Climate Change: Trodden Down With Our Feet

I am deviating from my usual material for my sermon on global climate change.

Scriptures: Matthew 25:31-36 and Ezekiel 34:17-19, 25-31
Preface to Hebrew Scripture. I have been enjoying a YouTube recording of a lecture by Walter Brueggemann. (Many of you will remember his visit to our congregation two years ago.) His audience a few weeks ago was a gathering of Episcopal priests, and his topic, Prophetic Preaching. Dr. Brueggemann said he wanted to free them from the notion that the Prophets were all about scolding and nagging. Instead, he wanted to show how prophetic preaching was about processing loss and processing hope. He pointed out that the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all opened with commentary on loss, the history of the Jews being carried into exile in Babylonia. The rest of these books are devoted to how the Jews should cope with their loss--providing hope for the future. The first three verses for today's reading from Ezekiel 34:17-19 sound like scolding, but they are followed by an offering of assurance and hope in verses 25-31.

Text: And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

Whom is God addressing? Who are the bad sheep, the ones who eat their fill of the good pasture, and then tread down the rest of the pasture, spoiling it for the other sheep? Who are they, these bad sheep who drink the clear water, and then foul it with their feet, leaving muddy water for the other sheep to drink? If I had heard these verses when I was a boy, they probably would have reminded me of my mother's exasperated words: "I spent all morning on my hands and knees, washing and waxing the kitchen floor, and now you two have tracked in mud all over it!" She had worked hard to make the floor clean, and my pal and I had trodden on it with our muddy feet.

That would have been an appropriate, if limited, application of Ezekiel's message. He was prophesying against people who acted unfairly, selfishly--carelessly taking advantage of, and causing needless suffering to, innocent people. Nowadays litterbugs come to my mind, especially when the JPIC [Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation] committee goes out under Barb Wayman's dedicated leadership to clean up our assigned portion of Route 79. It is surprising how many orange garbage bags we fill on a Saturday morning--surprising how much stuff people toss out the car window for us to pick up. Do they give a thought to what they are treading down with their feet?

We wouldn't be guilty of that kind of littering. But there is a different kind of littering that I do every day, and I guess all of you join me in doing it. We litter with the carbon dioxide we generate, directly or indirectly, through the combustion of fossil fuels. Our society is addicted to fossil fuels. On average, each American generates 20 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The United Kingdom and most of Europe are far behind us, generally about ten. The figure for China is five, for India one, and for most of Africa less than one. We are the world's champion CO2 litterbugs; and the earth's atmosphere is our dump. What are we treading down with our feet?

You know the story. Because of the ever-increasing use of fossil fuels since World War II, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide have risen alarmingly. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts much like glass in a greenhouse, trapping heat from the sun. That can be beneficial, making the greenhouse or the earth warmer. But too much warming overheats the greenhouse, and the plants wilt. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the hotter the earth; and from a global perspective we have already passed the "too hot" point. That is what the climate scientists are telling us, but the American public is not paying much attention.

For many years, Gallup has polled Americans to measure concern, knowledge, and opinions about global warming. Half of Americans surveyed were worried about it in 1988, and in three years the figure rose to 72% worried about global warming. Now the poll number is back down to 51% worried, the same as 23 years ago, even though 80% of us now say we understand the issue at least fairly well. In the last three years, the percentage doubting that global warming's effects will ever happen has increased, from 11% to nearly 20%. What are we treading down with our feet?
American public opinion is also divided as to what we think scientists believe about global warming. In a poll last month from Yale and George Mason "…only 39% percent of the respondents agreed that 'most scientists think global warming is happening,' and 40% agreed with the statement, 'There is a lot of disagreement among scientists about whether or not global warming is happening.'”

The belief there is this major disagreement among climate scientists is mistaken, says Spencer Weart, a physicist and science historian. According to Weart: "The world scientific consensus is clear: Earth faces serious problems from climate change due to human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases, and the longer we delay addressing these problems because of erroneous and sometimes self-serving views, the greater the likelihood of catastrophe."

