Global Warming & The Need For A More Sustainable Lifestyle
Given by Peter Callaway on May 28th, 2006
(The following text represents the views of the author and not the official position on global warming or sustainability issues of the UU Fellowship of BCO or of the UUA. Where information has been extracted from other web sites, the URLs for the full texts are provided as acknowledgement and for reference.)
You’ve all heard talk of global warming, climate change, the need for more sustainable living practices, etc. You may be asking yourself “Is there any truth in any of this? Is it serious? Should we care? What should we do? Why are we not getting more leadership from the top if this is really a crisis?
I would suggest that as part of a caring community that has as one of it’s basic principles “respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are part”, we owe it to ourselves to know the facts as well as they can be determined. If we are part of the cause of irreversible changes to the natural systems of planet Earth, the excuse “I didn’t really understand what was going on” is a poor one to give our children and grandchildren. We owe it to ourselves and the future of our families, our community, our country and maybe the world to more fully understand what IS going on.
The scientific community is in full agreement, our president will only admit to an addiction for oil and the need for new technologies to meet energy needs, so what do the leaders of the religious communities have to say on the subject?
Well quite a lot actually! Let’s take a look.
Would you say that Evangelical Christians and UUs are at the opposite end of the religion spectrum? Well you might be surprised to know that both are saying pretty much the same thing on the subject of global warming and a more sustainable lifestyle.
Lets look first at the UU Ministry for Earth, formerly the Seventh Principle Project which grew out of the 2004 General Assembly selection of global warming as a UU topic for study and action.
The mission of the UUMFE is to affirm and promote the Seventh Principle of the UUA. Its members believe that the Earth is in peril from human activities and that this is a moral and spiritual crisis of utmost importance.
The UUMFE has provided a draft Statement Of Conscience in response to the 2004 “study/action” item as a basis for voting at this summer’s GA.
Link: UUMFE Statement Of Conscience
The draft statement includes the following preface:
“Global warming is the greatest moral and spiritual crisis facing Earth’s people. We as UUs are called to join with others in halting further global warming and in advocating for just and ethical responses to those effects that cannot be averted. We declare by this Statement of Conscience that we will not acquiesce to the enormous degradation and destruction of life on Earth that our present actions will bequeath to our descendants. Humanity will be forever diminished unless we embrace new ethics and values to guide our lives on a warming planet. As people of faith, we declare our willingness to participate boldly in the creation of a new society based, not on hyper-individualism and consumption, but on community and reverence for the interdependent web of all existence.”
“There is now strong evidence that significant global warming is occurring. The evidence comes from direct measurements of rising surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures and from phenomena such as increases in average global sea levels, retreating glaciers, and changes to many physical and biological systems. This warming has already led to changes in Earth’s climate.”
“We have a special part to play at this moment in Earth’s history. We undertake this work for the preservation of the endless variety of all flora and fauna and the myriad array of habitats that sustain it. As that part of nature able to reflect upon its own grave situation, we assume with humility and determination our responsibility to remedy global warming through innovation, cooperation, and self-discipline.”
The draft statement includes a call to action for our denominational leaders which in the interest of time I will leave them to read.
More importantly for us, it includes a call to action for individual UUs that says:
- Choose the most efficient transportation means.
- Contact elected leaders at the federal, state, and local levels and let them know that you are serious about bringing global warming under control.
- Work to elect clean energy candidates in your city, state, and nation and work for energy efficiency standards, clean car legislation, and renewable energy incentives
- Reduce personal energy consumption by 20 % by 2010 or sooner.
- Consume less, choose products that are rated energy efficient, choose products and materials that are made from renewable resources and can be recycled at the end of their usefulness.
- Where possible choose renewable energy from your utility; otherwise support renewable energy development through certifiably appropriate carbon credits, green tags, or other investments in renewable energy.
- Plant and preserve trees and choose sustainably harvested wood and wood products.
- Eat and serve energy-efficient food: eat lower on the food chain, eat more fresh and fewer processed foods, and buy local food.
The UUMFE also sponsors the congregation based Green Sanctuary Program which provides a framework for study and reflection, and encourages individual and collective action for responding to the call to heal the Earth.
