The Energy Dilemma

by The Rev. Sally Bingham

Carbon dioxide, the gas largely blamed for global warming, has reached record-high levels in the atmosphere after growing at an accelerated pace in the past year, say scientists monitoring the sky from this two mile-high Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii. -- The Associated Press, March 2004

When I read these accounts, dealing with what I believe is a direct result of human behavior, I am ashamed. Enough people, religious and otherwise, have heard that global warming is a real threat – not just to Creation but to human health as well. Yet we don't seem to be doing much about it. What are we waiting for?

This issue calls for leadership: leadership in how to respond religiously to global warming. It is an opportunity and a responsibility of the faith community to mobilize and lead. We have done it before and it is time to do it again. Across this country, religious leaders must start addressing the problems that threaten the quality of life. While we need to be pastors to parishioners and look with love on those who come to us for reconciliation, we have a responsibility to God and God's Creation that is just as coherent and just as soundly theological as peace and justice. People come to us when they can't pay their energy bills and we are good listeners and try to help, but what will we do when they are flocking to us because they cannot afford bottled water and the water from the tap is contaminated? What if they cannot breathe because the air quality has reached intolerable levels of toxicity?

There is evidence from the scientific community that we are poisoning our neighbors and ourselves without concern for either or the future. What holds us back from seeing the dreadful situation on the horizon?   And why do we hear so little about it in our congregations? The scientists have been giving us data for years and it can all be found on many secular environmental websites: ie, Environmental Defense , the Union of Concerned Scientists , and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Are we too afraid to look? (Take a moment to look and you will be startled at the scientific facts).

If we had waited for all the scientific facts to come in, we wouldn't have Easter. No one can PROVE the resurrection with science, but we believe it. People of faith believe, and act when we think something is true. That's what we do. We take a risk when we believe it is the right thing to do.

But even if we didn't have the science and there was just a chance that global warming was harming creation, we are called to act. Look at it this way: If we had waited for all the scientific facts to come in, we wouldn't have Easter. No one can PROVE the resurrection with science, but we believe it. People of faith believe, and act when we think something is true. That's what we do. We take a risk when we believe it is the right thing to do.

If God's plan is for human participation in the welfare of the world, we are not living up to that expectation. Until recently, the welfare of Creation has been virtually absent from the pulpit, and absent from Christian education classes. But carefully crafted lines in scripture spell out our responsibility.

Being created in the image of God and having been given dominion over everything is what we have accepted as the human role in the universe. This word “dominion” has forever given scholars a challenging exercise. But simply put (by someone who is not a scholar), it means we have the same kind of charge over Creation that God has over us: love, compassion, and the will to care.   The first and second commandments require that we love God and love our neighbor. God gave us pure and clean water and air. To pollute those gifts is a sin against God and our neighbor.

Need we go deeper to know that we have a special role as humans to be stewards of Creation? It seems simple and it is, but it is also the most profound environmental ethic in Scripture. If you love your neighbor, you don't pollute their air or water.

Polluting the air with carbon dioxide can be avoided without much effort. If we are conscious that every time we turn something on – whether it be a car, a light, a computer, a washing machine, whatever – we put carbon dioxide into the air, we might think before we do and do it less often. Or once we are conscious of our turnings on and our turnings off, we might think about getting our electricity from a clean source. Call your utility and ask for clean electricity. Most utilities offer it but if they don't, they need to hear from customers that we want it. Buy energy efficient appliances, cars that get 40-50 miles to the gallon, compact florescent lightbulbs and begin to conserve electricity.

. . .the faith community should be leading the assignment for a more sustainable world. Just like the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement, we can lead this country off its dependency on dirty fuel for electricity. It is even a national security issue when we factor in the cost of war and other casualties from our efforts to secure an eternal supply of oil.

We cannot blame anyone but ourselves for the dilemma that we face today. That is what makes me ashamed. We didn't have to let it get so bad that 55 countries in the world are pointing their fingers at the U.S. for creating 25% of the world's green house gases (which are created by burning fossil fuels – oil, coal, and natural gas) with only 4% of the world's population. We've been developing and industrializing for 150 years, with unprecedented passion for more and more material goods. This is unjust, unnecessary and greedy, something Jesus railed against. It is for that reason (and others) that the faith community should be leading the assignment for a more sustainable world. Just like the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement, we can lead this country off its dependency on dirty fuel for electricity. It is even a national security issue when we factor in the cost of war and other casualties from our efforts to secure an eternal supply of oil.

The U.S. has alternatives to oil waiting in the wings. Technologies in the wind and solar energy fields are improving all the time. We have hybrid cars that are fuel efficient and cleaner than old models. Unfortunately, many of us are still buying SUVs and Hummers.

I do have hope, though. In 2003, the Toyota Prius was "car of the year." Solar panels are being installed by hundreds of congregations across the country. There is evidence that people want to do the right thing.

Across 14 U.S. states, hundreds of congregations have become involved in the Interfaith Power and Light movement and programs. A powerful and influential voice is being raised that will make a difference. As people of faith we are not afraid to stand up for justice and the correct moral decisions that will reflect our belief in ourselves to be stewards of Creation.

-- The Rev. Sally Grover Bingham is executive director of The Regeneration Project in San Francisco, Calif. She has worked on environmental issues in church and society for more than 20 years, and serves the Episcopal Diocese of California and Grace Cathedral (San Francisco) as its Environmental Minister. Sally may be reached by email at ecosal@aol.com .