Think Global, Act Global on Climate Change

I'm sitting in the apse of the Cathedral at Uppsala, Sweden. It's high, solid stone walls arch over my head, painted with curling vines and flowers. Across from me sits the Crown Princess Victoria, elegant in bright fuschia, beaming as the choir sings. Before the congregation sit nearly 30 religious leaders from around the world, who have all come here this weekend for an historic meeting on an interfaith response to climate change.

For over a year, major leaders from many religions have been working to draft a manifesto that will be a strong call from the faith traditions for action on climate change. They range from the archbishop of Sweden himself to the ecofeminist critic Rosemary Radford Reuther. There are Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and Taoists, a representative from the ecumenical patriarch of the Orthodox Church and an Onondaga representative from the council of Chiefs.

I have been invited to present at the conference taking place in concert with the signing of the manifesto. It's not all that often I get invited anywhere by an archbishop, and climate change is the issue I am most focused on right now, so I've accepted, even though it means missing my Thanksgiving at home with my family. I suspect it was a bit of a stretch, even for the liberal Archbishop Wejyrd, to invite a Pagan to speak at this church-sponsored event, but he and his wife welcome me warmly to the opening dinner. I'm impressed with his courage and vision to sponsor this project, and with his open admission that religious leaders have been slow to take up this issue.

The conference is overshadowed by the terrorist attacks in Mombai, which play on every TV monitor in every airport and which prevent at least one delegate from attending. In a world where religious and political violence often prevails, an interfaith conference demonstrates a different possibility. When rabbis and imams embrace, how can we despair?

And hope is, indeed, a major theme of the conference. The manifesto is entitled Hope for the Future.

Climate change is a moral and ethical issue as well as a scientific and political one. The rich nations are most responsible for the emissions that are heating up the globe. The poor nations are most at risk from flooding, rising seas, droughts and storms, and have the least resources with which to mitigate the impacts of environmental collapse. Religion can move the dialogue from short-term gain to long-term vision, from economics and self-interest to ethics. Do we have the right to damage the planet? Whether we see the earth as God's creation, as the scriptural traditions do, or as the living body of the Goddess, as we Pagans do, the answer is clearly 'no'. There's also a clear self-interest in preserving the life-support systems that sustain us all.

So a religious call for justice can have a great impact in how we choose to address the need to cut emissions. We must provide the poorer nations the means to skip nineteenth and twentieth century technologies and move directly to twenty-first century renewable energy sources. We in the developed world must take responsibility for limiting our own emissions--for our lack of consciousness is paid for by other peoples' lives. The religions of the world have great power to influence people, and to address the moral dimensions of the crisis.

One of the most moving speakers is Dr. James Hansen, perhaps the world's leading climate change scientist. He warns us that the tipping point for runaway climate change is now thought to be around 350 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and we are currently at 385. We have a very short amount of time to turn things around Goals, he says, are not enough. We need action. And he talks about testifying to defend young activists who have blockaded coal-fired power plants. Coal is where most of the carbon in the world is locked up, and if we continue to burn it we will do irreparable damage to the earth.

Another poignant speaker is Bernie T. Keldermans, from the Republic of Palau. Her island nation in the heart of Micronesia will not survive a sea-level rise, and she too speaks about action.

In my own session, I focus on the split between spirit and nature that I see as the root of our disconnection from the natural world. Rosemary Reuther speaks on the same issue, very eloquently. The polarization of the world into dichotomies: spirit/matter; light/dark; culture/nature; man/woman; high/low; leads to the devaluing of nature, women, people of color, people who work with the earth or with material things.

My own second session focuses on solutions--the policies we need and the actions we can take in our own homes and communities. Organizing on the global scale may be too big for many of us. Changing light bulbs in our own homes may be too small. But organizing our communities, our neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and communities of faith may be, like Goldilocks' porridge, just right. You can download the handout I prepared, my Climate Change Primer that outlines those solutions, at:
http://www.earthactivisttraining.org/climate_resources.html

The choir sings, musicians play, the manifesto is signed as the Archbishop presides in his full robes and shepherd's crook. A green globe sculpted of moss is brought forward by a troop of children to be blessed. The moment feels historic.

Whether it truly is depends on the actions we all take. If the faith communities of the world take a lead in calling for climate action and justice, if we come together across divisions of doctrine and history to safeguard the world these children will inherit, if we recognize our interdependence and interconnection, then truly there is hope for the future.

Links:
Starhawk's website:
www.starhawk.org

Uppsala Summit
http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?di=143415
or
http://www.svenskakyrkan.se/Webbplats/System/Filer/1E1ABC34-0EC6-4989-8D7F-B8A7279CBABF.pdf

Starhawk's Climate Change Primer:
http://www.earthactivisttraining.org/climate_resources.html

By Starhawk  |  December 2, 2008; 6:26 AM ET
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