Sir John Krebs of Oxford University agrees. Krebs presented the Messenger lectures at Cornell last April. He was knighted in 1999 and appointed to the House of Lords in 2007. Krebs chairs the United Kingdom's Science and Technology Honors Committee, the House of Lords Select Committee for Science and Technology and the Royal Society's Science Policy Advisory Group. He also sits on the U.K.'s Climate Change Committee and chairs its Adaptation Subcommittee. His lecture on climate change, which I attended--was totally in agreement with Weart as to the scientific consensus and the prospects.

You would never know about the consensus from what you hear in the media, though. The prevailing approach of the media to scientific disagreement is that both sides should be represented; thus one denier is entitled to as much exposure as a hundred believers. It's as if 99 forensic experts decided the car ran over the chicken because the chicken crossed the road in front of it, but one expert concluded maybe the driver hit the innocent chicken standing on the curb; so we hear on the news that expert opinion is divided over who was at fault, the chicken or the driver. (In the case of climate scientists, the ratio is probably higher than 99:1.)

Politicians are paying attention to the polls, not to the science. Three years ago most politicians in both parties at least gave lip service to the problem of global warming. Now the same politicians in both parties are backing away--skirting the issue, or actually attacking those who say it is a problem. Meanwhile coal, gas, and oil corporations have spent millions to disabuse us of the notion that human-caused carbon dioxide has anything to do with global warming. What are we treading down with our feet?

One source of public skepticism is confusion between global warming and the weather fluctuations we have from year to year and from place to place. Congressmen looked at last spring's snowfall on Washington's cherry blossoms and pronounced it proof there is no global warming. Not so. Computer models predict an overall warming of the planet from increased carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and they also predict increased swings in local weather from year to year and from place to place. There will be more extreme events--droughts more severe in one location, record flooding in another, more storms, more heat waves, more untimely snowfalls. That is why the term "global climate change" is being adopted as more inclusive than "global warming."

Of course all this science may be wrong, but dare we take the risk? Are we willing to cancel our house insurance because our house is unlikely to burn down? Or drive without seat belts? The stakes are higher in climate change. Effects will be felt everywhere, but most dramatically at the poles and in the tropics. Melting ice at the poles will lead to rises in sea level all over the world. Rising temperatures in the tropics and subtropics, where the poorest people live, will make dry areas drier at the same time mountain glaciers are retreating, thus reducing water available for irrigation. Wet areas will become wetter, with more floods.

Already in 2011 we have had the deadliest tornado season since 1936; wildfires have been raging in Arizona and New Mexico, Texas suffered the driest 7-month span on record, the Mississippi River has had its second "500-year flood" in 18 years, and flood levels have set record highs in the Midwest. In parts of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia the worst drought in 60 years is starving 10 million people. No one can be sure any one of these events has been caused by high levels of greenhouse gases; but the outbreak is consistent with overall model predictions. What are we treading down with our feet?

So some day soon, we can shift away from fossil fuels, and our climate will shift back to what it used to be? Sad to say, it doesn't work that way! When our dirty feet pollute this stream, it stays polluted for centuries to come. The extra carbon dioxide we have added to the atmosphere stays there. One scientist puts it, "Even if human emissions of CO2 magically dropped to zero, the gas already in the air would linger for many centuries, trapping heat. …Whatever we do now, humanity [is] already committed to centuries of violently changing weather and rising seas." Our own Bob Kohut, himself a scientist who has studied the problem, puts it succinctly: Our grandchildren are going to hate us, because we had the information, and we did nothing about it. What have we already trodden down with our feet?

Walter Brueggemann said that in prophetic preaching we must process our loss. For the prophets, the loss was homeland and everything they held dear. What we have lost is the right (if we ever had the right) to a lifestyle based on extravagant, wasteful combustion of fossil fuels. If we care one whit about future generations, that lifestyle is a thing of the past. Gone is the pleasure of burning fossil fuels as if there were no tomorrow, because there will be a tomorrow, but an unhappy tomorrow world-wide if we don't accept our loss and change our ways.

