth in 4000 congregations.
+Works with national church and environmental groups to pressure Congress and the President to pass strong legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
+25 local state offices that provide speakers, energy audits, informational resources to all members of the faith community.
+Created the ShopIPL online strore where individuals and congregations can purchase low cost, high quality energy saving products.
The club for green grows
The polluting industry is losing is exploitative grip on the American religious landscape. Now it's almost impossible to fail to find an article each week on the greening of God. In fact, the dog bites man story is becoming "evangelicals care for creation."
For example, from the Associated Press:The tall, tan pastor stood at the pulpit of his Baptist church on a recent Sunday morning, cleared his throat, and nervously proclaimed the following: "We can embrace God and Scripture and science together. And it's enough to say when they agree - and sometimes they do - we should embrace it. And they agree that our Earth cannot last forever. And that we are charged with the responsibility of taking care of it." With that, there was another rustle in the crowd. And Peachtree Baptist Church had opened its two-month Sunday sermon series on the environment.
But this growing club of the Godly greens reveals more than a local church shift.
This is evident in "true conservative" Bob Novak's recent column attacking GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.Huckabee clearly departs from the mainstream of the conservative movement in his confusion of "growth" with "greed." Such ad hominem attacks are part of his intuitive response to criticism from the Club for Growth. . . . On "Fox News Sunday" on Nov. 18, he called the "tactics" of the Club for Growth "some of the most despicable in politics today. It's why I love to call them the Club for Greed. . ."
Never one to shed light basic human morality, Novak continues to split "economic conservative" from scripture:
But Huckabee simply does not fit within normal boundaries of economic conservatism, such as when he criticized President Bush's veto of a Democratic expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. Calling global warming a "moral issue" mandating "a biblical duty" to prevent climate change, he has endorsed a cap-and-trade system that is anathema to the free market.
It's becoming clear that a split is coming, with the godly moving away from the greedy "conservatives" and joining the growing club for a green future.
Thousands drown in Bangladesh cyclone with "Katrina-like storm surge"
Barguna, Bangladesh - The death toll from Thursday's cyclone in Bangladesh is now more than 3,100, and officials say that number could reach 10,000 once rescuers get to outlying islands. Rescuers are struggling to reach thousands of survivors, and relief items have been slow to reach many.CNN:
VIDEO: God is getting greener
NOW | God and Global Warming | PBS
In August, NOW traveled with an unlikely alliance of Evangelical Christians and leading scientists to witness the breathtaking effects of global warming on Alaska's rapidly changing environment. Though many in the evangelical community feel recognition of global warming is in opposition to their mission, the week-long trip inspired new thinking on the relationship between science and religion, and on our moral responsibility to protect the planet. A breathtaking and surprising journey to find common ground between earth and sky.
This web-exclusive special footage is related to the NOW on PBS program "God and Global Warming" airing Friday, October 26. Watch the episode here.
Faith and the California fires
Here are some videos on how the Southern California wildfires are affecting congregations and how faith groups are responding.
And of course Fox News find a radical Islamic link:
Nuns go green
Growing faith in global warming
For those who care about real ethical engagement between the faith community and the larger culture, the moral and scientific issue of global warming stands as a growing success. That said, we haven't solved the problem yet and Congress continues to stall. (Help by supporting the Boxer/Sanders bill.) Adding to the climate change on climate change, Yale Divinity School's journal Reflections -- a magazine of theological and ethical inquiry -- has devoted the current to God's Green Earth and the current meanings of Creation, Faith and Crisis.
The lead authors, Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, write:"A many-faceted alliance of religion and ecology along with a new global ethics is awakening around the planet...This is a new moment for the world's religions, and they have a vital role to play in the emergence of a more comprehensive environmental ethics. The urgency cannot be underestimated. Indeed, the flourishing of the Earth community may depend on it."
Other contributers include ethicist Larry Rasmussen, evangelical thinker Richard Cizik, activist the Rev. Sally Bingham and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai.
Oh yeah, and you can order the journal online for free.At Aspen, E.O. Wilson seeks common ground with evangelical pastors
American biologist (Myrmecology, a branch of entomology), researcher (sociobiology, biodiversity), theorist (consilience, biophilia), and naturalist (conservationism) E. O. Wilson shares a letter to a Christian pastor, an appeal for common cause on caring for creation.
On Jul 8th, 2006, at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Wilson offered some thoughts on our shared future, while noting that we live in the century of the environment.
Get to know: Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life
The answer may lie with the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life.
VIDEO: Former Christian Coalition leader calls for creation care
In this special report, Anderson Cooper 360 profiles Dr. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood, Florida. A longtime conservative, Dr. Hunter stepped down as president of The Christian Coalition of America because he believes that Evangelicals must care "for the vulnerable outside the womb, as well as inside the womb." The "Compassion Issues" we must address, he teaches, include sanctity of life, marriage and family, justice, poverty and creation care.
Boxer: Elections have consquences. . .for climate change
Scientists and Christian leaders unite on global warming
Get to know: Restoring Eden, a new front in the Christian environmental movement
I'm a Christian environmental evangelist!, writes Restoring Eden head Peter Illyn.
In an article in the hip environmental journal Grist, Illyn adds he recognizes that "this definition is loaded with stereotypes, both positive and negative, but it best describes what I do -- traveling around the country preaching in churches and colleges about the goodness of nature and our sacred duty to love, serve, and protect God's creation."