Enviro(ish)
  • Blog
  • Meet Megan
  • Legal(ish)

Everyday Eco: Christians and Climate Change

1/28/2015

3 Comments

 
I have started writing a blog post on being a pragmatist vs. activist vs. slacktivist....and that blog is coming....but sometimes synchronicity wins out.  If the head of the Environmental Protection Agency is getting a short audience with the Pope on the moral issue of climate....well we can all take a second to think this whole thing through.

Most Sundays I volunteer at my Catholic church here in LA as a small group leader with teens.  A recent session was about science and faith, and I was telling my co-leader how excited I was to discuss environment/eco/climate change with the small group since I experience resistance all the time....particularly from conservative Christians on that topic.  The words are hanging in the air, and I see a WashPost article on a study that showed half of Americans think the increasing severity of natural disasters is a sign of Biblical end times (77% of White Evangelicals and 74% of Black Protestants).  Oh, where to begin...

I'm inspired that I'm nowhere near the first person to draw the connection between being a Christian and stewarding the environment (aka God's creation for all my non-religious peeps).  Leading climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe from the Years of Living Dangerously first episode (watch for free!) draws from her evangelical Christianity when speaking with others about climate change and faith:
"When I look at the information we get from the planet, I look at it as God's creation, speaking to us.  And in this case, there's no question that God's creation is telling us that it is running a fever."
 
Sit with that a second.  That right there's the bomb diggity of explanations.

Until the Pope Francis encyclical on ecology comes out, you'll have to survive with my opinions!  (Ok, well I'm basing it on off-the-cuff remarks he gave on the topic...but I digress...)

There's two reasons the mentality that is so prevalent in evangelical Christians is a huge problem....
1) it's a gigantic loophole and out for people who are causing climate change (Americans) to not deal with the issue (which I won't go into this blog post, but is important to note!), and 
2) more importantly, it's antithetical to what being a Christian is all about, caring about the poor and social/environmental justice is at the heart of the Gospel....

Read More
3 Comments

EcoPartyDownload: Don't bring a knife to a Climate Fight

1/22/2015

3 Comments

 
Climate has been a contentious issue for as long as I've been doing environmental work (read: over a decade).  I wish it weren't a "fight"....I wish deniers hadn't trumped up a "debate" on climate in which they undermine the value of science itself and required non-profits to try to run counter-campaigns.....in which they take news of 2014 as the hottest year on record and 13 of the 14 hottest years happening since 2000 and nitpick about satellite vs. air vs. sea temperature.  Most of all, I wish I could unring the bell of knowing that the same guy who fought against public health officials on the science that showed cigarettes causing cancer is a lead voice in the climate change denial movement (but I digress).

Point is, as environmentalish peeps we have to recognize that despite public opinion poll after poll showing Americans are starting to come round to the rest of the world's view, fighting about climate change science by many but not all conservatives is still a reality.  A big spin reality in our news media.  A reality that doesn't reflect the enviro(ish) belief in people being smart, logical and good.  Therefore, an unfortunate reality.  And in the face of this reality, we have to choose if we engage or avoid this fight.  I have decided that because people look to me on environmental/eco/green issues, I won't allow the deniers to "win" the opinion of people I know just because they are yelling the loudest and because I feel pressure to back down.  Nobody puts baby in a corner.  Truth is on the side of climate science, and the future of our livelihoods and planet hangs in the balance.  IMHO, that's big enough to be worth purposeful engagement. In the face of such opposition, I stand even more firmly planted and use the following facts and tools below the jump.  But before I get all practical on how to engage in this "fight" and arm you with my favorite "weapons", it's important you get the skinny.  This is not a theoretical, abstract experience for me, and boy, it can be draining.... 
Picture

Read More
3 Comments

EcoPartyDownload: Keystone XL

11/17/2014

1 Comment

 
Environmentalists threw down the gauntlet a few years ago on exactly ONE issue, and it was on the Keystone XL pipeline.  The leader of 350.org, Bill McKibben, called it "gameover for the climate".  Eco and civil rights protestors and hundreds of youth have been arrested outside the White House.  It's been the single point of activism around climate change that galvanized eco peeps across the non-profit spectrum.  Because the decision-making is concentrated in one guy: President Barack Obama.  It's the Administration's ability to approve the pipeline since it will run over an international border with Canada. Or at least it was for many, many years until the House has passed the construction bill in trying to work around him.

