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Earth Day
by the Bob Musil
April 22, 2007
What a glorious day the Lord has made this second Sunday after
Easter!! As a congregation, with thousands of other
churches nationwide, we are celebrating Earth Day! After church,
we will gather outdoors at our newly-planted tree in memory of Ken
Lutterman, who loved nature and social justice. We’ll share
environmental resources, and have fun and fellowship amidst the beauty
and the bounty of God’s creation.
But the
question before us Christians today is how can we celebrate, be
joyful, or have any real hope for our planet and its people when we
know, in a scientific age, that God’s creation is increasingly at risk
from human assaults on the environment -- especially from global
warming? The facts are in; the science is straightforward. In
January of this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Climate
Change, the IPCC, an authoritative group of over 2000 scientists from
every nation, including the United States, issued its Fourth
Assessment. As in 1990, 1995, 2001, and again in 2007, the IPCC
concluded, only with greater certainty and with graver tones, that
human activity, especially the burning of the fossil fuels --oil, gas,
and coal—is raising the concentration of carbon dioxide or CO2 in the
atmosphere. That causes global climate change. In the 1750s, before the
Industrial Revolution, CO2 made up 280 parts per million of our
atmosphere. Today that figure is up about 36% to 380 ppm and rising
steadily, even accelerating. It is now at levels not seen on Earth for
650,000 years. CO2 serves as a kind of blanket around the Earth,
allowing solar radiation to pass through and then blocking reflected
infrared radiation or heat from the surface. Until recent times, that
allowed us to enjoy the very livable average global temperature of
about 58-59 F. But we have already raised the average global
temperature by over one degree in the past century, most of that in the
past 50 years.
The
IPCC reports that we are likely to see another degree of warming in
this half of the century and, unless we stabilize or level off CO2
concentrations at about 450 ppm by 2050, the world will enter a period
of unprecedented and dangerous disruption of global climate systems.
Unless we act, our children and grandchildren will see increasing
sea-level rise, more glaciers melting around the world, and portions of
the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets releasing huge amounts of fresh
water into the sea. Hurricanes, droughts, floods, the spread of
insect-borne diseases will all increase. Small island nations and
low-lying ones like Bangladesh will be inundated, and food production
will be seriously disrupted, especially in Africa and other parts of
the developing world.
We are
already witnessing, of course, the early effects of global climate
disruption, but the worst is often far away -- droughts in China,
floods in India, heat waves in Europe that killed about 50,000 people
in the summer of 2003, or a storm like Hurricane Mitch, in 1998, that
caused severe rains, flooding, 30,000 cases of cholera and 30,000 more
of malaria in tiny Honduras. Ultimately, Mitch killed 11,000 people
there. The WHO conservatively estimates that some 150,000 lives a year
are lost to just the directly attributable, measurable effects of
climate change. For we Americans, who, according to recent polling,
still register the least knowledge and least concern about global
warming of any nation on Earth, it has taken the devastation of
Hurricane Katrina with some 2,000 dead Americans, one million driven
from their homes, and hundreds of thousands of our citizens still
internally displaced, to pierce the headlines and our hearts.
The New
York Times called all this “grim.” Some environmentalists speak of
crisis and catastrophe. A few have complained, in the style of Old
Testament prophets, that the warnings are not grim enough. As
Christians, how can we have faith, find Easter resurrection, joy, hope
in the face of such looming dangers of truly Biblical proportions?
I want to offer hope, not false or cheap hope, but
realistic, scientifically-grounded, and Biblical hope.
First,
let’s recognize and be thankful that we have indeed been
warned. The prophets of our time, mostly unrecognized and little
heeded, have already spoken. And many, many people over several decades
now –scientists, environmental organizations, enlightened policy
makers, some perceptive journalists, clergy, and lots of local citizens
and activists have helped to create those warnings. They began the
process of treaties and laws and personal choices that can stave off
the worst of global warming. But many, many more people still need to
listen, to heed the many ways in which God speaks to us today and has
throughout history -- through physical signs and through historic
individuals who seem somehow specially chosen or perhaps just
particularly attentive and attuned.
One of
these is Noah. One of my favorite Bible stories since I was a child,
and perhaps yours, is of Noah’s ark. And since we are truly modern, we
mustn’t forget his able and obviously talented partner -- unfortunately
only known to us now as Mrs. Noah. – and their three sons and their
wives. Together they faced heavy rains, rising seas, endangered
species, loss of biodiversity – now frighteningly familiar and grim
stuff. Amidst the Flood, God says to Noah and his wife, “Build an ark
and then herd every available species on board!” God promises with
signs like a rainbow and a dove that these first environmentalists, our
early stewards, will see dry land and that the world will never again
be destroyed. But notice that God does not simply reach down and rescue
our survivors. He asks them to have faith and to get to work. To build
an ark – planks, sails, rigging, holds, steering, the works – and to
gather and save the other creatures. It is human action that
carries out God’s will -- that and a lot of faith, tough choices, and
immense talent, skill, and hard work.
