Last evening I attended the 'Greening Sacred Spaces' celebration at the Fo Guang Shan Buddhist Temple on Millcreek Dr. in Mississauga. This is an annual event to recognize faith communities in Peel and Halton who have made efforts to 'green' their worship spaces and to engage their congregants in protecting and caring for the environment. Last year, you may remember, the Greening Sacred Spaces award went to Erin Mills United for our greening initiatives.
It was encouraging to see the diversity of faith communities represented at last night's event - Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Unitarian to name a few. Community gardens, energy efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems, recycling initiatives, solar panels and the education of children and youth on environmental concerns were some of the greening efforts that were highlighted and celebrated among those nominated for the awards.
Rev. Bill Phipps, former moderator of the United Church of Canada, was one of the panelists who spoke about the role of faith communities in addressing environmental concerns and global climate change. In Bill's opinion, global climate change is 'the issue' that we must address in the 21st century. Bill and the other panelists representing Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim communities all underlined that global climate change is a deeply spiritual issue; it is not something peripheral to faithful living. This perspective was echoed recently in an editorial by Jim Wallis, president of 'Sojourners' a respected American Christian social justice organization. Here are some excerpts from Wallis' editorial:
Strong social movements need strong and powerful narratives. On climate change, the narratives of science will not be enough. Neither will extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy, which capture our attention momentarily but offer a glimpse of the storms that are projected to grow worse and more frequent.
I believe the most compelling narratives for dealing with climate change must be moral ones, theological ones, and biblical ones, especially if we are to reach and engage the faith community - which every successful social movement must do. God's instructions in Genesis to be good stewards of the world God has created are central now. And generational ethics are central to that.
We should not and cannot leave our children's children with a fundamentally different planet. Perhaps we should replace the classic image of a polar bear on a small floating piece of ice, with an image of our great grandchild standing in line for his or her water ration...
Ultimately, as followers of Christ, climate change is about our faith, our theology, our moral identity, and our calling as God's children. Climate change is not another issue to move higher up the list of our concerns. Rather it is the concern central to all other issues. Let's take the well-known 25th chapter of Matthew's Gospel, which was my own conversion passage that brought me to faith in Jesus Christ.
All of the categories of those whom Jesus called "the least of these" will be directly affected by climate change.
"I was hungry." Climate change could dramatically influence food supplies and create very serious food shortages.
"I was thirsty." Drought is a direct result of climate change.
"I was naked." The impact of climate change could strip whole groups of people of everything they have.
"I was a stranger." This text has converted a whole movement of Christians around how we treat immigrants - but climate change is already creating refugees of island nations.
"I was sick." Public health is extremely affected by the pollutants in our environment, and climate change increases that. And we are already being jeopardized by these pollutants.
"I was a prisoner." Global warming could cause massive social and societal disruption that easily can create more crime and burden criminal justice systems. There is a direct correlation between rising temperatures and rising violence.
Last night, we were reminded that June 5th is World Environment Day. This year's theme is "Raise your Voice, Not the Sea Level". Already, global climate change is dramatically affecting coastlines and threatening small island nations; particularly those in the South Pacific. Since 1992, the rate of global sea level rise measured by satellites has been roughly twice the rate observed over the last century and this accelerated rise is expected to continue with the melting of polar ice caps and glaciers.
In an effort to address the life-sustaining importance of the ocean for all life on this planet, directors Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot, along with an outstanding team of international underwater cinematographers created a film called 'Planet Ocean'. It was originally presented to the leaders of the 2012 Rio + 20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and has now been released for public viewing on You Tube. Beautifully filmed, it reminds us of our deep bond with the waters that cover 80% of this planet. Links to this film are provided below along with links to two shorter video clips on ocean and coastline health.
Value of Oceans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TooZWAcFH3Q&list=PLZ4sOGXTWw8HtjIDSXSZQk9igVw9zXz-B&index=3
Rising Sea levels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgyVzeHTQtY&list=PLZ4sOGXTWw8HtjIDSXSZQk9igVw9zXz-B&index=7
Planet Ocean Movie
https://www.youtube.com/user/PlanetOceanTheMovie
In closing, I'd like to express my thanks to EMUC members, David Leeder, Chair of the Peel Halton Greening Sacred Spaces Steering Committee and to Nancy Stevenson who is a member of that committee. It is through their support of Christina Reed, staffperson, and others that there this is a growing environmental awareness and engagement of faith communities.
