Module 5: For Such A Time As This Translating Theory into Practice 1 We need to remember that the work of our time is much bigger than climate change. We need to be setting our sights higher and deeper. What we are really talking about, if we're honest with ourselves, is transforming everything about the way we live on this planet. - Rebecca Tarbottom, Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network, ,If we would call 111 to save a life, why aren't we (metaphorically) calling 111 to save all life? - Matthew Sleeth, 2010: Hope for Humanity, p.105 2 3 God grieves over the destruction of creation and so should we. KEY CONSIDERATIONS 4 Time is short We are already halfway through Decade Zero - beyond which the negative effects of environmental degradation, especially global warming, will become inexorable and unpreventable. Why arent we, as a species, rising to our historical moment? Why are we so far letting decade zero slip away? - Naomi Klein, 2014, This Changes Everything, p.61 5 Climate change is an opportunity for change on big scale I am convinced that climate change represents an historic opportunity on an even grander scale. As part of the project of getting our emissions down to the levels many scientists recommend, we once again have the chance to advance policies that dramatically improve lives, close the gap between rich and poor, create huge numbers of good jobs, and reinvigorate democracy from the ground up...transformations that would leave us with both a more habitable climate than the one we are headed for now and a far more just economy than the one we have now. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.10 Put another way, if there has ever been a moment to advance a plan to heal the planet that also heals our broken economies and our shattered communities, this is it. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.155 6 Minor tweaking and incremental change will not now be enough Plenty of people are attempting to change their daily lives in ways that do reduce their consumption. But if these sorts of demand-side emission reductions are to take place on anything like the scale required, they cannot be left to the lifestyle decisions of earnest urbanites who like going to farmers' markets on Saturday afternoons and wearing up-cycled clothing. We will need comprehensive policies and programs that make low-carbon choices easy and convenient for everyone. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.91 7 We cannot rely on political leaders Leaders have failed us - because many of them are motivated by self-interest, embroiled in the drive for endless economic growth, or bound by corporate influence. See Module 3: Objections and Excuses - "It's up to the government to protect us" 8 A grass roots movement of unprecedented proportions is needed How do we create change so that the people responsible for the crisis do not feel threatened by the solutions?...The answer is: you don't. You make sure you have enough people on your side to change the balance of power and take on those responsible, knowing that true populist movements always draw from both the left and the right. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.59 ...building a mass movement that has a chance of taking on the corporate forces arrayed against science- based emissions reduction will require the broadest possible spectrum of allies. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.157 9 Future generations will be affected by what we do or don't do now 10 Do nothing We know that if we continue down our current path of allowing emissions to rise year after year, climate change will change everything about our world. Major cities will very likely drown, ancient cultures will be swallowed by the seas, and there is a very high chance that our children will spend a great deal of their lives fleeing and recovering from vicious storms and extreme droughts. And we don't have to do anything to bring about this future. All we have to do is nothing. Just continue to do what we are doing now, whether it's counting on a techno-fix or tending to our gardens or telling ourselves we're unfortunately too busy to deal with it All we have to do is not react as though this is a full-blown crisis. All we have to do is deny how frightened we really are. And then, bit by bit, we will have arrived at the place we most fear, the thing from which we have been averting our eyes. No additional effort is required. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.4 11 Take action To serve as custodians of creation is not an empty title; it requires that we act, and with all the synergy this dire situation demands. - Desmond Tutu, 'We Need an Apartheid-Style Boycott to Save the Planet', Guardian, 10 April, We need to re-think what really matters. Christians have a crucial role to play in this process. But to do so the Church itself must be reformed; in particular, it needs an ecological reformation. Christians need a stronger and more compelling theology of ecological responsibility and resilience, and they need to practise what they preach. The care and integrity of creation must become a key priority, not merely an optional extra. There is a long and difficult journey ahead, but precious little time. - Professor Jonathan Boston, Victoria University, speaking at the A Rocha national conference "Christianity and the Ecological Crisis: Lament, Hope, Action", Wellington, October, A Good Samaritan? Matthew Sleeth uses the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37) to identify three possible responses. Environmentally speaking, are you a priest, a Levite, or a Good Samaritan? 13 TAKING ACTION 14 15 Reconnect with nature If we fall in love with creation deeper and deeper, we will respond to its endangerment with passion. - Hildegard de Bingen ( ) quoted in Matthew Sleeth, 2010: Hope for Humanity, p.107 The power of this ferocious love is what the resource companies and their advocates in government inevitably underestimate, precisely because no amount of money can extinguish it - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p Find joy in creation! How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures Psalm 104:24 17 The love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit... (Romans 5:5) overflows in our love and care for all Gods creatures. 