It is
the same with Moses who, leading the good life in Egypt, is called to
lead his people, the Israelites out of slavery. Moses, like a
Westmorelander asked to head a committee, says “Who me Lord?” No can
do. Too busy, not enough time, talent -- whatever. Try somebody else.
But again, the lesson is clear. Moses chooses to accept the call, to
lead his people, and with them outwit and outrun a professional army
with chariots, make it across the Red Sea at a perilous and miraculous
low tide, and then head for the Promised Land. From the Garden of Eden
to the Flood to the liberation of Jewish slaves, it is our
faith in God and our choice to act, to work, to carry on, that
leads to renewed life, to milk and honey, and to wholeness in life.
And so
we come to Earth Day and our own Biblical and scientific crossroads.
There are many beautiful passages in the Bible about nature and God’s
concern for it: from Creation onward we hear that God made the birds
and the beasts, the sun and sky and stars—and us. Water in the
desert, green pastures, lilies in the field, majestic mountains. And
all of it, all of it, is good. “The earth is the Lord’s and the
fullness thereof” says the Psalmist. An early E.O. Wilson, the ancient
writer is simply singing, in more poetic language, the glories of
biodiversity, of intricate ecosystems, the web of life, a planetary
system upon which all things depend.
But I
want to stress what both ancient Biblical texts and modern medicine and
science reveal as fundamental truths. We know today with hard
data that we are indeed all part of the same Creation. The
environment is not just some thing outside of us, some Romantic
set of lovely flora and fauna that we simply watch out for, and tend.
The environment includes we humans as well. Paleogenetics shows that we
are indeed all descended from a single ancient Eve (and Adam) and that
the breath of God flows around us and through us, as it does all living
things. From microbiology and our ability to measures minute trace
chemicals in the body, as well as from environmental health studies by
Philippe Grandjean and other scientists, we know that a single molecule
of a toxin – of PCBs or mercury – can make its way through evaporation,
wind, and rain into the food chain and then into a body in the Artic --
whether of a polar bear or an Inuit mother. The molecules then cross
the placental blood barrier, and harm the development of her beloved
baby. I have seen the labored and broken childhood drawings of affected
Inuit children from as far away as the Faroe Islands off Greenland –
the tragic result of industrial byproducts that keep us comfortable
here thousands of miles away.
And so
for me, Biblical texts about the environment include not just nature,
but those about people -- Jesus’ teaching to love thy neighbor
as thy self, and, in as much as ye have done it unto the least of
these, ye have done it unto me. It is this Biblical call to care for all
Creation -- for the Earth and its creatures and for our
fellow humans, especially the most vulnerable, that the United
Church of Christ and the National Council of Churches call Eco-Justice.
Such
Christian concerns caused the World Council of Churches to speak out
about global warming in 1991, led to the formation of the National
Religious Partnership for the Environment and a religious and
scientific summit about climate in 1994, brought J.D. Henderson of the
United Methodists and other Christian social justice leaders to Kyoto
in 1997, created a climate change program at the National Council of
Churches, and first brought together mainstream and evangelical
Christians at a joint national conference and lobby day focused on
global warming in March, 2002. Most recently, our own UCC’s Mike
Neuroth organized the National Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy
Days. Some 1,000 Christians traveled to the Capitol to learn and lobby
for peace, justice, and the prevention of climate change.
Surely,
God is still speaking. My friend Carl Pope, the head of the Sierra
Club, apologized some ten years ago, at a conference sponsored
by Bartholomew I, patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, for the
failure of environmentalists to appreciate the faithful environmental
actions of many within the Judeo-Christian tradition. Today, the Sierra
Club maintains a staff liaison to the faith community and special
sections on its web site devoted to Sierra Club members who are church
members. Last month, on March 24th, the Club and the
Massachusetts Council of Churches organized the first statewide march
of environmentalists and religious bodies from Western Massachusetts to
the capitol in Boston. And just last Saturday, April 14th,
over 1,200 local climate change events and a culminating human montage
here in Washington called “Step It Up” were organized by noted nature
writer Bill McKibben. Bill is one of today’s prophets. His book warning
of climate change came out nearly twenty years ago. Bill
is still at it and still hopeful despite the dangers we face. So let it
be noted that Bill McKibben is also a lay leader in his church, writes
passionate sermons, and can be found in the pages of Christian
Century, as well as in the on-line environmental magazine Grist!
Also
today, the secular Earth Day Network has provided Christian materials,
web sites, organizing, and inspiration that has led to some 10-12,000
Earth Day sermons in churches all across America. That’s as if we doubled
the number of seemingly ubiquitous Starbucks in our land and held a
Christian Earth Day service in every single one! And, of course, there
are secular Earth Day events and rallies around the nation and another
1,000 lobbyists have descended upon Washington. But the question
remains. Does all this preaching, praying, prancing about the streets,
and politicking accomplish anything? Will it be enough to matter? I
believe it will.
