Over the last few days I've heard radio ads for the Evangelical Climate Initiative, an effort to address climate change (global warming). The impetus for Evangelical leaders is a call for stewardship of the world God created; as well as to protect the least among us, who are hardest hit by more powerful hurricanes, flooding, and rising sea-levels.
The ECI has become convinced that human-induced climate change is real, that it's consequences will disproportionately affect the poor, that Christian morals compel action to address the problem, and that there's a need for immediate action at all levels, from individuals to churches to business and government.
I've got a green streak myself, borne of a love of the outdoors, fishing, hiking, camping and swimming. That streak led me to switch majors from Business to Environmental Policy in college. It's kept me recycling, buying less-cool but more efficient cars, and using phosphate-free laundry detergent...all in an effort to minimize my impact on the Creation I so love.
My hope for this and any effort to shoulder our stewardship responsibility is that we keep these things in mind:
- The goal is stewardship that cares for the earth as a whole. Aim for solutions with global net gains.
- Global climate change involves changes to one complex, interconnected, ecological system (pollution
doesn't recognize political boundaries). - Imposing standards unevenly may shift relatively little pollution from an efficient country, to a less efficient country - with an overall negative impact on the global ecosystem. [e.g. imposing higher CAFE standards on cars built in the U.S. to levels creating a competitive disadvantage could force manufacturers to move to China or India where pollution standards (including Kyoto Protocol) are lower, resulting in a NET INCREASE in environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.]
- In remembering our duty to protect and care for the least among us, comprehensive trade agreements
with universal standards to protect both the environment, and workers are called for. If we raise standards only for some countries, market forces will shift jobs and pollution to more lax nations - helping no one. The least in India and China deserve as much care as the least in Southern Mississipi.
For more information on this, visit http://www.christiansandclimate.org/. As always, comments are invited.
