Today is the 3rd annual Blog Action Day, with a focus on the need to take action on Climate Change. Last year’s topic was poverty, which I participated in. A day such as this fills me with an odd combination of excitement and ambivalence. I love the idea of engaging millions on a vital subject for a day, but I feel like a day such as this can lead us to mistake a flash flurry of activity for something that will effect change.
For starters, talking about “climate change” is bizarre. Exactly how and when did we settle on this consensus to rename “Global Warming” to “Climate Change?” This name shift reveals a fundamental disinterest in the facts and much greater interest in political lines in the sand. Because let’s be honest - a movement with so little conviction in its core tenet is a little unsettling.
Also, the climate debate really needs to move away from whether or not the climate is changing (and in which direction) to whether or not we are living sustainably on this planet we call home. Hint: we aren’t. We are consuming resources faster than they can be replenished, and we have built a way of life that is insanely and fundamentally dependent on a single non-renewable resources. In engineering terms, our system is designed on a single point of failure that is guaranteed to fail. (I’m talking about petroleum here if you haven’t caught on.)
This is where the discussion would likely turn to “alternative energy,” which will be necessary as our oil supplies start giving out on us. But before we go any further down that path, let’s clear up two things:
- No combination of alternative energies is going to allow us to run what we’re running the way we’re running it.
- Ethanol is a pipe dream. There isn’t enough arable soil on the planet to feed our gas tanks, never mind leaving some for, you know, feeding people. The sooner we stop talking about running our cars on ethanol or biodiesel, the better.
It’s not about what’s happening to the climate. It’s about whether the way we’re living on the planet is such that humanity might have a future. Climate change is merely a part of this much larger issue. As a Christian, my tradition has language such as stewardship to indicate that the earth isn’t our possession, but rather a gift from God that has been entrusted to our care. Christianity also has language such as sin to describe the shameful way we are handling this trust, and repentance to describe what we must do in the face of all this: change our ways.
We must turn from the way that leads to death from the way that leads to life, not only for ourselves, but for those who are the weakest of all—those not yet born.If you are reading this and aren’t a Christian, please find language and resources in whatever form of life you’re in to name the problem of how we’re living in suicidal denial here. It isn’t a moment too soon to start.
And I’ll give all of us one simple task we can do towards this end: if you live in a city, live in a neighbourhood where you can get to your place of work and get the daily necessities of life without a car. Walking would be preferable, but transit is good too. If this is simply impossible in your context, find out why and change it. Learn about how we build our cities (and how that needs to change) from Andres Duany. Take some tips from Jim Kunstler on Some Ways to Plan for the Future.
Wherever you are, live more locally, use your car less, and slow down. Let’s not live on the planet like tenants who are trying to get kicked out. Let’s live like we mean to stick around for a while.
Have you ever found yourself in a social setting where someone’s inadequate social skills cause consternation to everyone around them? Of course you have. Have you ever wished there was a way to discreetly tell them that their behaviour is not OK?