Why I Care: Sarah Anderson

Climate Change: For “The Least of These”

After middle school I started going on mission trips every summer with Northland Church. The first year we went to Mexico to build homes and subsequent years, I to traveled different areas of Europe and Eastern Europe, doing everything from visiting schools and planning after-school activities in Germany and England, to hanging out with orphans in Romania and Ukraine.  During this time I really got a sense of how valuable every individual is to God, and the amazing ability the global church has to be connected through our relationship with Christ. After seeing the material poverty in Mexico, Ukraine, and Romania, and remembering the words of Christ when he called us to feed and clothe the poor, I decided to pursue a degree that I thought would help me see how that church can better do that.

Climate change has always been a concern to me, but studying it more in-depth in school, through majoring in anthropology, and minoring in human rights, I have discovered how our exploitation of the environment in the US and other developed countries has begun to change the climate in such a way as to harm societies that rely on consistent weather patterns for sustenance in Africa, India and Southeast Asia. This is what really brought to my attention the moral nature of Creation Care, and our responsibilities as Christians to be good stewards not only for ourselves, but to better love and take care of the poor.

Sarah Anderson

Comments

[Tom Shepherd]

Sarah,

I too care about the planet God gave us to have dominion over. We need to find ways to harness all of the available resources our God has made- wind, sun, waves, etc.

When you mention exploitation of the environment what are you referring to exactly?

How have weather patterns been affected?

Honestly I am concerned that developed and developing nations are getting blamed for the change in the environment, however, we have evidence of climate change from ice ages to volcanic eruptions that happened prior to possible human causation.

Sincerely,

Tom Shepherd

[Paul Lai]

As a general comment, I'm saddened to see so little activities here, just as I'm sad every week when I look at the budget deficit at Northland - don't we care, people?

Tom: thank you for your comment. I don't want to suggest I'm speaking for Sarah (whom I do not know), but I'll attempt to shed some light on this issue.

"Exploitation of the environment" may very well be in reference to this: at less than 1/20th of the world's population, Americans consumer more than one-quarter of its energy. That just borders on "obscene", if it doesn't fall fully over the line. We do it because we don't think twice (or don't think, PERIOD) about wasting, just because "we can". We lack the foresight to visualize Bangladesh under water (or New Orleans, for that matter), and maybe we don't care, or care enough. But the world and all its people are interconnected. It WILL come back to haunt us, somehow, some day.

As for past history of warming/ice age, I'm fully aware of that. But don't forget one important new element and wild card: us. In other words, the human race, aided by our advancement in industry and technology... we're putting the earth and its environment through its paces in an unprecedented, potentially irreversible way. Nothing in the earth's history takes us closer to the precipice than the "here and now", and the "you and I". Doubting our ability or appetite for destruction? Just remember that we are solely responsible for the extinction of passenger pigeons and dodo birds - along with thousands of other species.

We MUST wake up to these realities, not just based on economic and financial reasons (driving less because we can't afford to), but based on a moral imperative (driving and wasting less because it's WRONG).

I'd be interested in hearing your views after reading this, Tom.

Best...Paul Lai

[Janice Matchett]

Mr. Paul Lei wrote: "We lack the foresight to visualize Bangladesh under water (or New Orleans, for that matter).."

May I caution him and any other readers, that if you can't quite visualize such disasters, there are plenty of politically motivated people who are making it their business to help you do it.

Don't be gullible. Here is the latest news on that subject:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2047988/posts?page=9#9

[Janice Matchett]

Mr. Paul Lei wrote: "We lack the foresight to visualize Bangladesh under water (or New Orleans, for that matter).."

May I caution him and any other readers, that if you can't quite visualize such disasters, there are plenty of politically motivated people who are making it their business to help you do it.

Don't be gullible. Here is the latest news on that subject:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2047988/posts?page=9#9

[Paul Lai]

And here I thought that only really old people are prone to senility and different forms of dementia, Janice Matchett - perhaps you're an early adopter. Notice that I had the courtesy to not spell YOUR name wrong (even though it has 167% more letters than my 3-lettered name) You are going to need a lot more help than I am able to provide. I can't expect a blind person to detect even motion, never mind the myriad colors healthy eyes can see. Nor can I ever explain the ugliness of racism to the Ku Klux Klan or neo-nazis and expect them to comprehend the errors of their ways.

