Thursday, March 15, 2018

What do spiritual communities have to contribute to the conversation on climate change?


Photo: Jan Messersmith
There is a bizarre little story from the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Scriptures that just came up recently. The Israelites are out wandering in the desert for 40 years with Moses and God leading them. They keep complaining: “The food is terrible, and the portions are so small!” But that suddenly seems like nothing when they are beset upon by serpents. People are dying of snake bites. So the Israelites come to Moses and say, “We are so sorry we ever complained against you and God. Now please fix this situation!” So Moses goes to God and says, “Um, God? We have a situation here.” And God says, “Make a serpent out of bronze and mount it on a pole. When people get snake bites, they will look at this snake on a stick and they will be healed.”

Which is terrible medical advice, just for the record. But on a metaphorical level, it’s terrific. The thing that is terrifying you? The thing you are running from and denying with all your might? Turn around and stare it in the eyes. Because then it loses its power over you. Then you can figure out exactly what the issues are and start devising ways to deal with them.

Climate change is one of those things we can lift up like a snake on a stick. If we say, “Too scary! Too scary! Don’t want to look it in the face! Don’t want to talk about it!” then we just stay in freak-out mode and don’t actually deal with the problem. That helps exactly no one. The people who look to you for spiritual leadership are already freaking out. They already know it’s bad. Not talking about it, or saying it will all work out in the end, is not doing anyone any favors. But just lifting it up like a snake on a stick and freaking people out is also not doing anyone any favors. We have to look at this snake on a stick and figure out what is our power here?

So what strengths and gifts do we bring, as leaders of spiritual communities, that help empower our people to stare down the snake on a stick?

We know how to talk about greed. Those who market products to us would have us believe that we are not enough—not good enough, not attractive enough, not popular enough—unless we buy their beer, their eyeliner, their car. And then we will suddenly be surrounded by attractive young people playing volleyball on the beach or something. They are selling this image that always starts with the premise that we are not enough. But we have this counter-message, very counter-cultural, that says each person is a fabulous creature, a beloved child of the Divine, and that all those possessions may just get in the way of a good relationship with our Creator and with all of creation.

We know how to talk about lament for what is being lost. Where do people go when someone dies? They put together a memorial service, and even if they are not usually showing up in a community of worship, this is one occasion when they often come. Because we know how to grieve together in community. We know how to support each other in times of loss. And what we’re losing right now is the earth we used to know.

Earth Ministry members at the 2017 Seattle Climate March
We know how to talk about hope, even in the face of what appears to be hopeless. Our hope comes from within, and we are empowered to work out of this place of hope not because we expect to win something, but because it is the right thing to do. Hope is a spiritual practice. If our hope is placed out there somewhere, beyond our control—we hope that the president will fund solar panels for every home in the U.S.—we are setting ourselves up to be passive and to be disappointed. If our hope is instead based out of our spiritual connection to our Creator and all of creation, we are empowered to live into the world that we want to see, whether it actually comes to fruition or not in our lifetimes.

We know how to talk about gratitude and abundance, community and support. We know how to talk about sharing what we have. These concepts are familiar to us. We don’t have to face the challenges of climate change alone.

We know how to talk about power. Joanna Macy talks about the difference between power over and power with. The first creation story in Genesis talks about God giving humans dominion over creation. Many have understood this as free license to do as they please with the planet. But we as spiritual leaders understand that dominion means God created everything, called it all good, and then gave it to us to take responsibility for keeping it good. How counter-cultural a message is that? No, you do not have permission from your Creator to rape and destroy the planet. You are to be a good steward of it. To take care of it. To live in harmony with it.

We as leaders of faith communities can and need to say these things. We need to offer spiritual grounding, moral and ethical frames to center our people in this work, encouragement to help people be their best possible selves, ways of seeing beyond the individual to the greater good of the community and the ecosystem. We can only do this work if we dare to raise climate change like a snake on a stick and stare it straight in the eyes. We can help each other. We can pray, meditate, advocate. We can become the world we want to see.

The Rev. Meighan Pritchard is the pastor of Prospect Congregational United Church of Christ, an Earth Ministry Member congregation. 

Monday, March 12, 2018

2018 Legislative Session Wrap-Up


Earth Ministry members deliver
Oil Spill Prevention Valentines

Well that’s all she wrote folks – the Washington State legislative session is a wrap! I am thrilled to share the good news that thanks to the advocacy efforts of people of faith statewide, two of Earth Ministry’s priority bills were passed and are now waiting to be signed into law.





Successes:

Oil Spill Prevention Act, E2SSB 6269
Provides secure and reliable funding for the Department of Ecology’s Oil Spill Prevention Program by expanding the barrel tax to pipelines. Thanks to this legislation, marine protections will be fully implemented and ongoing concerns will be addressed regarding oil spill prevention and preparedness.

Healthy Food Packaging Act, ESHB 2658
Phases out toxic PFAS chemicals from paper food packaging. An added victory is that a companion bill also passed to ban this same class of chemicals in firefighting foam. Washington state is the first in the nation to place restrictions on these chemicals that are linked to a slew of health concerns. We are grateful to live in a state that pioneers protecting the vulnerable.
  
More to Come:

Equitable Price on Carbon
While Governor Inslee’s attempt to put a price on carbon did not make it through the legislature, the Alliance for Jobs and Clean Energy filed an initiative to the people immediately after the bill was pulled. This move is the culmination of over three years of organizing efforts to bring together diverse constituency groups in support of a policy that reinvests in Washington and truly holds equity for impacted communities as its core value. Earth Ministry has been a member of the Alliance Steering Committee since it was founded and we are excited to work with you to pass this initiative this fall. Stay tuned for more ways to get engaged, including opportunities to help collect signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot.

People of faith from Whidbey Island meet
with their Representative Dave Hayes
Earth Ministry members have had so many opportunities for engagement with their elected officials this year! My top moments from this session were teaching workshops at interfaith advocacy days in Spokane and Olympia, going door to door with Earth Ministry Colleagues delivering handmade Valentines in support of the Oil Spill Prevention Act, watching Earth Ministry Outreach Coordinator Leda Zakarison testify at a committee hearing for the first time, and organizing meetings for faith leaders from Whidbey Island to speak with their legislators about chemical safety.

By sharing our stories within a values-based framework, people of faith bring a new depth to legislative action. Earth Ministry’s advocacy efforts encouraged legislators to look beyond bills as solely environmental and instead to consider them as opportunities to uphold the moral choice of protecting communities and creation.

Even though the legislative session is over, our faithful advocacy continues strong! Democracy is like going to the gym – in order to see progress, you must work your democracy muscles more than once a year. So while we certainly deserve to catch our breath and celebrate, we will keep putting faith into action through our upcoming Earth Month activities and initiative campaign efforts. We look forward to partnering with you along the way.

With joy in our shared victories,

Jessica

Jessica Zimmerle
Earth Ministry Program and Outreach Director