18 Reduce consumption If we are ever able to stop destroying our environment, it will be because person by person we decide, by God's grace, to turn aside from greed and materialism. It will be because we learn that joy and fulfilment come through right relationship with God, neighbour and earth, not an ever-escalating demand for more and more material consumption. Nowhere is that more possible than in local congregations that combine prayer and action, worship and analysis, deep personal love for the Creator and for the Creator's garden. - Dr Ronald Sider, Professor of Theology and Society, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary 19 20 21 James 5:1-6 22 Make better choices 23 Palm oil: 30+ names 300 companies, 40% of supermarket products The victims Sumatran tiger Orangutan 24 -Vegetable Oil -Vegetable Fat -Sodium Laureth Sulfate (in almost everything that foams) ^ -Sodium Lauryl Sulfate ^ -Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS) ^ -Palm Kernel# -Palm Oil Kernel # -Palm Fruit Oil # -Palmate # -Palmitate # -Palmolein # -Glyceryl Stearate # -Stearic Acid # -Elaeis Guineensis # -Palmitic Acid # -Palm Stearine # -Palmitoyl oxostearamide # -Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3 # -Steareth -2 * -Steareth -20 * -Sodium Kernelate # -Sodium Palm Kernelate # -Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate * -Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate ^ -Hyrated Palm Glycerides # -Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylaye ^ -Cetyl Palmitate # -Octyl Palmitate # -Cetyl Alcohol ^ -Palmityl Alchohol # 25 26 Many of the causes of environmental degradation in our country and in our world today come down to simple everyday choices. We make choices that are good for the planet or bad for the planet. Too many of us are making bad choices because we dont know any better. We need to be better informed and revise our practices. 27 Resist the production of, and minimise the use of, fossil fuels From a climate perspective...if there is to be any hope of meeting the agreed-upon 2 degree Celsius target, wealthy economies...must make getting off fossil fuels their top priority. - Naomi Klein,2014: This Changes Everything, p.69 It is now technically feasible for everyone to have enough energy for a good quality of life, using only existing renewable technology. - Catherine Cheung, Forest and Bird, May 2015, p.4 28 Get involved in environmental projects (and stir your church to do so!) 29 30 In Romans 8:19 we are told that The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed (TNIV). Among other things, some interpret this to mean that the world is waiting for the church to rediscover its mission to creation. The Christian Church is the worlds biggest movement and largest NGO. It incorporates 25% of the earths population and is active in every corner of the globe. Just imagine the potential if the world-wide church, including that in New Zealand, were to more effectively pursue its biblical mandate for environmental stewardship! Put pressure on, and pray for, leaders 31 I appointed watchmen over you and said; Listen to the sound of the trumpet! Jeremiah 6:17 Prophets are those who speak uncomfortable truth to their generation. 32 ...when governments are willing to introduce bold programmes and put goals other than profit making at the forefront of their policymaking, change can happen at astonishing speed. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.132 "the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia (Ezra 1: 1 NIV) "the Lord controls the mind of a king (Proverbs 21:1 GNB) "there is no authority except from God. (Romans 13:1 ESV) 33 Adopt and articulate a different worldview ...protecting and valuing the earth's ingenius systems of reproducing life and the fertility of all its inhabitants, may lie at the centre of the shift in worldview that must take place if we are to move beyond extractivism. A worldview based on regeneration and renewal rather than domination and depletion. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.424 Fundamentally, the task is to articulate not just an alternative set of policy proposals but an alternative worldview to rival the one at the heart of the ecological crisis - embedded in interdependence rather than hyper- individualism, reciprocity rather than dominance, and cooperation rather than hierarchy. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p Challenge current economic paradigms ...the bottom line is what matters here: our economic system and our planetary system are now at war. Or, more accurately, our economy is at war with many forms of life on earth, including human life. What the climate needs to avoid collapse is a contraction in humanity's use of resources; what our economic model demands to avoid collapse is unfettered expansion. Only one of these sets of rules can be changed, and it's not the laws of nature. - Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.21 35 Maintain optimism and hope in God We must not be paralysed by fear and depression. Jesus says: Take courage. I am with you always (John 16:33, Matthew 28:20). Our efforts to conserve, heal and restore Gods creation will never be in vain (I Corinthians 15:58). We are not oiling the wheels of a machine that is about to fall over a cliff. We are not restoring a great painting thats about to be thrown in the fire. We are not planting roses in a garden about to be dug up for a construction site. We are accomplishing something which will become, in due course, part of Gods new world. Whatever we do will have effects that will be preserved in the new creation which God will one day bring to its culmination and completion (Revelation 21:1). 36 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 Act with hope! 37 Today history has knocked at your door. How will you answer? The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not What a lovely sermon! but, I will do something! - Francis de Sales This one thing I do - Paul: Philippians 3:13 Complete your Stewardship Action Plan 38 39 The problem with the ship has to be fixed, or nothing else will matter 40