I started this blog ten years ago having just graduated from Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.  Me and my friends had been sent out to set the world on fire, and the blog was created to pass on what we were learning along the way.

I’ll save you The Tales of a Twentysomething Faith Healer (I’m actually writing a a book about it – follow updates here!), but long story short, turns out that saving the world isn’t quite as straightforward as it is in superhero movies.  Through years of traveling, gathering crowds at flea markets, and miscellaneous interesting encounters, I’ve gone through quite a few pivots on my journey of learning what it means to make a difference.  One such pivot was to put this blog into semi-retirement and devote more energy towards my singer-songwriter project.

However, two years ago I started to see something rather ominous on the horizon which I’ve realized I couldn’t fully articulate with my music. I started to wonder if there was, in fact, something I could yet contribute to the topic of saving the world. Coming from a conflict-averse Canadian Mennonite background, I’ve been procrastinating for years about saying something that might be considered controversial. But it feels to me like the situation has grown to such monstrous proportions that, out of respect for my mental well-being if nothing else, I’ve decided to bring my blog out of semi-retirement in order to articulate it.

So can we talk about climate change?

Now, statistically speaking, 20% of you rolled your eyes at the mention.  And if you’re a White Evangelical Protestant, actually, only 28% of you didn’t roll your eyes.

But that’s kinda why I think we need to talk about this.  Just for the record, I didn’t consider myself an environmentalist even just a few years ago.  Like, sure, trees and whales are nice, but as far as topics worth bringing blogs out of retirement for, it didn’t rank super high.

That is, of course, until the 2018 IPCC report came out.

A little background: the International Panel on Climate Change was created by the UN back in 1988, and reports on climate findings every four years.  The 2018 special report was created by 91 coordinating scientists and experts from 40 countries, who analyzed existing research and used 6000 scientific references in the report. 

Here’s the main thrust of the 2,000 pages of data: we have a deadline to get climate change figured out.  And it’s very soon.

Maybe you know this already, but since I’ve heard from more than a few folks who haven’t, I’m gonna run through the details.

According to the report, there’s a temperature threshold earth is approaching, which, if passed, will be irreversible.  That threshold is likely to be 2 degrees, upon which time we’ll see a lot of dramatic things.  Here’s a few definites: 99% of coral reefs die, sea levels rise 3 feet, extreme weather would be exacerbated especially in the Southern Hemisphere, and something like 1 in 8 plant/animal species will go extinct.

Right now, the planet is on track to see fisheries decreasing in catch by 1.5-3 million tonnes; giant populations of plants, insects and vertebrates losing over half their geographic range; 153 million people dying of air pollution alone this century; potentially whole regions of Africa, USA, Australia, Patagonia, and Asia uninhabitable by heat, desertification, and flooding.  Flooding would cause a number of American cities to be uninhabitable in the next 80 years: Miami Beach, New Orleans, Charleston, Virginia Beach, Atlantic City NJ, and large swaths of NYC – especially in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

And it’s not like we haven’t seen preludes to this already.  Whether it’s the disappearing glaciers or record-breaking fires in California and Australia due to drought or the fact that Indonesia is moving its capital away from Jakarta due to the fact that 95% of north Jakarta will be underwater in 30 years, it’s clear something’s up. We are currently on track to heat the world 3.1 degrees – more the double the safety threshold.

The question that’s haunted me is: how is it that nobody from the churches I grew up in seem aware this is even happening? Now that we’re talking about hothouse earth scenarios and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsing and Florida going underwater-type stuff, it would seem logical that a people commanded to steward the earth and care for the poor would be tremendously concerned about something that’s threatening the majority of humanity – especially the people we’re sending most of our missions groups and NGOs to!

Turns out there’s an interesting story behind the church and climate change, and I’m gonna share a little of what I’ve researched.

Of course, with gargantuan claims like “we might be ending the world” (which is not quite what scientists are saying but not too far off), it can be easy to write off as a liberal hoax. And it didn’t really help that An Inconvenient Truth was produced by Al Gore. But the politicization of climate change goes back further than that. From my research, I found that in the 80s and 90s, climate change wasn’t actually a partisan issue. Since Earth Day and Silent Spring helped introduce the idea, global warming was a growing concern among everyone – Evangelicals included. So what happened?

Around the year 2000 a number of conservative think tanks (CTTs) funded by Exxon and other gas companies started publishing books contradicting the general scientific community’s findings.  130 of the 141 books published since 1972 denying the seriousness of environmental problems were created by these CTTs.  For comparison, there were 928 scientific journals published between 1998 and 2002, and zero of these contradicted the idea that humans were to blame.

