[Oe List ...] What have we heard from other religious bodies/groups?
Len Hockley via OE
oe at lists.wedgeblade.net
Tue Oct 13 21:40:26 PDT 2015
Well,
For starters here is an address by the Presiding Bishop and Primate of
The Episcopal Church
*The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
*
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
*
*
Episcopalians have a prayer that names "this fragile
earth, our island home."[1]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn1>
We've been praying it for nearly 40 years, yet many are only beginning
to awaken to our wanton abuse of this planet. We profess that God has
planted us in a garden to care for it and for all its inhabitants, yet
we have failed to love what God has given us. We continue to squander
the resources of this earth, and we are damaging its ability to nourish
the garden's diverse web of life.
The collective impact of the human species on this
planet is prompting many to name this the Anthropocene age[2]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn2> -
an era characterized by human changes with global impact. We are
unwittingly redesigning the earth on time scales that are infinitesimal
compared to previous geological and evolutionary rates. The carbon
dioxide and other gases being pumped into the atmosphere are creating an
insulating blanket that accumulates heat faster than it can be radiated
into space. Most of those gases come from burning fossil fuels,
removing forests, and producing animal protein for human consumption.
Scientists have been studying human impacts on our
global biosphere for decades, and today there is clear consensus about
the effects of these gases on the mean temperature of the planet. There
are a few very loud voices who insist this is only "natural variation,"
but the data do not lie. Those voices are often driven by greed and
self-centered political interests, and sometimes by willful blindness.
The Judeo-Christian tradition has always called those motivations
sinful. It is decidedly wrong to use resources that have been given
into our collective care in ways that diminish the ability of others to
share in abundant life. It is equally wrong to fail to use resources of
memory, reason, and skill to discern what is going on in the world
around us. That has traditionally been called a sin of omission.
Why do we call this a crisis? The planet's regulatory
system is being altered. Like a human being with a runaway fever, the
malfunctioning thermostat causes a body to slowly self-destruct as
inflammation erodes joints, causes nerve cells to misfire, and prevents
the digestive system from absorbing nutrients critical to life. This
planet is overheating, its climate is changing, and the residents are
sick, suffering, and dying.
Climate is a broad description of weather variability
and environmental conditions. We are experiencing more extreme weather
and more frequent hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts. Sea
level is rising, because ice sheets are melting and because a warming
ocean expands. As sea levels rise coastal flooding becomes more likely
and severe storms more destructive. The damage done by Katrina and
Superstorm Sandy are examples, as is the unusual winter much of this
continent is experiencing.
Shifting climate alters our ability to grow food crops
in historical locales, often leading to food shortages and famines.
Deserts are expanding, snow pack declining, and drought plagues a
drying West, where wildfires are more frequent and more damaging, and
fresh water is increasingly scarce. Commercial agricultural practices
in the developed world contribute more carbon to the atmosphere, when
wiser ways could be storing large quantities of carbon in healthier and
more productive soils.[3]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn3>
Historic conditions are changing so quickly that species adapted to
particular environments over geologic time spans can't adapt. Warmer
conditions are prompting species to seek cooler environments, with
limited success, by moving higher on mountain slopes, deeper in the
ocean, or closer to the poles.
Life in the oceans has additional challenges. Species
that build skeletons of calcium carbonate find it harder to build or
maintain their shells as increasing amounts of carbon dioxide dissolve
in sea water and make it more acidic. Several kinds of plankton[4]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn4> are
already challenged. As their populations begin to shrink, other parts
of the food chain get hungrier or disappear. More CO2 in the atmosphere
ultimately means fewer fish, shrimp, whales, and seabirds.
Coral reefs, which take centuries to build, are also in
imminent danger. As sea temperature rises, corals often respond by
expelling the symbiotic algae that provide much of their food.[5]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn5>
Debilitated corals may not grow fast enough to keep themselves in reach
of sunlight,[6]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn6> and
dying reefs are quickly destroyed by waves and storms. Coral reefs
rival tropical rain forests as the richest and most diverse ecosystems
on the planet.[7]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn7>
Both shelter countless numbers of yet-undescribed species. That
diversity is a wondrous gift of life in itself, and is increasingly
recognized as a potential source of healing pharmaceuticals.[8]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn8>
The human population explosion of recent millennia,
accompanied by exploitation of fossil fuels in recent centuries, have
moved this planetary system out of dynamic equilibrium. Human appetites
are responsible for the collapse of that equilibrium,[9]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn9> particularly
in developed nations, and many species are threatened with diminishment
and loss of life. We are making war on the integrity of this planet.