So I just have one set of questions left for you since you profess Christianity as your faith: do you believe in the Biblical concept of stewardship? And if so, how does it apply in YOUR Christian life? Do you think God bless America with so much of the fat of the land because of our goodness (because we are so pious and religious and therefore "deserve" it)?

I cannot muster very much respect for you or others who hold antediluvian views like you do, but I'm coming awfully close to feeling pity.

[Adam]

Paul,

What antediluvian view did Janice put forth in her post. Is the mere possibility that she disagrees with Al Gore's Global Warming position mark her as someone who thinks like a person who lived before Noah boarded the Ark? And I am not sure I understand the logic of that reference, but Oh well!

BTW, I think the tone of your post is very hateful and disrespectful.

[ken]

Paul,

I have just discovered this site, and I am very disappointed at the snide way in which you responded to Janice's post. Is she "senile" because she disagrees with you? Wow!

As for America's "wasting" of energy, I must respectfully disagree. So we use 1/4 of the world's energy supply? Despite the suspect statistic, I would have to say that we have shown good stewardship of our energy resources (not that there isn't room for improvement). The U.S. produces over 65% of the world's food supply, 80% of its medicine, over half of the world's technological advances, and has set a standard of liberty and living that is the worldwide goal. Organizations like the U.N. would be unable to function without the majority of funding that comes from U.S. taxpayers. For one fourth of the world's energy supply, I think that we have done wonderfully and we continue to make advances on renewable energy sources.

We should take care of the planet that God has lent us, but we should also use real science in our efforts. When recent reports are claiming a global cooling trend, we should step back and catch our breath and make sure that our actions are not knee jerk.

[Paul Lai]

To Adam: disrespectful, yes (I said as much); exasperated and displeased, definitely, but hateful - no: hating takes too much energy.

If you read my note from beginning to end, it'd be clear that the comment on senility stems primarily from her spelling my 3-lettered name wrong, but partly from her politically-charged response that makes no sense - it's not about Al Gore, but what he has to say. And really - 'real' scientists still doubt that global warming is man-made!?! Spelling my name wrong is not a typo, as 'a' is as far from 'e' on the keyboard as Janice is from a single thought of conservation and responsibility. Oh, by the way, 'antediluvian' should be taken in the figurative sense, not the literal - that would be 'part 2' when you looked the word up in your dictionary.

My words are biting, no question. They come that way on account of folks who purport to be from Northland and yet insists on ignoring our pastor and his interpretation of the Bible - these 'sheep' won't even give him the benefit of the doubt! So if I seem upset and used caustic words, I'm guilty - I am VERY protective of Joel Hunter. If you have a view on this subject, let's hear it

[Paul Lai]

To Ken:

First of all, please get your facts right, my friend. No way does the U.S. even come close to producing "over 65%" of the food supply. Where did you get that - from Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity? Tut-tut, Ken - you should know better than to trust these proven fibbers. Now, the "real" number is not easy to come by, but it's not impossible. If you went to FAOSTAT, as I just did, you'll get a glimpse of the truth.

I picked 9 of what I think to be the most important grains and cereals and oil (rape), and only selected the top 20 of what I thought might be the major producers of food overall in the world (doesn't include Bangladesh, for instance, or Chile, or any of the North European countries...). Here's what I found. In maize, the U.S. speaks for 50% of production. From there, it goes way down: wheat, arguably far more important than corn when counted by weight, U.S. has only 13% - indeed, both Russia and China are larger producers. Oats, 4%, rice 2%... you get the picture. Now remember: this is only among these 20 countries I picked: including OTHER countries will increase the denominator and LOWER than U.S. %. I'm sure if I had the time to look at livestock (we ARE, after all, big eaters and producers of meat), the picture would be different, but don't forget that we'd then have to add fish, and we're going to lag in that area.

At the end of the day, exactly what the numbers are is almost immaterial. The question you and I should ask ourselves is: are we OK, as Christians, with having an over abundance of everything, but not being careful and prudent with it?

Have you seen "An Inconvenient Truth". Cuz if you have, you're pretty much looking at 'real science'. Those darn pie charts and bar graphs are pretty convincing, and they're not made-up numbers. You're afraid that our reaction is knee-jerk, Ken: are you willing to take the chance - on behalf of your children and their children - that you're wrong, and that we might be at or past the tipping point?

From those who are given much, much is expected. Are we "delivering"? Something to chew on.