Why climate change is THE environmental issue for faith communities

The world's faith communities are increasingly making stewardship of the planet and our local environment a core value of their faith and a central part of their mission. Their are innumerable local and regional issues of importance, and having local faith communities speak up and act out to let the public and public officials know that these issues are important morally and spiritually can have a significant impact on public debates and policy directions.

For the interfaith power and light community, climate change is THE central environmental issue. This is not because climate change is inherently more important or of immediate concern but rather because climate change is an overarching threat to the health and well-being of natural and human environments. Almost daily, new reports are published demonstrating the wide-ranging and potentially long-term impacts of climate change and excess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The complex interactions of global warming, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and other GHGs, changing weather patterns, and biotic and abiotic responses affect almost every aspect of our environment. For example, increased carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere is soaked up by oceans, creating carbonic acid. This increases the acidity of ocean water, which, when combined with increased sea surface temperatures, is a major contributor to coral bleaching. Warmer springtime temperatures cause earlier flowering and insect activity, which may be out of sync with bird migrations that depend upon nectar and insects as major food sources. Although God's creatures are inherently adaptable, there are physical and geographical limits to these adaptations, and isolated environments like alpine and mountainous areas may be altered irreversibly, causing localized extinction of organisms.

The insidiousness of fossil fuel energy use is that it requires a massive waste of other natural resources. Mountaintop removal in the Appalachians to extract coal permanently alters the landscape and destroys wild and undeveloped ecosystems. Throughout the US now, extraction of natural gas is occurring from shale deposits using a process called fracking that pumps unbelievable amounts of water belowground to break up the bedrock. This is not just a waste of water, it also potentially fouls underground drinking water supplies. Unfortunately, even private landowners often cannot stop this activity, as mining rights were often sold off generations ago. And, of course, catastrophic oil spills still occur, leading to merely temporary bans on specific activities and a shifting of drilling and exploration to other areas.

Of course, humans are not immune to these changes. Glacier melting and earlier snowpack thaw can cause large changes in the water cycle, affecting the quantity, quality, and timing of water availability for agriculture and urban uses. On a large scale, these changes have national and international consequences. Shifting climates alter the crops that can be grown in specific areas. Increased storm activity-winter and summer-increases risks of crop failure and damage to the built environment. And of course, the poor and vulnerable are most at risk of being affected by these impacts on agriculture, water availability, and the built environment.

The failure of national governments and the United Nations to effectively address climate change can be largely attributed to shortsighted self-interest rather than a lack of awareness or understanding of the magnitude and seriousness of the problem. It truly takes an act of faith to make major changes in energy use and energy sources on the scale required to reverse the course of excessive GHG emissions and save the planet and ourselves from the worst potential effects of climate change. It takes communities and leaders with vision, passion, courage, and dedication to do what is necessary to combat climate change. We will indeed need to make sacrifices and become new people, new communities, new societies, transformed in other words, to meet this challenge. Thus, it will truly take people and communities of faith to lead the effort and to inspire us to change our hearts, minds, and action in response to the challenges of climate change.

The good news is that the dividends of such action are both personal and planetary. The religious conversion that is required to adequately respond to climate change can affect all the major environmental issues, from conservation of wild lands and biodiversity to protection of natural resources we use in our daily lives. The less we rely on energy-intensive production of food and other goods, the more we reconnect to the earth itself and to each other as members of an intentional and mindful community. We have let ourselves become passive consumers, trading in the marketplace of ideas and values for the marketplace of dollars and cents. If we continue to expect cheap energy, cheap food, cheap transportation, and cheap entertainment, then that's what we get: a cheapened life and a ruined planet. But if we make the personal, social, and political changes needed to address climate change, we can also experience a better quality of life and a more equitable and just society as well as a healthier planet. So, while we encourage our partners in faith communities to continue to work on all manner of environmental issues, we will continue to prophesy about the curse of climate change and the need for fundamental changes to experience the blessings of a healthy planet and a sustainable society.