Passing 400

By Rachel Haxtema, Guest Blogger

Many of us heard the news in the past few weeks that the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere is now over 400 ppm, an unprecedented level that will mean rising temperatures and other climate disruption.

Before we started burning fossil fuels in the 18th century, our atmosphere had a concentration of about 275 ppm. The concentration climbed steeply, hitting 350 ppm just before the year 2000. Scientists have suggested that 350 ppm is the most carbon dioxide that our atmosphere could handle before causing serious climate change. As Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org said, We’ve known for a long time that we’d pass the 400ppm mark; the trouble is, we’re passing it without any real national or international effort to slow down the production of CO2. So it’s an entirely grim landmark... Before we can get back to 350 we actually have to stop increasing carbon concentrations. That’s a political task; it’s why we’re trying to build a movement strong enough to stand up to the fossil fuel industry.”

I was able to hear Bill McKibben speak recently in Seattle at Queen Anne United Methodist Church – he's been a hero of mine over the last several years as he has fought tirelessly against climate change. Each time I hear him speak about the 350.org movement and story, I'm reminded of the global impact of climate change. The most heart-wrenching image he showed was of children in a flooded street in Haiti holding signs that read, “Your actions affect me.” Children in low-lying nations around the world are going to be affected most by the burning of fossil fuels, driving of cars, and excessive waste in wealthy nations – they will bear the brunt of rising temperatures, flooding, pollution of water sources and reduced food security. We know that Haiti is already a struggling nation and climate will only deepen the poverty and cause additional sickness and suffering. This is truly devastating.

We must see ourselves part of the interconnected web of all life and see how our actions are affecting others. Unfortunately, it is just too easy to ignore the climate warnings and the news of increasing concentrations of CO2. 

Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, National Geographic

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/05/130510-earth-co2-milestone-400-ppm/

Another speaker in the Food, Faith and Climate series at Queen Anne UMC, Dr. John Wallace, an atmospheric scientist and person of faith, spoke about the science of climate change. He reminded us about how many scientists agree about human caused climate change and described how ice core samples have been used to confirm the concentrations in the atmosphere for the past several thousand years. He also talked about the extreme difficulty of the moral dilemmas we face: limits to individual freedom, national autonomy, obligations to the poor and future generations. The biggest climate changes are far off and current impacts are subtle but the stakes are so high. Dr. Wallace believes that because these changes seem distant and don't seem to impact us, it will be important to look at all aspects of earth care; food and water issues may be more tangible and inspire more participation.

Barbara Kingsolver's recent book, Flight Behavior, a novel about a community affected by a mysterious event, realistically imagines how climate might affect us. Kingsolver is a great writer who tells a present day parable that links the science of climate change with real people - from farmers in Appalachia to tour guides in Mexico and everyone in between. Kingsolver is an amazing writer and imaginatively captures the potential for our communities to see real changes and disruptions and understand the ways that their community is part of a global phenomenon.

The only good news is that the movement is growing and more and more people are recognizing the connections between our burning of fossil fuels and intensified storms, ocean acidification and decreasing crop yields. From Earth Ministry fighting coal exports in Washington to ranchers and indigenous activists fighting tar sands and the Keystone XL, people are taking action in one of the wealthiest and most polluting nations.

And there is so much more work to do: political, social, educational, building movements, writing and creating art that broadens our understanding and inspires action. We need everyone’s gifts, stories, skills and work! I'm personally excited that scientists, writers and so many others are finding new ways to share about climate and its effects. What authors, scientists, climate news or stories have you heard recently that helped you further understand the reality of 400 ppm? 

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Rachel Haxtema has recently returned home to the beautiful green Pacific Northwest from Oakland, California where she worked for The Sierra Club and California Interfaith Power & Light and studied at the Graduate Theological Union and San Francisco Theological Seminary.

The Earth is Bleeding

By Rev. Frank Edmands, Guest Blogger

It has been more than sixty days since the initial explosion and the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon and crude oil and gas still gush from the broken drill pipe almost one mile beneath the surface of the Gulf of Mexico. The Earth is bleeding. The ocean is being polluted, marine life is dying and the human species seems inept in managing the emergency. The vital signs of the once productive and gorgeous gulf habitat, one of the largest estuaries in the world and a vacation and recreational paradise, are fading. The Earth is bleeding; and humanity has an unsolved crisis on hand.

Recently, I was transfixed by a disturbing photograph of an oil soaked pelican squatting on the gulf’s Louisiana shoreline. There the bird squats with heavy oil burdened out-stretched wings, feathers and plumage matted entrapped in black petroleum sludge. The image is disturbing. The distressed pelican seems to be gasping, crying, groaning, pleading or praying. The pelican is crying for all creation.

The image of the oil soaked pelican stands in stark contrast to the images of the pristine pelicans that are found in churches, embroidered on kneeling cushions and etched in stained glass windows. For the Church, the pelican is an important symbol that reminds the faithful of self-sacrifice and the passion of Jesus. A legend tells us that a pelican who could not feed her dying young, wounded herself (pecking her breast until it bled) giving her young new life with her own blood. The image reflects self-sacrifice, an action analogous to the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

On the other hand, the image of the desperate oil soaked creature on the beach is a graphic reflection of the result of humanity’s sin, our selfishness far removed from any sense of self-sacrifice. The oil covered marine ecosystem is the result of our collective sins: our nation's addiction to oil, unbridled growth, compulsive consumerism, corporate greed and public ignorance concerning our impacts against the natural world.

Help stop the bleeding. End our extravagant need for fossil fuel. Change. Live a sustainable life-style that benefits all generations. Brake old habits; the desire for more and bigger things will need to be transformed into the love of less and more efficient ways of living. Become an agent of change in your neighborhood. The pelican cries and creation groans awaiting freedom from our self-centeredness.