The result is wholesale death as species become extinct at
unprecedented rates, and human beings die from disease, starvation, and
the violence of war unleashed by environmental chaos and greed.
We were planted in this garden to care for it -
literally, "to have dominion" over its creatures.[10]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn10> Dominion
means caring for our island home, the /oikos*[11]*
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn11>/ that
gives birth to /economy/ and/ecology/.[12]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn12>
This is housekeeping and husbanding work - caring for what sustains us
all. We are meant to love God and what God has created, and to love our
neighbors as ourselves. Jesus insists that those who will enjoy
abundant life are those who care for all neighbors, especially "the
least of these"[13]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn13> -
the hungry and thirsty, the imprisoned and sick - and that must include
all the species God has nurtured on this planet.
God's presence among us in human form changed the
nature of relationship with all creation. Even those who cannot
understand the duty to care for birds and sea creatures must recognize
that the life of human beings depends on the health of the whole
planet. The poorest human beings are soonest and most deeply affected
by climatic changes, and least able to respond. Ultimately human beings
with the most resource-intensive lifestyles are causing the hunger and
thirst, displacement, illness, and impoverishment of climate refugees
and those without resources to adapt. There is no escape from that
death and destruction, for our fate is tied to the fate of all our
neighbors - the salvation of each depends on the salvation of all.
A crisis is a decision point, a time of judgment. We
can choose to change our destructive and overly consumptive ways, or we
can ignore the consequences of our actions and slowly steam like
proverbial frogs in a soup pot. We still have some opportunity to
choose, but that /kairos/ moment will not last long. We have before us
this day life and death.[14]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftn14>
Which will we choose?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref1>
/Book of Common Prayer/ p 370
[2]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref2> E.g.,
/The Sixth Extinction/, Elizabeth Kolbert. Holt, 2014.
[3]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref3> For
a brief introduction, cf. Norman Wirzba, "Carbon and Compost,"
/Christian Century/ 4 March 2015, 28-29
[4]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref4> The
tiny plants and animals that provide much of the food for larger
creatures in the oceans
[5]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref5> Often
referred to as "bleaching"
[6]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref6>
http://www.reefresilience.org/coral-reefs/stressors/climate-and-ocean-change/sea-level-rise/(link
is external)
<http://www.reefresilience.org/coral-reefs/stressors/climate-and-ocean-change/sea-level-rise/>
[7]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref7>
http://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-reef-biodiversity/(link
is external)
<http://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-reef-biodiversity/>
[8]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref8>
http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcorals/values/medicine/(link is external)
<http://coralreef.noaa.gov/aboutcorals/values/medicine/>
[9]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref9> Beginning
with the hunting of large animal species several tens of thousand years ago.
[10]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref10> Genesis
1:26,28
[11]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref11> Greek
for "house" or "home"
[12]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref12> Economy,
'house rules' or 'home management'; Ecology, 'study of the house'
[13]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref13> Matthew
25:45-46
[14]
<http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/climate-change-crisis-forum-now-available-viewing#_ftnref14> Deuteronomy
30:19
On 10/13/2015 1:29 PM, John P Cock via OE wrote:
> Thank you, Karen. The below Islamic news/attachment ARE encouraging. What
> have we heard from Christians other than Roman Catholics--from whom we¹ve
> heard much via the Pope¹s encyclical and his US Congress and United
> Nations talks? What have we heard from other religious bodies/groups?
>
> John and Lynda Cock
>
> On 10/13/15, 3:58 PM, "Karen Snyder via OE" <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
> wrote:
>
>> Recently I have found it difficult to keep up with good news re climate
>> change.
>>
>> For example, in August I read that Islamic leaders representing 20
>> nations wrote the ³Islamic Call to Action on Climate Change²
>> (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/aug/18/islamic-leaders-issue-
>> bold-call-rapid-phase-out-fossil-fuels). Attached is a one page
>> Œsummary¹ of the declaration with the declaration itself following.
>>
>>
>> As I went to email this to you, I discovered that October 8-9 was the 6th
>> Islamic Conference of Environmental Ministers, who also issued a
>> declaration. I have not yet seen it; but my guess is that it is built
>> upon the attached declaration.
>>
>> The declaration attached is short, clear and practical. I find myself
>> hope-filled knowing that the faith community is now responding so
>> dramatically with the Catholic church (with the Pope¹s encyclical) and
>> Islamic community (with this declaration) calling for rapid local and
>> global responses. I will be interested in your reflections on this.
>>
>> Peace,
>>
>> Karen Snyder Troxel_______________________________________________
>> OE mailing list
>> OE at lists.wedgeblade.net
>> http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net
>
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