So far, not a "feel-good" sermon. Well, the second part of our reading from Ezekiel is about showers of blessing. Ezekiel knew the catastrophe of exile; but he also knew that ours is a God of power, and a God of hope. This reflects Brueggemann's other facet of prophetic preaching
--hope.

It would be easy to throw in the towel and conclude that avoiding this catastrophe is beyond our power. It is beyond our power, but we are not in this world alone. In his lecture, Dr. Brueggemann spoke of God's pala. Pala is the Hebrew word for power, the ability to do wonderful, mysterious things, things impossible from a human point of view. The whole Bible testifies to God's pala, beginning with the first chapter of Genesis, where God created the world out of chaos. God can do wonderful things, things the world thinks are impossible. God gave us this beautiful planet, and God will help us preserve it.

The pala of God can work through us. We can conserve energy--thus saving money and reducing dependence on foreign oil; and the habits we cultivate will facilitate conversion to non-fossil fuels. We can use spiral light bulbs, better insulate our houses, turn thermostats down in the winter and up in the summer, walk or bike more, drive less and in more fuel-efficient cars. (If you want other practical tips, there will be a list on the lemonade table after the service.) The main thing is, we must care deeply--must change our mindset from "fossil energy is cheap" to "energy is precious." We need to work toward conversion to non-fossil fuels.

We can multiply our efforts by enlisting others in the cause. Our church is now an Earth Care congregation. We can pitch in as members and friends to make that really mean something. If we belong to other organizations, we can promote conservation in them. And we can let our politicians know that efforts of the big energy companies to blow smoke in our eyes have not blinded us to the reality of human-caused global climate change. We can let our government officials know it is important to us that they prioritize switching to non-fossil fuel energy. That means ending subsidies for fossil fuels and imitating Germany in the promotion of green energy. And it means new jobs and opportunities for investment.

Yes, we may feel like suckers if we conserve while others don't. My teacher-wife Marilyn told about children who would say, "He hit me back first." So, sure, we don't want to be the first to take the hit if people in India or China or Africa are making fools of us by increasing their pollution while we decrease. But with God's pala we can remember: the people in those countries look askance at us for the 20 T of CO2 we produce per person each year compared to 5 for China, 1 for India, and less than 1 for much of Africa. We can see with their eyes: we are the highest in the world, and if we aren't willing to commit to major change, why should they commit?

With God's pala we can confront the biggest challenge of all--the willingness to take the long-run view and protect the sheep that will come after us. Are we willing to avoid treading down the pasture and fouling the waters for the sake of children who will not even be born during our lifetimes?

That long view is not easy. As Lord Krebs pointed out in his Messenger lecture, short-term pain for long-term gain is against human nature. The pain of paying a slightly higher bill for green energy now outweighs the distant goal of a healthier planet. But we teach our children that the ability to wait for delayed gratification is a sign of maturity. God will give us spiritual maturity--the faith and hope we need to take the long view.

With hope in God's pala, we can keep on urging our politicians to pay attention to global climate change even if they keep ignoring us. William Sloan Coffin, Jr. put it this way: “Let us remember that optimism is not essential to a spiritual person, only hope. God does not call us finally to be successful, only to be faithful, which means that when we can’t be optimistic, we can still be persistent.”

Our reading from Matthew was part of Jesus' parable about sheep and goats, a parable obviously influenced by Ezekiel's. In Jesus' version, when we care for those most in need--the ones Jesus called "the least of these"--we are doing it for Christ.

Who needs our care more than the generations do who will suffer because of what our generation has trodden down? An ounce of preventing global climate change now will be worth a ton of care after the change has happened. With God's pala working with us, we can make those ounces count. When we do it for the "least of these," even the "least of these" not yet born, we do it for Christ.

Sermon preached by Elmer Ewing, July 17, 2011, at 1st Presbyterian Church, Ithaca NY