Evangelicals, of course, were already generally aligned with conservative politics due to the Moral Majority movement in the 80s. Which was long before global warming became partisan.

So correct me if I’m wrong, but to me it seems that climate change denial somehow crept into the church – not because “we’re not into pagan earth worship”, or “Jesus is coming soon anyway”, or “God’s in control, He can figure it out” – but largely because it just happened to be part of the political package deal (for more info, check out the helpful 20-min doc The Climate and the Cross!)

We all, to some degree, have beliefs that are simply convenient to us. It’s unavoidable. I wrote a blog on this here. And often the way we come to those beliefs is through factors that have nothing to do with the actual truth behind them. I wrote another blog on this here. I’m not sure how to fix this, or if it can be fixed, or even if it needs to be fixed. But I’d at least like to make sure we don’t get this one wrong. Because if the science is right, what we do in the next decade is going to have irreversible impact on every generation to come.

Of course, I’m far from the first (or most qualified) to be sounding the alarm on climate change. Two weeks ago was TED Countdown, where we heard from the Pope to Priyanka Chopra Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Don Cheadle, Cynthia Erivo, Prince William, and the heads of Apple, Amazon, IKEA, and TED sharing a desperate need for action. Also, David Attenborough just released his witness statement on Netflix. And there are plenty of organizations speaking up – from Extinction Rebellion to 350 to even some Christian organizations like Climate Caretakers, Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, and C4.  Not to mention millions of other less famous folks whose opinions matter no less, and who will be much more affected. But we’ve still got a lot ways to go.

And what exactly are we being asked to do? The IPCC report says that in order to stop the worst effects of climate change, we must limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees. And the only way we can do that is by tackling our CO2 emissions. The report calls for a 45% reduction by 2030, and to reach a net zero by 2050.

If you haven’t heard that statement before, I’d encourage you to read it again. 45% in a decade. Net zero by 2050. That’s a tall order. For reference, the USA alone is going through 37 billion tonnes a year right now, and while emissions have dropped slightly, we’re still nowhere near close to being on track. In fact, only two countries are currently reaching the goals set in the Paris Agreement.

So what would it take to pull this off? Well, that’s the zillion-dollar question. On the one hand, it involves doing things we’re mostly familiar with already. Recycling. Driving less. Changing our diets. Buying more locally. Joining organizations. Supporting climate legislation. Helping fossil fuel companies change how they operate. And, as Christian climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe says, “Talk about it!” There’s plenty that can be done.

But at the same time, I honestly don’t know of many people who are confident we can reach our goals and avoid the hothouse earth scenario. To actually have victory over global warming would take worldwide mobilization larger even than WWII. It would be unlike anything we’ve seen before in history. All for future generations that we likely won’t get to see. In short, we need a miracle.

And that’s why I’m writing this to the church.

I started this blog ten years ago to show the world that anything was possible. You, the church, made me believe that. You taught me that what’s seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. You taught me that the whole world was my neighbor, to care for “the least of these”, to fight for our children, to follow the truth no matter how weird it sounds. You taught me to believe in miracles.

So I’m coming back to ask this. For those who are passionate about healing the sick, could we perhaps see the opportunity here to bring healing to the millions who die of air pollution every year? For those who are passionate about foreign aid, could we see the logic allowing Africa our carbon budget to help them develop?   For a people called to not store up for themselves treasures on earth, but instead to take up their cross and offer themselves as a living sacrifice, could we learn to reduce our food waste?  Our dependence on plastic? Our need to consume things in general?

No matter what – even if we this somehow ends up being an overreaction – I somehow don’t think we’ll apologize to future generations for making a cleaner, healthier, and more equal world. Sounds to me like it could be another step towards making earth a little like heaven!

Of course, nobody is doing this perfect – myself included. A lot of my journey has proven to show me how little I know. But I was sent out from Bethel to make a difference, and I hope this article in some way is still contributing to that end – even if it is just the beginning of a journey we take together. After all, history has proven time and again that when people collectively recognize a need and take action, anything is still possible.

Ten years after starting this blog, I’m still contending for miracles. Only this time, it’s for us to not set the world on fire. May we, together, rise for such a time as this.

Podcasts:

No Place Like Home

Outrage and Optimism

How Screwed Are We? from Ask Science Mike (this is the episode that began my reckoning with climate change)