The Rev. Frank Edmands, once an Environmental Scientist and now an Episcopal Priest, is also an Earth Ministry member, a Board member of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light, a GreenFaith Fellow and contact person for Province V Episcopal Ecological Network. He lives in Columbus, Ohio.

The Responsibility Is Yours

by Jeanne Krahn, Guest Blogger

This is going to be your greatest holiday season ever! You're all "hepped up"! Stuck in yet another sales line, you fidget for 20 minutes. Exasperated you sigh, "No time for this! Cookies to bake, cards to write, gifts to wrap, house to vacuum, 10 foot tree to trim, what do we feed guests coming early?"

On your mark, get set . . . Whoa! Is this what the holidays are all about? Whose birthday is it anyway? At this very time when Christians celebrate the birth of the Christ Child, our commercial society fires both barrels attacking our values and our very souls. Our consumer society has symbols with the power to fragment the meaning of our holidays. The groans and complaints of many who dread the holidays is sad. They seem to have pushed from their minds the true meaning of Christmas, of that special child in the Bethlehem manger. It was never His intention that we turn His birthday into a time of strain and pressure. Scrooge wasn't the only one to find Christmas disappointing and even depressing. How easy it is to fall into the competition of holiday activities.

STOP! Look inside and think about what the season means to you. We first must be conscious of what stresses us out and what enhances the meaning for us. If we look back in our lives the special times remembered are not about things but experiences with family and friends. Christmas is a love feast but it also can become a test of relationships. Old sibling competitions come anew. Seemingly everything is measured and because so much is emotionally invested in Christmas many have high performance anxiety. Who doesn't envision their families gathering as warm and congenial as a Norman Rockwell scene? Where is that great old fashioned idyll? Mostly in everyone's imagination, yet the emotional sustenance we are really seeking is attainable.

Years ago, the Lutheran Standard had some good ways you and I can help place Christ back in the Christmas manger:

1) Let Advent be Advent! Let it be a time to prepare for the celebration of Christ's birth through prayer, study and reflection. Let us not dwell on the pressure of trying to get everything done in order and let the holidays flow. People are more important than things.

2) Restore meaningful gift giving practices. Find creative ways to gift each other that are personal, more simple, more homemade, more thoughtful and considerate of the earth's resources and people. Don't give a gift that doesn't reflect your values! You do not purchase love and friendship with lavish spending. If you don't like commercialism, then don't join the very forces you find disturbing.

3) Touch the lives of the poor and needy. In our own area there are so many places to help, give gifts and food, volunteer your time, etc. Make your advocacy a year round program. Rechannel 25% of your gift-giving dollars to people who really need it this year. Offer presents that will continue Christ's work. Try to shop at the many stores now who give continually a percentage of their profits for social concerns, justice and cultural survival programs, nature conservancy, etc. I know it's difficult to shift your focus from what you want for Christmas to what God wants - not just during Advent and Christmas but throughout the whole year, but try.

Remember, the holidays will never let you down, only you let yourself down. The responsibility is yours. This is a great time of year. I try, I tire, I cry but I love it: A holiday of joy, love, peace and happiness; Angel voices proclaiming, "Peace on earth, good will toward all." Listen! It's not difficult to hear and feel, really, if we just remember that Christmas is all about faith, love, wonder and miracles - things that can only be understood by the heart.

Have a merry heartfelt one!

Green Guilt, Green Grace

By Ryan Marsh, Guest Blogger

I don’t exactly expect to read top-notch theological reflections in a GQ magazine while waiting at the dentist office, but to my surprise, Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson’s editorial, “God is Green”, gave me one very needed spiritual root canal. He described an initiative by the Pope to offset the Vatican's carbon emissions by planting trees in Hungary. Nelson quickly found himself both complicit and conflicted: “The holy act of planting trees--of trying to erase your ‘carbon footprint’--has become the modern equivalent of an indulgence....Why do I have a bad feeling that carbon offsetting is mostly an act of expiation, that we’re offsetting guilt more than carbon?”

He became obsessed with making things right by greening every detail of his life, but soon realized: “For a time I felt renewed, even righteous. But then something swept over me. A kind of global warming class rage....I started letting people know, at dinner, that they were tree murderers.”

Is there such thing as green guilt? Absolutely. After going to every length to try and offset his carbon footprint, Nelson ends his article by saying, “The ‘Foot’ still haunts me.” There’s plenty of green guilt to go around because the dilemma is dire and we North Americans, consuming at a rate that would devastate five planets if the rest of the world’s population tried to match us, are the guiltiest offenders.

Is there such thing as green grace? This seems to be the more illusive question. You wont hear about green grace in GQ, for green grace is “a gift of God, so that no one can boast.” It’s what God is doing about the planet’s dilemma, within us, without us and most often, despite us. When we come to the end of what we can do for ourselves (including our planet) and are crushed by the Law of “I got to”, Jesus does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, then invites us to freely respond, “I get to”.

Is there hope for the cosmos, not just human souls, in the death and resurrection of Jesus? The cross of Jesus sure doesn’t appear to be a good solution to planetary peril, but we have been given the nerve to proclaim: “Jesus Christ has overcome ‘the Foot’. So go in peace to love and serve the Lord, one apple seed at a time.”

Ryan Marsh is the Mission Developer of Church of the Beloved, a ‘creatively Lutheran’ community in Edmonds Wa. Ryan blogs at www.BelovedsChurch.org. - God is Green first appeared in the November 2007 issue of Gentlemen’s Quarterly