Despite being pretty much not an activist (future post on that later), it got me fired up and ready to go.  I wrote this letter to our President with my Hope bumper magnet (complete with dirt!) in a plea to not approve this disastrous pipeline.  So what is it?  And what's the big deal? 

Repeat after me:
the Canadians couldn't get through a pipeline on their own soil to the West/Pacific route (aka why are WE taking the risk they wouldn't do themselves?), tar sands oil is more energy intensive and harmful to the planet requiring us to evaluate our societal direction (answer: it's time to wean ourselves off of oil, not just for the planet but for the power/politics/money that flow with it),
the economics are not beneficial (it will create only temporary jobs and a handful permanently, as well as the major issue of externalities)
.

This one is a doozy, so hold onto your butts enviroish friends!
Picture

Read More
1 Comment

Inspirations: Conservatives working on climate change

10/21/2014

0 Comments

 
We desperately need to change the conversation on conservation.  Climate change is somehow a very contentious political issue (n.b. in the U.S. only, a study across 39 nations found it ranked as the #1 global threat...but I digress).  The environmentalist in me finds the whole thing bananas....it's akin to having a national debate over whether smoking causes cancer.  The American Academy for the Advancement of Science has a campaign on the facts of climate change because our "national debate" is a bad sign for science at large.  And that doesn't even account for the fact that the climate change denial machine is not just using the same tactics - but the exact same people - that spent time a few decades back trying to confuse people about whether cigarettes caused cancer.  Like I said, bananas.

It's easy to find despair.  The poster child is a Republican Congressman from South Carolina who lost his 2010 primary battle because of backlash for his stance on climate change both existing and being man-made.  He was on the House Subcommittee for Energy and Environment that got "Burn Noticed" for its lack of common sense on science basics. 

But Enviro(ish) is extremely anti-despair.  I'm a believer in MLK Jr's quote that the arc of the moral universe is long, but bends towards justice.  And the first step we take is acknowledging the truth.  It's been a few years, so I checked up on that Congressman Bob Inglis, and checked in with an energy initiative in Washington D.C. led by four-star generals.  Seeing conservatives not just having discussions but taking policy action regarding climate change gives me incredible amounts of hope.  Here's the EcoPartyDownload on conservative solutions for climate change.  Yes, you read that right.....conserve IS the root for both conservation AND conservative....is it not?  (See what I did there?? Boom!)
Picture
Photo courtesy of Securing America's Future Energy

Read More
0 Comments

Ecopartydownload: The ocean speaks

10/7/2014

1 Comment

 
I'm here at SXSW Eco in Austin, and am wildly inspired by a standing ovation keynote from NatGeo Explorer-in-Residence, Oceanographer extraordinaire, former chief scientist of NOAA, and gender-barrier-breaking research scientist Sylvia Earle.  You'd think SHE is all we need to speak for the ocean....but luckily there's others.