Scientists
like Robert Socolow at Princeton tell us we need to cut 7 billion
metric tons of carbon of annual emissions worldwide by 2050. That’s the
amount we are pumping into the atmosphere right now. If we don’t change
our ways, if we keep on with business as usual, CO2 emissions will
reach about 14-15 billion tons, double the concentration of CO2 by
mid-century, and bring on those Biblical horrors. Socolow has
helpfully divided the task into seven wedges with fifteen different
scenarios we could choose to make those CO2 reductions. The good news
is that a number of recent studies including experts from the DOE
Renewable Energy program at Los Alamos have indicated that the paths of
energy efficiency, renewable energy, like wind and solar, and increased
vegetation to absorb CO2, could meet the needed cuts to stabilize human
emissions and then reduce CO2 levels to safer levels in the latter part
of this century.
Let me
repeat. A number of credible studies indicate that recent advances in
wind, solar, biomass, biofuels, geothermal, and other renewable energy,
along with greater efficiencies in our cars, homes, appliances,
buildings, factories -- and, yes, churches -- plus reforestation and
greener cities could meet the cuts in carbon that we need. We have
detailed plans for our Ark -- drawings, hammers, nails, planks,
adzes -- the works. All we need to do is have faith, care for creation,
and get to work. It is up to us. God is still speaking. And, in
my view, very, very audibly.
The task
is awesome in the true sense of the word. It will require that each of
us take personal and collective responsibility to get the job done. I
will now publicly repent for my own penchant of resisting change in my
personal consumer and carbon choices. I don’t like guilt trips,
nagging and all those other things that sometimes seem to come with
environmentalism. And I also feared, perhaps legitimately, that after
taking some simple steps, like getting compact fluorescent light bulbs,
or buying a Prius, Americans might come to believe that individual
effort alone is enough, that changes in public policy might not be
needed. I now sincerely believe we need both. Personal and
public policy choices encourage and reinforce each other in a wonderful
feedback loop.
It was
environmentalists at a PSR conference jointly sponsored by the
Pennsylvania Conference of Churches that first convinced me
that changing a single light bulb can -- in one year -- prevent the
burning of 500 pounds of coal in a dirty, coal-fired electric utility.
Such old twentieth-century monsters give off huge amounts of CO2 and
toxins and cause asthma, respiratory disease, even heart attacks,
leading to about 30,000 premature deaths per year. Or, if you’re beyond
light bulbs, if every American increased the gas mileage on their car
by just 2-3 mpg, whether by personal choice or by improved federal
CAFÉ standards, it would entirely eliminate our nation’s need
for oil from the Persian Gulf. And here in sunny and sometimes steamy
metropolitan Washington, just seven well-placed shade trees can cut the
need for air conditioning in your home by 20%.
And so I
am in favor of even the simplest individual steps, as well as major
policy changes, that will prevent global warming. Every pound, every
ton of C02, however released, stays in the atmosphere for over a
century. The average American home, in fact, releases about 20 tons or five
times the global average. And we Americans account for
only 4-5% of world population, but nearly a quarter of all
global CO2 emissions. And so here at Westmoreland, as individual
Christians, as families, as a church, and as part of a broader
environmental and justice movement, we can join with millions of other
Americans and many hundreds of designated National Council of Churches
eco-justice congregations that have heard and responded to God’s
call. We can make choices and take action. Our
families can recycle, reuse, take public transportation, car pool,
walk, run, jog, bicycle -- to work and as many of you have today --to
church. Our church committees can develop plans to make our lovely New
England-style building more energy efficient from lighting to
appliances to AC. Already, Westmoreland has signed up for clean, green
electricity and we are in the forefront of planning energy savings and
a green roof for Lincoln-Westmoreland housing.
We can
engage in advocacy right here in Montgomery County or DC, in Annapolis
or Richmond, and in elections at every level of government. We can join
with organizations that have alerted our nation and our world to the
dangers of climate change from the Sierra Club to the Natural Resources
Defense Council to the Union of Concerned Scientists, and many more.
And, of course, we can support and work with the United Church of
Christ which on climate change and the environment, as in so
many things, makes us all proud of our denomination’s long heritage of
justice and reform.
And so,
when asked why do Christians care about creation, about the
environment, about global climate change? When we are asked if there is
any hope in the face of the gathering flood, it is my prayer that you
can and will say yes!! There is hope if we choose to
act. God created the heavens and the Earth and all living things and
saw that they are good. Jesus teaches us that as we have done
it unto the least of these, we have done it unto him. And we
know from faith and modern science alike that we are all one
people. God’s people. We know that molecules from around the globe –
for good or ill -- flow around us and through us. God’s breath
surrounds and supports us all. And throughout recorded history we know
it has been up to us humans to help maintain the beautiful,
bountiful world that God created and intends for us.
And so
on this beautiful Earth Day, Earth Day Sunday, let us commit ourselves
now to go forth from God’s house into God’s world with renewed faith,
like the stewards of old. Let us joyfully set about building a new ark,
a new, peaceful, and sustainable society, where we care for and love
and do justice to one another, where we care for all creation
-- for all creatures great and small, for pandas and penguins and polar
bears, and for people, too. This is, after all, the earthly
home of all of us -- one we know from ancient Biblical truths
and from modern science alike – is the only lovely, livable
planet that -- by God’s grace -- we have been given.
Last updated Wednesday, Februrary 29, 2008
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Email the church office: churchinfo@westmorelanducc.org
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