Will Christians Save the Planet?

[Guest guest]

Will Christians Save the Planet?

 

Source >

http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_8.cfm

 

The news of Greenland's melting ice cap is the latest

in a long list of scientific warnings. In 1992,

hundreds of the world's leading scientists, including

the majority of living Nobel laureates, signed a joint

declaration titled " The World Scientists' Warning to

Humanity. " These 1,600 scientists accurately predicted

the magnitude of global warming, species extinction,

and destruction of the earth's complex ecosystems.

Their words went largely unheard and unheeded.

 

Fourteen years later, the consequences these

scientists predicted are becoming more and more

evident and alarming. The earth is ill. It is

literally running a fever. Global warming can be seen,

felt, and heard by all, including the one billion

people added to the earth's population since

1992. In the past year a catastrophe occurred that

should have galvanized all into action: New Orleans

was destroyed. Incredibly, some dismissed the loss as

unrelated to rising sea levels and global warming.

These self-interested groups rationalized that New

Orleans' flooding was a fluke because it was built

right on the ocean, below sea level, and it had lost

most of its barrier islands. But a quick look at

America's prime real estate brings home a sobering

fact: from Miami to New York City, dozens of cities

are built on the ocean, their infrastructure is below

sea level, and few have any barrier islands. Recently,

scientists tolled a new warning: the Greenland ice

sheet is melting at double its previous rate. As a

result, a volume of water equivalent to Lake Erie is

being added to the North Atlantic annually. All

mankind appears to be marching double time toward the

edge of a cliff, blindfolded.

 

Now a group of Christians has issued a statement,

" Climate Change: An Evangelical Call to Action. " This

declaration makes four fundamental points:

 

First, " human-induced climate change is real....

Evangelicals must engage this issue without any

further lingering over the basic reality of the

problem or humanity's responsibility to address it. "

 

Second, " the consequences of climate change will be

significant, and will hit the poorest hardest. "

Millions of them will die as a result.

 

Third, Christians are commanded by God to care for

each other and the planet. " 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. " Our responsibility for life is

nonnegotiable.

 

Fourth, the need for action is urgent. Governments,

businesses, churches, and individuals must act now to

reduce the burning of fossil fuels that are " the

primary cause of human-induced climate change. "

 

The declaration is signed by eighty-six church

leaders, including Rick Warren, author of The

Purpose-Driven Life; Duane Litfin, President of

Wheaton College; and Todd Bassett, National Commander

of the Salvation Army.

 

This group is not easy to ignore, but neither were

those scientists who signed the warning in 1992. Does

the evangelical group have a prayer of succeeding in

an arena where so many have failed?

 

Yes. The light of hope can be seen in the statement's

conclusion. It declares, " We the undersigned pledge to

act. " Rhetoric, no matter how true or poetically

stated, will not solve our global crisis. It failed

the scientists in 1992. Why? Because they did not

pledge personal action, they did not hold themselves

personally accountable.

 

When a person puts the needs of others ahead of his

own, and when his words align with his actions, we

call that person a moral leader.

 

When a group of these people act in concert, without

regard to personal gain, there is the promise of a

movement. The force of a movement eventually leads to

societal change. The members of the Evangelical

Climate Initiative have begun a moral movement. For

their movement to succeed, they and their

organizations must take real steps to lower their

environmental impact. They must hold themselves

personally accountable to the world and to God.

 

Two thousand years ago, a small group of Christians

faced hungry lions in order to carry out Jesus'

command to " love one another. " Today, Christians and

our leaders are called to action again. We must change

our ways of living to assume the responsibility our

Savior asks of each of us.

 

We must use only efficient light bulbs, drive less,

buy hybrid cars, move to smaller homes, consume less,

and spread the good word about how to live in harmony

with all of God's creation. As a scientist, physician,

voting American, and evangelical Christian, I concur

with the leaders' closing plea, " In the name of Jesus

Christ our Lord, we urge all who read this declaration

to join us in the effort. "

 

With God, all things are possible.

 

J. Matthew Sleeth, M.D., is a former emergency room

director who now writes, preaches, and teaches full

time on creation care. Chelsea Green Publishing will

release his book, Serve God, Save the Planet: A

Christian

Call to Action, this May.