In the lead up to her speech, they played the ocean for "Nature is Speaking".  It's perfectly the way we  need to think about environmental issues (right in line with the EcoPartyDownload on climate march!).  The planet will keep turning, but the systems we depend on for life and health will suffer as will we.  You'll never guess who's voice is the ocean.  Ok ok, since it's from Conservation International and he's been on the board over 20  years you might guess....  Indiana Jones!  Badass as ever...this time for the ocean.  #lovesit
1 Comment

Plugging in for the planet

10/6/2014

0 Comments

 
We have our first topic requests coming in here @enviro(ish).  I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!  "Why are electric power (plug-in) vehicles better for the environment than gas powered cars?"  So this is not only a fantastic topic and related to the big eco news for LA this past week, but it's also personally one of my most favorite things at the moment.  1) Because getting EV workplace charging for employees has been a 3-year labor of eco love that finally got some great results this past summer; and 2) I now am the proud owner of a Toyota RAV4 EV...it's all electric and a Tesla on the inside (woot!).   The timing of #1 and #2 would be completely suspicious if it weren't for the fact I was in a horrible car accident (thank you spacey LA drivers, 2nd worst in the nation, stop looking at your phone!). I'm a huge believer that it happened for a reason...the LCA of my old car was too good to replace....but I digress.

Short answer: it IS more eco-friendly to plug in than use the pump.  Don't believe me at my word??  Ok, more answers below!
Picture
Just commit this to the mems, and then learn "why" below the jump:
Electric vehicles add no local air pollutants (aka no tailpipe nasties that go to lungs/smog) and the grid burns much cleaner/has less greenhouse gas emissions than your gasoline or diesel for your car (aka efficiency of scale, more natural gas, and some renewables).  

The little internal combustion engine under your hood just can't eco-compete. Game, set, match!

Read More
0 Comments

EcoPartyDownload: Climate March in NYC

9/23/2014

1 Comment

 
It's exciting times!  Have you heard the news? An estimated 310,000 people marched through the heart of Manhattan on Sunday to raise awareness of the climate change crisis.  It's the largest demonstration for climate change to date in history.  Power to my peoples!
Picture
                                                   Image: ABC 7 News
Exciting as it is though, we're (still) not focused on the message.  Some of the participants were spot on, but the media coverage doesn't quite bring it home (only quotes from Sec. Kerry get it right in this entire NY Times article...he's in better, on-message company in the LA Times...look below the jump for Fox News). 

Here's the skinny. Climate change is not about the planet. Seriously.  Forget the environmental bumper sticker that says "Save the Planet"...switch it in your head with one that reads "Save Ourselves".  The planet will keep on turning.  It's the environmental systems that WE all depend on for our well-being...those are on a rapid and accelerating pathway to horrorville.  Repeat after me: caring about climate change means you care about people, especially yourself.

Read More
1 Comment

Make it personal - Climate Change

9/15/2014

0 Comments

 
I know what you're thinking, climate change?  Personal?  Isn't that something that affects polar bears and not me?  Well the unfortunate answer to that is no.  It's going to affect us all directly and indirectly.  And it has already started.  [Hold the dramatic musical score for a beat....]

Climate change is a big, hairy, scary issue.  And there's a LOT of misinformation out there, which makes you think this is impossibly confusing. But don't stress!  I'm going to make it bite-sized and easy.  I love the Dinner Party Download concept, so we're running with that as inspiration. Welcome to the first installment of the Eco Party Download: "All you need to know to 'win' your eco party*...as told (mostly) with the help of your favorite celebrities."
*having or going to an 'eco party' not required

I've been talking about climate change for a decade, but the timing of this blog is impeccable. It means I get we get to hear Matt Damon talk about climate change.  There's a fantastic documentary recently out that hits the right message on the nose.  It's called Years of Living Dangerously, and uses celebrities as correspondents interviewing people's whose lives have been altered by climate change. Yes, there are many of these people, maybe even you!

Read More
0 Comments
Forward>>

    Enviro(ISH):

    (adj) balancing caring about the future of our planet with enjoying and living everyday life to the fullest

    Social(ish):

    Categories

    All
    DailyResistance
    EcoPartyDownload
    Energy & Climate
    Environmentalish
    EverydayEco
    Forests & Nature
    @Home
    Inclusion
    Inspirations
    Links I Love
    Mountainfilm
    Reuse
    @TheOffice
    Water & Oceans

    Archives

    October 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    September 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly