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| Keoni Cabral, flickr |
Christian responses to climate change should be framed
around the wealthy, like Australia, laying down its life for our brothers and
sisters in poor countries. Laying down
our lives, or lifestyles, so that our brothers and sisters in future
generations do not inherit a baking planet of “debris, desolation and
filth.” Laying down our lifestyles so
that this planet, God’s garden, has a chance to provide for the whole Earth
family.
Christians must resist the political cowardice, expressed by
Canada’s prime minister, who declared that, “there was no chance of any country
acting for the planet if it involved costs to its economy.”[2] Discipleship without carrying the cross is
not discipleship.
Indeed, reducing our emissions is not about charity to
brothers and sisters in need, it is about justice. Alongside John, we need to hear Zacchaeus
(Luke 19), who made his fortune through unjust means, and as part of his
conversion sought to make restoration.
The poorer nations are that way largely because of the legacy of
colonisation, in which nations like ours took all the resources they could
extract, moved their economies from self-sufficiency to growing even more crops
for the west, and now continue to make far more off interest on loans required
to fix the mess then we return in our shrinking foreign aid. Even such “aid” is only given when it is
deemed to be in our own interest[3].
John speaks of actions and truth. The latest emissions reduction commitment by
the government obscures the truth by shifting the bottom line. No longer speaking of reductions compared to
1990, or even 2000, they commit to a reduction compared to 2005 levels. This, of course, means that the reduction
quoted is less than it appears in comparison to other commitments against 2000
levels.
The government’s Climate Change Authority called for a 40-60%
reduction by 2025 compared to 2000. The
government has committed a mere 28% by 2030 against 2005 levels. Even the climate change authority was only
calling for us to lead from the side, matching other comparable countries, not
showing cross carrying leadership for the poor of the world, future generations,
and all God’s other creatures.
Their target reflects scientific truth modified by political
realities, but the government has aimed far lower even than this compromise,
despite the authority’s stinging criticism[4], perhaps because the
current prime minister believes that climate change, “is not the only or even
the most important problem the world faces.”[5]
Uniting Justice has called for reductions commensurate with
the Climate Change Authority, with a thirty five year transition to full
renewable energy. Can we Christians go
further and call for bold sacrificial responses, even if they seem politically
impossible? “Beyond Zero Emissions” is
adamant that their fully costed transition plan could get Australia to 100%
renewables in just a decade[6]. It is technically possible, just not
politically palatable to a prime minister committed to protecting the coal
industry[7], which he sees as the
foundation of our prosperity for the foreseeable future[8].
More truth. The Government’s
target will send us into climate catastrophe, but even the CCA/Uniting Justice
targets will not avoid climate change. They
might keep global warming to 2oC, but this is not “safe.” We are already seeing the effect of climate
change at 1oC warming. Two degrees of warming only gives humanity a reasonable
chance of avoiding dangerous, even catastrophic, climate change.[9] Is
that the best we want to aim for? Is
that the legacy we wish for the poor and future generations? A 50/50 chance of avoiding catastrophe? Is this doing for others what we would want
done for us?
Can we call on our government, especially with its high
proportion of Christians, to give our nation the courage to embrace sacrificial
love of neighbour, giving them not a 50% chance of catastrophe, but an excellent chance of abundant life on a
fecund garden planet?
What to do? Changing
light-bulbs won’t cut it. Phone. Write.
Talk. Preach. To our leaders, newspapers, blogs, congregations. If we call for sacrificial justice perhaps
the Government will at least move to match its own Climate Change Authority’s
recommendation.
Put up a “4oC is not welcome here” banner at
church. Carry it to a rally in the lead
up to the UN climate talks in Paris[10]. This “COP21” meeting must set us on a path to the reconciliation and renewal of the
whole creation.
What else? Cancel
your overseas holiday and go to the COP21 rallys in France instead, or better
still stay home and give the money to 350.org, or BZE.org, or Uniting Justice
or Uniting World[11]. Sell your spare car or holiday house and do
the same. Call on the 1% of the world
who controls half our wealth to do a Zacchaeus.
The whole Earth family is in need. Let us respond not just in words and speech
but also actions and truth, thus confirming that the love of God is in us.