A Green Sanctuary is a congregation that lives out its commitment to the Earth by creating a sustainable life style for its members as individuals and as a faith community. Sustainable living is not about our material comfort (though these choices are an important part of the overall life style); it is about choosing to live in a way that nurtures life, builds relationships, and rejects material consumption as the sole determinant of happiness.
Fifteen new Green Sanctuary congregations will be recognized at this summer’s GA… adding to the 40 already certified!
Program goals are:
- To build awareness of environmental issues among UUs and to motivate action.
- To generate commitment for personal lifestyle changes.
- To connect spiritual practice and environmental consciousness and
- to help rectify social injustices related to environmental degradation.
Participation in the program effects:
- Worship
- Religious Education
- Social Justice
- Living Practices
Link: Full description of the Green Sanctuary Program
So much for UUs, let’s take a look at what some other religious leaders have to say.
In February of this year the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Samuel Kobia, , contended that climate change represents one of humanity’s dire threats and puts life as we know it in danger and he appealed to denominations around the world to speak with one voice to require that political leaders tackle the issues. He stated that severe consequences are already being experienced by millions of people and that humans have abused the gift of life.
This appeal came after the Feb. 8 declaration by 80 US Evangelical Christian leaders urging immediate action. It would be very useful for us all to review the contents of this declaration because it contains some very well thought out statements and guidelines for action. It also carries a lot of political clout with the administration and is probably at least partially responsible for recent statements about uses of alternative sources for energy and support for industry research.
I’ll read you some highlights of the Evangelical Christian declaration.
Link: Full text of the Evangelical Christian Declaration
“Over the last several years many of us have engaged in study, reflection, and prayer related to the issue of climate change (often called “global warming”). For most of us, until recently this has not been treated as a pressing issue or major priority. Indeed, many of us have required considerable convincing before becoming persuaded that climate change is a real problem and that it ought to matter to us as Christians. But now we have seen and heard enough to offer the following moral argument related to the matter of human-induced climate change. We commend the following simple but urgent claims to all who will listen, beginning with our brothers and sisters in the Christian community, and urge all to take the appropriate actions that follow from them.
Since 1995 there has been general agreement among those in the scientific community most seriously engaged with this issue that climate change is happening and is being caused mainly by human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels. Evidence gathered since 1995 has only strengthened this conclusion.
In the face of the breadth and depth of this scientific and governmental concern, we are convinced that evangelicals must engage this issue without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or humanity’s responsibility to address it.
The earth’s natural systems are resilient but not infinitely so, and human civilizations are remarkably dependent on ecological stability and well-being. It is easy to forget this until that stability and well-being are threatened. Poor nations and poor individuals have fewer resources available to cope with major challenges and threats. The consequences of global warming will therefore hit the poor the hardest, in part because those areas likely to be significantly affected first are in the poorest regions of the world. Millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.”
Then follows a selection of quotes from the Bible: “Love of God, love of neighbor, and the demands of stewardship are more than enough reason for evangelical Christians to respond to the climate change problem with moral passion and concrete action.”
The final section includes a set of action items for individuals and family members, church leaders and church members, and citizens and community members.
Here are some action items from the list for individuals and family members:
“The basic task for all of the world’s inhabitants is to find ways now to begin to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels that are the primary cause of human-induced climate change. The actions we can take to reduce global warming pollution springs from one central idea: reduce our own consumption of fossil fuels (oil and coal) and support efforts by government and businesses to do the same. Reducing our burning of oil and coal can be achieved by using energy more efficiently and by switching to renewable forms of energy such as solar, wind, and biomass.
- When a new passenger vehicle is required, purchase the most fuel efficient and least polluting vehicle that truly meets your needs.
- Keep your car’s engine tuned up, the tires properly inflated, and don’t carry weight unnecessarily in the car.
- Weatherize your home to conserve energy and cover your water heater with a fire-safe insulator. (Check to see if your utility or your local or state government offers an incentive or rebate program to help you weatherize your home.)
- Purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs and energy efficient appliances. (Look for the “Energy Star” label.)
- Choose electricity produced from renewable sources if available in your area.
- Support businesses that are reducing their global warming pollution by your investments and purchases. “
Link: Full Set of Action Items
The reason I’m standing before you today is that about a dozen members of this congregation has been active on the subject of sustainability by conducting an 8 session adult RE program called “Choices For Sustainable Living”, a course created by the NorthWest Earth Institute.
