Climate Calamity: Reflections from a religious activist Rev. Peter Sawtell Eco-Justice Ministries

My area of work Eco-Justice Ministries works primarily with Christian congregations. My own “home base” The dominant faith group in the US Need for a fresh environmental theology Ability to talk “in house” about beliefs and practices We try to focus on congregational programs, not on individual actions. This is an effort at religious and social change, not pastoral care.

I come to this work with: Decades of involvement in mainline churches A deep background in ecological studies Extensive social change studies and activism related to institutional racism Alarm about the scope and pace of climate change – along with other crises

Exceeding planetary boundaries Climate change is only one of many global environmental crises Eco-justice considers the interconnection of ecological crisis and issues of social and economic injustice

We are in “overshoot” We are using more resources than can be sustained We are creating more waste and pollution than nature can process We have exceeded many environmental and social limits

No more data on climate science! We don’t need more information this morning We do need to decide how the information about reality shapes our beliefs, behaviors and actions

A spectrum of climate belief 41% are alarmed or concerned; 67% are alarmed thru cautious From Faith, Morality and the Environment, Portraits of Global Warming’s Six Americas

Science and religious beliefs Those who place the greatest trust in religious teachings are more likely to be climate “doubters” This is why Eco-Justice Ministries connects science and religion!

How many problems? Are there countless separate problems? Or are they all symptoms of one deeper problem?

What kind of change is needed? This chart shapes most of Eco-Justice Ministries’ programming.

Pope Francis’ encyclical “Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. ... A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.” “Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress.”

Redefining progress People will not accept long-term deprivation, even for a good cause. They will not give up their aspirations for “the good life” People can choose a different definition of “the good life” – one that is more just and sustainable. The biblical principle of shalom – peace with justice for all creation – is one religious image of an alternative.

The dieting Sumo wrestler How do you persuade him to lose weight?

Two kinds of hope in times of crisis Hope for Optimism, desire for a specific outcome Often passive Very hard to maintain in crisis Hope in Commitment, values and faith Strongest when active Sustaining in times of crisis Macy & Johnstone’s excellent book affirms a hope in approach

A modern religious mandate

Not used for the 2/17/16 presentation Additional slides Not used for the 2/17/16 presentation

Opportunities and obligations Name the issues ... as matters of important moral concern. Don’t contribute to denial and doubt! Nurture hope. Transformational change can happen! Hope involves action. Act for justice.