~ a report by Fr Sean McDonagh SSC
On March 13th 2009 over 700 people from almost every Christian denomination gathered at the Hilton Alexandria Center in Washington for the annual Ecumenical Advocacy Conference. The theme for 2009 was climate change. The event began with a prayer service focused on God’s creation. The opening meditation traced both the emergent journey of the cosmos during the past 13.7 billion years and highlighted the contemporary challenge to protect creation which is so wantonly being destroyed in many parts of the world.
The opening prayer captured the theme of the celebration – “O Eternal Wisdom, who laid the foundations of the earth, and breathed life into every creature, creating us in our variety to cherish your world and seek your face: we praise you and give you thanks for your abundant love towards this earth violated with our injustice and polluted by our sin.”
I was asked to preach and attempted to link climate change with the gospel of Jesus. I recalled that Christians are called, like Jesus, to be truth tellers. In order to be authentic truth tellers in relation to climate change, we need to listen to the voices of scientists, especially those associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They argue that the climate change we are now experiencing goes beyond the range of natural fluctuation and that it is caused by human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuel. Furthermore, they are telling us that unless we drastically reduce the amount of carbon dioxide which we are emitting the consequences, in terms of extreme weather, melting of glaciers and significant rise in sea-levels, will be horrific, especially for the poor, who have done least to cause the problem. In such a rundown and depleted world, life to the full would not be possible for the vast majority of people.
A variety of seminars took place on the theme of Economic Justice – in particular, as it charts how climate change is affecting the poor. I led a seminar on how climate change and other ecological issues, such as deforestation and currently mining, are having a detrimental impact on the ecosystems and habitat in the Philippines. On Sunday afternoon, in collaboration with Sr Miriam Therese MacGillis OP of Genesis Farm, I attempted to tease out how ecological issues, such as climate change, are challenging many of the assumptions of contemporary economics. Most basic of all, can we still promote economic growth, even though we are living on a planet with both finite resources and a limited ability to absorb high levels of human-generated pollution?
On Monday the participants headed for the US Congress to lobby their congressmen and women and senators on the urgency of framing effective legislation on climate change. The baseline request was that legislation be enacted which would ensure that the earth’s temperature does not increase by more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
I visited with both Republican and Democrat congress people and senators from areas of the country where Columbans are living and ministering. I was accompanied by staff and interns from the Columban Justice and Peace Office in Washington who had researched how conversant a particular lawmaker was on issues of climate change. I found that the spectrum ran from those who were still sceptical about whether climate change was being caused by human activity to those who were actively promoting climate legislation.
As a missionary society that works among the poor, we decided to focus on two aspects of climate change: The international adaptation measures, which will be necessary to help poor people cope with the changes which are already in the pipeline due to climate change and, secondly, climate refugees whose habitat will be destroyed by rising oceans levels or melting glaciers. Even Senator Whitehouse’s staff, who are active in framing legislation, were not focusing on these aspects of climate change, and therefore were very open to receiving first-hand stories and data from Columban missionaries so that these elements are addressed in any legislation. Such advocacy is one way to shine the light of the Gospel on contemporary issues.