We celebrated the conclusion of the series with a pot-luck dinner and planning session in April at the home of Marge Grimm, who graciously hosted the whole series in extremely pleasant and comfortable surroundings. The group is bringing you today’s program.
The series ended with high energy. We all learned a great deal, feel highly motivated to make significant lifestyle changes in support of more sustainable living and to pass on what we have learned to the Fellowship. We feel distraught that our administration is showing negative leadership in this critical area and, as a consequence feel that the work of self education and self motivated action must intensify and spread at the grass roots level.
To this end we will offer the same course for other Fellowship members starting next September and will ourselves move on to another self education course, also by NorthWest Earth Institute (NWEI.com), named “Exploring Deep Ecology”.
In the spirit of passing on something of what we have learned, here are some highlights from the series that we would like to pass on to you. You might well ask, “how will this information differ from what we’ve already heard this morning?” Well some of the information could be called the scientific fact that both the Evangelicals and the UUMFE alluded to in their statements.
For example, the concept of man’s “footprint” on the globe is an extremely useful and instructive one. The ecological footprint is the resource consumption and waste assimilation requirements of a population in acres per person. It is something that everyone should be familiar with, especially the disparity between the footprint size of Americans (29 acres per person) and peoples in all other countries (e.g. China, 3 acres per person). This disparity easily illustrates why, if everyone in the world wants to be like America, we have to reduce our impact by a huge amount to accommodate the needs of others. Sharing the planet’s resources means we have to use a lot less. Indeed, if everyone on earth were to consume at the rate Americans do, 6 to 13 planet Earths would be needed!!!. We are so far from being responsible or from even being aware of our disproportionate use of resources…. we are largely globally ignorant and self absorbed.
The biggest challenge of the 21st century will be prevention of collapse of world economy if we continue with business as usual. Models that show curves of population growth, consumption of nonrenewable resources, food consumption, industrial output and pollution, show an inevitable rise and fall, termed overshoot and collapse. It is just a question of when it will happen and what drastic measures must be taken to head it off.
For our planet to survive, our society has to turn away from the expansion and profit model to a life sustaining model. More is not better when nature’s services are showing alarming signs of being exhausted or overwhelmed.
We take for granted healthy natural systems (the oceans, the atmosphere and weather, forests, clean water sources, etc.) and don’t do anything to sustain them in our daily lives.. we need a major wakeup call… we need more information about our dependency on them and what our lifestyle is doing to degrade and/or destroy them. We need to adopt the serious role of stewards of our world.
The cost of our consumption and the GDP, the measure of the nation’s financial health, don’t factor in the cost of cleaning up the mess we are creating (in the atmosphere, in our landfills, in our water). This mess and huge ignored cost will be inherited by our children and grandchildren, possibly to be cleaned up in crisis mode..
The Easter Island example of man mindlessly using up all resources, destroying forest habit and the life it supported, and all but destroying his ability to survive, is not only an indicator of what could happen to our planet as a whole, but it IS happening in places…for example parts of sub-Sahara Africa, rain forests, areas of the ocean where fish have been caught to extinction.
Lack of time makes us use prepared, packaged foods, fast foods, use multiple trips to the store because of forgotten items needed immediately. We drive short distances to activities and facilities that might be walkable if we didn’t feel the time pressure. Time pressure is bad for ecology as well as bad for our physical & spiritual well being!!
All durable goods, when worn out, should be returned to the manufacturer for recycling. The cost should be built into the purchase price. Product engineering should be changed to allow for part replacement.. too often today it is cheaper to throw away & replace than fix.
There is the general conception that organic food is more expensive without being that much better for us. However our studies taught us that organic is clearly better for the environment and our communities and is part of a more sustainable, planet friendly way of life.
We were horrified & outraged after reading the article on meat based diets which explained the huge amount of grain, water and energy resources required to create 1lb of meat, often in countries such as Haiti where forests are being cleared to raise beef for sale to America while many native people are starving. Why is such information not generally available? It seems like Americans live in blithe ignorance of the impact on the world of bad eating habits long established. We absolutely MUST cut down on meat eating.
The often discussed idea of shared garden, shared tools, shared storage, shared talents, maybe shared use of a solar panel could be implemented at the Fellowship should we decide to participate in the “Green Sanctuary” program.
And now we can use any remaining time for discussion.
Thank you.