Transcript Creation Care - Global Connections

Creation Care
Think Global, Act Local!
Climate Change
“Climate Change is the most important environmental
problem we face … With so much more knowledge,
the changes humans are making to the climate are
turning out to be bigger than we ever expected.”
Sir. John Houghton
Professor of Atmospheric Physics at Oxford
Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office
Chair of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
Chair of the Scientific Assessment Panel of the
Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change
IPCC - the Main Headlines
99%+ certainty that CO2 levels are beyond
natural range of last 650,000 years.
90%+ certainty that human activity has played
the dominant role in warming the climate.
2° – 4.5°C temperature rise during 21st century
(but more in some areas, less in others)
18-59 cm sea-level rise in 21st century
(not including new melt-water from ice-caps)
Current Impacts of Climate Change
•150,000 people a year are dying
•The number of Category 4 & 5 hurricanes has
almost doubled in the last 30 years.
•Malaria has spread to higher altitudes (e.g. the
Colombian Andes, 7,000 feet above sea level).
•The flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has
more than doubled over the past decade.
•At least 279 species of plants and animals are
already responding to global warming by moving
closer to the poles.
Projected Impacts of Climate Change
•300,000 people a year dying by 2030.
•150 million environmental refugees.
•Heatwaves more frequent & more intense.
•Extreme drought (sometimes lasting for years) will
affect 10% of the planet by 2050 (rising from 2%).
•Arctic Ocean ice-free in summer, maybe by 2050.
“The impacts are inequitable: poor
countries will be hit hardest and
earliest, when it is the rich countries
responsible for ¾ of Greenhouse
Gases currently in the atmosphere.”
Sir Nicholas Stern
The competition
for land
Croplands & pasturelands now cover ~40%
of world land area.
Forest area has
declined by ~10 million
km2 (about 20%) in the
last 300 years, with
most of the loss in the
last 50.
Desert & near-desert
land has increased by
nearly as much.
Cities, roads, &
airports now cover 2%
of world land.
Foley et al., SCIENCE 309, 2005
S. Bahia
(Brazil)
1945
S. Bahia
(Brazil)
1990
The geography of water stress
UNDP Human Development Report 2006
Significant and largely irreversible
changes to species diversity
Hope for the Planet?
James
Lovelock
2006
"Before this century is
over, billions of us will
die, and the few
breeding pairs of
people that survive will
be in the Arctic where
the climate remains
tolerable."
A Biblical Worldview
• Creation
• Fall
• Redemption
A Wonderful World …
an amazing God!
• God makes it from nothing
Genesis 1 & 2; John 1
• God declares it good
Genesis 1:4 – 31; Psalm 148
• God sustains it in love
Psalm 104; Job 38
2. A Groaning Creation …
a fallen humanity
• Spiritual roots of the ecological crisis
Genesis 3:17 “Cursed is the ground …”
• The environmental results of sin
The land “mourns” (Hosea 4:1-3), “suffers”
(Jer. 12:4) and “vomits” (Lev. 18:25-28)
• Creation’s longing for redemption
Romans 8:19-22 “eager longing” and
groaning in pain”
3. God’s Rescue Plan …
getting his hands dirty
• God’s promises to creation
Genesis 9:9-17 “My covenant with the earth.”
• Jesus – the centre of the earth
Colossians 1.15-17
• Jesus – the Saviour of the world
Romans 8.21 “creation set free …”
Colossians 1:20 “all things reconciled to God”
• All things made new in Christ Jesus
Ephesians 1:10 “All things under Christ”
Revelation 21:5 “Lo, I make all things new.”
Changing how we think about …
• the earth … God’s not ours
• ourselves … interdependent within creation
• the future … God’s kingdom on earth …
• mission … imaging God in creation care
• discipleship …
• lifestyle …
• worship …
Openness to change as mission agencies
www.arocha.org
• learning as we go!
• learning from the world church
• integral mission
• honouring God in every area
The growing A Rocha family!
•Brazil
•Bulgaria
•Canada
•Czech Republic
•Finland
•France
•Ghana
•India
•Kenya
•Lebanon
•Netherlands
•Peru
•Portugal
•South Africa
•UK
•USA
… New Zealand, Switzerland, Uganda …
Openness to change as a church
www.ecocongregation.org
• self-audit your eco-footprint
• download resources
• agree plan of action & targets
• apply for an award!
Openness to change as a household
www.livinglightly24-1.org.uk
• based on Psalm 24.1
• start where you’re at
• take one step at a time
• flexible & web-based
Fifteen Lifestyle Areas …
Church
Nature
Friends
Food
House
Shop
Waste
Travel
Garden
Money
Leisure
Action
Work
Quirky
Season
Environmental
INTEGRAL Caring for the
MISSION
Environment
Spiritual:
Biblical
Faith
Economic:
sustainability
Social:
Community
Transformation
Openness to change …
• PURCHASING POLICY
- recycled products (Viking, Statplus, remarkable)
- energy efficient products
- re-usable products (cups, plates etc.)
- recycling
- energy-saving devices (computers etc)
Openness to change …
• TRAVEL
- Why this journey? Home working?
- Walk or bike – expenses policy
- Bus, Train
- Car Share, Car clubs
- Hybrid, Electric, LPG, green rating
- Flying? Is the day of short-term mission trips over?
- Offset: www.climatestewards.net
www.climatestewards.net
• Click on the site
• Type in your flight or mileage
• Pay to plant trees in Kenya, Ghana, Lebanon
 Absorb CO2
 Improve biodiversity
 Provide sustainable incomes for the poor
Openness to change …
• FOOD POLICY
- Local
- Organic
- Animal-friendly (free-range; less but better meat)
- Fairly-traded (but what about air-miles?)
Openness to change …
• LIGHTER ENERGY FOOTPRINT
- Don’t simply rely on technological solutions …
(don’t forget embedded energy in new products)
- Turn down, turn off, turn in
- Green electricity (Good Energy)
- Insulate (lofts & walls; 2ndry glazing; curtains!)
- Use passive heating (heat people not space)
The 90% reduction toolkit …
“Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your
mind. Then you will be able to test
and approve what God's will is - his
good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Romans 12.2
Towards Hope …
“When Christians take the earth
seriously, people take the Gospel
seriously.”
Rev. Dr. Rob Frost
Share Jesus International
“If the Church wishes to find a common
agenda with young people who are
passionate about the future of the planet, it
needs to recover to its theology the Biblical
vision and moral imperative of caring for the
environment.”
Rt. Rev. James Jones,
Bishop of Liverpool