1. This news should be viewed in tandem with Hurricane Florence's arrival, which has already forced more than a million people to evacuate their homes—and which analysts project will cause catastrophic damage.
Environmental deregulation is killing us.
nytimes.com/2018/09/10/cli…
Environmental deregulation is killing us.
nytimes.com/2018/09/10/cli…
2. We repeat a disastrous dynamic when it comes to extreme weather: We're incredibly attentive to damage as it occurs; news is filled with courageous people who risk everything to keep others safe. Then, we experience collective amnesia until the next storm.'
3. At this point, these aren't "freak" occurrences. Humanity has poisoned our climate for centuries—and decades after we knew it was killing us. And yet, too many continue to pretend that these storms are a mysterious phenomenon, and not a predictable consequence of our sin.
4. And it's not just our politics and secular institutions that play into this collective, willing blindness—communities of faith are likewise guilty of responding to storms but failing to confront their systemic roots.
5. In any natural disaster, you'll find dozens of houses of worship that completely uproot business-as-usual to become de-facto crisis centers: distributing food, water and clothing, providing emergency shelter—even rescuing people from floodwaters.
6. This is critical, necessary work. It's what it looks like to respond to God's call to love one's neighbor, to live into loving community. And yet, if we are not proactive in our care for Creation, we are simply staunching the bleeding of a wound that will not heal.
7. Communities of faith need to be just as proactive in preventing the future suffering that climate change will cause as we are in addressing its present manifestations.
God calls us to care for creation, it's time to get serious about doing that work.
God calls us to care for creation, it's time to get serious about doing that work.
8. If we did, news that our government is making it easier to release methane into the air could not be shrugged off as simply a regulatory adjustment, but would rather be treated as a moral calamity. Because, make no mistake: It is.
9. Making it easier for companies to increase emissions, investing in coal, scaling back automotive fuel standards: These are human rights violations. If we don't change course immediately, people will suffer and die just as surely as if our country killed them directly.
10. Pray for the people of the Carolinas and everyone preparing for Hurricane Florence. Do what you can to help. Pray for the thousands who die from climate change each year—often the poorest and most marginalized communities. Mourn their deaths, call for accountability.
11. Then, act daily as if millions more will die—because they will if we do nothing.
