Climate change is a pro-life issue
My blog has plenty of evidence to demonstrate I am a pro-life person. My twitter account will also show I am not anti-choice, acknowledging that the mother's circumstances and decision does not need to be explained or justified to me or any other man. I'm also pro-life in that I am against the death penalty. I'm also pro-life in that I think government should offer enough aid for the flourishing of children long after they are born medically, educationally, food security, and healthy living conditions...sort of like "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Certainly getting rid of lead paint had a tremendous positive impact in the lives of a generation and likely led to the dramatic drop in crime in the 90's instead of the racially biased stop and frisk. But now we have a greater risk, climate change. The build up of CO2 in our atmosphere is directly correlated to the burning of hydrocarbons, basically compressed forests from ages past, and slash and burn agriculture wiping out forests in this age.
The greenhouse effect of all this CO2 is being felt now in the increase of 100, 500, and 1000 year floods, storms and fires. It is an apocalypse in its Greek meaning, an unveiling of our insatiable, unsustainable appetite. It will kill humans at the same rate or above of abortions annually in the US. Something on this scale of slow moving disaster requires government action.
Unfortunately, evangelicals are the least likely to believe they have anything to do with climate change, Pew. Catholics, who are even more pro-life, are more likely to acknowledge the reality of man-made climate change. It's another leg of support in the belief that evangelicals are republicans first, then christians. Hence, there was hardly an evangelical peep when Trump pulled out of the Paris accords. Fundamentalist creation scientists cannot agree more with the denial of man made climate change even though petroleum companies such as ExxonMobil that used to be a leader in climate change denial has come around to admitting what the science is observing. It's hard to get evangelicals to care about the end of the world as we know it if they are ardent fans of Left Behind theology, believing god himself will burn up the world after he evacuates them to heaven. This may be a minority position in historical theology, hence Pope Francis' call to environmental repentance is completely in line with Catholic eschatology, but since evangelicals make up a third of the US, and most of them are republicans, it is extremely difficult to persuade them of this reality.
My hope is in re-framing climate change as a pro-life issue. But tactics must be different from abortion clinic protests. Standing in front of gas stations with picket signs and screaming "Murderer" at people doesn't work. What will work is a change in how we live. Here are seven things one can do, as written by my daughter. None of these are threatening theologically or even expensive. Next level discomfort includes cycling instead of driving. If driving is a must go electric. Used 1st generation electric cars are very affordable right now, I know, I have one. If one can't do either of these, consider buying carbon offsets in the form of trees or forest restoration or helping the poorest of the poor or just to account for the amount of miles you drive and fly. If one lives in a state which allows choice of electricity producers, choose wind and solar. If one lives in a state which allows solar panel leasing, do it! We need to sequester carbon dioxide again. Trees do this very well. When Europeans invaded the west and killed off the native populations, the subsequent forest regrowth caused the little ice age. But one tree in our own yards won't be enough. Donate to an organization like the trillion tree campaign.
If one is an evangelical who believes abortions kill children, then an evangelical can also want the children who do make it to live in a healthy world. If God is going to come back, at least it we could clean up after ourselves a little bit.
Certainly getting rid of lead paint had a tremendous positive impact in the lives of a generation and likely led to the dramatic drop in crime in the 90's instead of the racially biased stop and frisk. But now we have a greater risk, climate change. The build up of CO2 in our atmosphere is directly correlated to the burning of hydrocarbons, basically compressed forests from ages past, and slash and burn agriculture wiping out forests in this age.
The greenhouse effect of all this CO2 is being felt now in the increase of 100, 500, and 1000 year floods, storms and fires. It is an apocalypse in its Greek meaning, an unveiling of our insatiable, unsustainable appetite. It will kill humans at the same rate or above of abortions annually in the US. Something on this scale of slow moving disaster requires government action.
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My hope is in re-framing climate change as a pro-life issue. But tactics must be different from abortion clinic protests. Standing in front of gas stations with picket signs and screaming "Murderer" at people doesn't work. What will work is a change in how we live. Here are seven things one can do, as written by my daughter. None of these are threatening theologically or even expensive. Next level discomfort includes cycling instead of driving. If driving is a must go electric. Used 1st generation electric cars are very affordable right now, I know, I have one. If one can't do either of these, consider buying carbon offsets in the form of trees or forest restoration or helping the poorest of the poor or just to account for the amount of miles you drive and fly. If one lives in a state which allows choice of electricity producers, choose wind and solar. If one lives in a state which allows solar panel leasing, do it! We need to sequester carbon dioxide again. Trees do this very well. When Europeans invaded the west and killed off the native populations, the subsequent forest regrowth caused the little ice age. But one tree in our own yards won't be enough. Donate to an organization like the trillion tree campaign.
If one is an evangelical who believes abortions kill children, then an evangelical can also want the children who do make it to live in a healthy world. If God is going to come back, at least it we could clean up after ourselves a little bit.
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