This week, Deacon Laura Heller, our synod’s Creation Care Ministry Coordinator, is blogging about Climate in the Pulpits while Bishop Gohl is traveling.

Eco-theology can be defined as a form of constructive theology that focuses on the interrelationships of religion and nature, particularly in the light of environmental concerns. There is already a significant body of work developed in this emerging branch of theology, but our basic call to care for creation is explained in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible. In Genesis, God gave life to all creation which He called good – vegetation, birds, sea creatures, animals – every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and also humankind. Then God gave us dominion over creation – dominion means loving stewardship. And quite frankly, there is some room for improvement because rapid, human-caused climate change is affecting us all.

During recent years, we have experienced extreme weather events more and more frequently: prolonged droughts leading to uncontrollable fires, severe storms that cause catastrophic flooding, oppressive heat that withers crops and people alike. Super-sized hurricanes such as Florence, Maria, Harvey, and others are not an anomaly, they are becoming a pattern. In interview after interview following climate-related disasters, people say the same thing – “This has never happened before.” If we don’t make progress in reducing the CO2 in the atmosphere and stem the increase in temperature, these weather events will become the new normal.

Consider these facts shared in the 2018 NOVA program, Decoding the Weather Machine:

  • Seven of the hottest years on record have occurred within the last ten years
  • There is more CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere than there has been in the last 800,000 years as determined by core polar ice samples
  • The CO2 levels are continuing to increase rapidly
  • There is a scientifically proven correlation between the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the temperature of the planet
  • We know the increase in CO2 is caused by the burning of fossil fuels due to their distinct carbon signature
  • This increase in temperature is causing the polar ice to melt and increase sea levels
  • Warmer ocean temperatures are causing the severity of hurricanes and other storms to increase
  • Coral reefs that are foundational to ocean life, are dying off at alarming rates due to bleaching from the increase in ocean temperatures

Paul Douglass, one of the narrators of the program, has co-written a book with Pastor Mitch Hexcox titled Caring for Creation. Douglass, who was previously a climate change skeptic, has come to understand through his work as a meteorologist, that climate reacts to increases in temperature just like humans do. Think about how miserable you feel when your internal temperature increases only a couple degrees. Douglas likens the current conditions as if the weather has the flu.

Climate change, like so many other social justice issues, impacts the impoverished significantly more than the wealthy. Those without resources to relocate from high-risk coastal areas or rebuild following storms will bear the brunt. According to a study at Cornell University, with the acceleration that is occurring the sea level rise, there could be 1.4 billion climate refugees by 2060 and 2 billion by 2100 if we do not change our current trajectory. Climate change is also wreaking havoc on crop production in much of the developing world and causing the number of hungry people facing chronic food deprivation to increase, based on a press release from the United Nations.

During the Global Climate Action Summit held in San Francisco in September 2018, the ELCA hosted an affiliate event to discuss loss and damage from climate change and a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Recommendations that have emerged include faith community involvement in public policy decisions through advocacy and training. Public policy should be viewed through a triple lens of racial equity, economic equity, and ecological sustainability.

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Just as research and discovery have shown that the world is not flat and that all celestial bodies do not revolve around the earth, a substantial and credible scientific body of knowledge supports that humans are impacting climate and we need to reverse this trend to avoid further damage to our planet.

Climate in the Pulpits, scheduled for the weekend of October 5-7, is an opportunity to share the message about how we are impacting climate and what we can do to change. Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) has created a resource page with bulletin inserts, sample speaker talks, and sermon starters, all available online, to assist with planning a service.

There are numerous responses to climate change that provide clean energy services and products coupled with an opportunity for economic growth and environmental responsibility. But we need to embrace them now, time is of the essence. God entrusted us to care for creation, not just for ourselves, but also for future generations. We are facing a climate and moral crisis that affects everything, particularly the people and creatures for which we are called to care for. Knowing and loving the world is a starting point, but as a steward, we’re also called to sustain and heal this world. We have an opportunity to act on climate change in a tangible way for God’s creatures, for our neighbors, and for future generations.

The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children. -Proverbs 13:22