NOT AS I DO

from Midwest Conservative Journal by The Editor

The Episcopal bishops have just issued what they call a “pastoral teaching” on the environment. These selections are typical of its bumper sticker level of banality:

The mounting urgency of our environmental crisis challenges us at this time to confess “our self-indulgent appetites and ways,” “our waste and pollution of God’s creation,” and “our lack of concern for those who come after us” (Ash Wednesday Liturgy, Book of Common Prayer, p. 268). It also challenges us to amend our lives and to work for environmental justice and for more environmentally sustainable practices.

Christians cannot be indifferent to global warming, pollution, natural resource depletion, species extinctions, and habitat destruction, all of which threaten life on our planet. Because so many of these threats are driven by greed, we must also actively seek to create more compassionate and sustainable economies that support the well-being of all God’s creation.

We are especially called to pay heed to the suffering of the earth. The Anglican Communion Environmental Network calls to mind the dire consequences our environment faces: “We know that . . . we are now demanding more than [the earth] is able to provide. Science confirms what we already know: our human footprint is changing the face of the earth and because we come from the earth, it is changing us too. We are engaged in the process of destroying our very being. If we cannot live in harmony with the earth, we will not live in harmony with one another.”

One of the most dangerous and daunting challenges we face is global climate change. This is, at least in part, a direct result of our burning of fossil fuels. Such human activities could raise worldwide average temperatures by three to eleven degrees Fahrenheit in this century. Rising average temperatures are already wreaking environmental havoc, and, if unchecked, portend devastating consequences for every aspect of life on earth.

The wealthier nations whose industries have exploited the environment, and who are now calling for developing nations to reduce their impact on the environment, seem to have forgotten that those who consume most of the world’s resources also have contributed the most pollution to the world’s rivers and oceans, have stripped the world’s forests of healing trees, have destroyed both numerous species and their habitats, and have added the most poison to the earth’s atmosphere. We cannot avoid the conclusion that our irresponsible industrial production and consumption-driven economy lie at the heart of the current environmental crisis.

Privileged Christians in our present global context need to move from a culture of consumerism to a culture of conservation and sharing. The challenge is to examine one’s own participation in ecologically destructive habits. Our churches must become places where we have honest debates about, and are encouraged to live into, more sustainable ways of living. God calls us to die to old ways of thinking and living and be raised to new life with renewed hearts and minds.

You get the idea..

I’m not going to discuss the scientific merits of this particular theory except to say this. It is extremely difficult to believe that climate change is a crisis when people who claim climate change is a crisis don’t act like climate change is a crisis.

Remember, this “pastoral teaching” just came from a group of men and women who, along with their wives, husbands and significant others, flew thousands of miles in many different airplanes and pumped Gaia knows how much greenhouse gas in the atmosphere just to have a meeting.

Ecuador is a part of our church and we have to meet together. Well, not to put too fine on it, but no, you pompous jackasses don’t. Church Center is rich enough to set Ecuador up with the requisite equipment, train the folks there in its use and conduct this whole meeting as a five-day videoconference.

Besides, such a claim adds an entirely new layer of hypocrisy. The bishops condemn “consumerism.” But what is the difference between the bishops insisting that they simply must meet in the same place at the same time and me insisting that I need an iPad?

Easy, Johnson. You’re just buying another gadget to play Angry Birds on while we bishops doing something vitally important. Sez who? And if you believe your own theory, why in the world are you willing to inflict great harm to the environment just to give some wealthy Episcopal liberals a five-day Third World poverty tour?

Get your stories straight, pointy hats.

One of the reasons we go to these places is to see where our church ministers. You folks do know that really good digital camcorders are getting awfully cheap these days. Why not buy 10 or 12, hook up some Ecuadorian Anglican Young People^TM with them, ask them to show you their country, good and bad, and incorporate their presentations into the week’s festivities?

Not only would Gaia thank you for it, but you’d be modelling the sort of behavior you’d like every other rich Westerner to adopt. And even if we all just laughed at you, you’d be secure in the knowledge that at least you had done the right thing and been all prophetic and stuff because at the end of the day, that’s all Gaia can ask of anyone.

The point of all this is that if the Episcopal bishops want me to believe that we’re in a crisis, then the very first thing they should do is starting acting like we’re in a crisis. Otherwise, I’ll consider them nothing more than posturing hypocrites.