ABC - billions face death

The one thing we can all be certain about, atheists and believers alike, is that we will all die. So I suppose for the Archbishop of Canterbury to posit in an interview with the BBC today that without a "real change in attitude", billions of people will die, is technically accurate. The total world population is presently about 6.5 billion. This makes his warning pretty apocalyptic. But the point is whether what he is saying can be argued to be true or not. And even if is justifiably argued that his forecast represents something of a sensationalist exaggeration, this should not be allowed to detract from the rest of his comments.

(Photo from Mike Efford's Environmental Catastrophe posting here. For interesting comment, see Wednesday's Times leader here.)

Dr Williams said: "We're not in a situation where an endless upwards spiral of fuel consumption and environmental damage can be sustainable for everybody. That's simply basic and it's a messagbe that simply has to get across to every citizen in the developed countries." Dr Williams practises what he preaches and has already changed his predecessor's car for the environmentally-friendly Honda Civic hybrid, a car similar to the Toyota Prius, the hybrid petrol-electric car used by a number of Government ministers. In the offices at Lambeth Palace, staff use low energy lightbulbs, recycle paper and take energy-saving measures such as ensuring all equipment is switched off when staff go home each day.

This practices are becoming common throughout the churches. Already, a number of churches, such as St James, Picadilly, pictured here, have installed solar panels. The Christian Ecology Link website has details of these and other Christian environmental projects.

Dr Williams' warnings came as Defra launched its new policy on climate change. My Times colleague Lewis Smith was at the launch in London and told me: 'Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, was keen to emphasise how much the government had done to reduce carbon emissions. The government had vowed to reduce carbon emissions, one of the gases widely believed to be behind global warming, by 20 per cent by 2010 compared to 1990 levels. But they had failed. The most optimistic prediction now is 18 per cent. Environmental groups such as Friends of the Earth were quick to condemn the government's record by pointing out that the 20 per cent target had been promised in three consecutive Labour manifestoes. Ministers were accused of lacking the political will to introduce the measures necessary to bring emissions down enough to stop, or at least significantly slow, rises in world temperartures which will affect how we all live.'

Lewis described how Mrs Beckett brushed off the jibes by saying that while the UK may not have met its self-imposed target, it still leads the world in attempts find ways of reducing emissions nationally and through international agreement. Moreover, she pointed out that climate change is not an issue that should be left just to governments to solve. It is an issue that affects every individual, every business and every government and can only be solved by a joint effort. "If there were ever a subject in which a government alone cannot deliver, this is it," she said. "It's governments across the world, it's the whole of the community, it's the business sector, it's families and households. We are in this together."

Ministers at the Climate Change programme announcement were also asked if they would answer to God. Margaret Beckett responded: 'I don't do God. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the person who does and he has spoken.'

Alastair Darling answered in a similar vein but went on to say those in power have an 'obligation' to reduce carbon emissions.He said: 'I don't do theology. All of us who are fortunate enough to be in government whether here or across the world do have an obligation to our fellow men and women that includes doing everything we can to mitigate environmental damage.'

I must confess a personal interest in this story. My sister, Dr Martha Gledhill and her husband Dr Eric Achterberg are both academics at the National Oceanography Centre at Southampton University. Eric specialises in global climate change and eco-system functioning and Martha in the changing mineral contents in oceans. Eric has contributed to the new Science Museum exhibition on climate change and spends large parts of his life sailing the oceans of the world, gathering scientific information on the realities of climate change. In response to Dr Williams' interview, they told me: 'Climate change is real. We are already observing accelerated sea level rise  and changes to the life and chemistry of our oceans. Not taking drastic actions now will greatly affect our environment within a generation.'

Their lifestyles are exemplary in bearing personal witness to the value of individual effort to save energy and protect the environenment. I, on the other hand, have always pursued what might be described as a "consumer" lifestyle, living on the Thames in London, protected from the reality of rising sea levels by the Thames Barrier and commuting to work alone in a car, watching Sky television, using disposable nappies, enjoying the enhanced choice of fast food from the new late-night Tesco Metro store in Kew and having the gas-fired heating on full, nearly all the time this winter, at home. I am not proud of this, but this is how it is for me and hundreds of thousands if not 'billions' of others. People such as my sister, on the other hand, are in a tiny minority.

There are many who devote their entire lives, or at least entire websites, to exposing reports of climate change as myth. I would love to belong to that tribe and hide my head in our shrinking sands. I have spent many Christmas lunches and other family occasions challenging my sister and her husband on whether global warming, climate change and all the attendant consequences are reality or myth. (She and Eric, on the other hand, have politely refrained ever from challenging me on the Virgin Birth, Resurrection or Trinity.) I have reluctantly had to concede that the scientists might be right. I don't want to get to the tipping point before I will believe we're going to tip. We now have low-energy light bulbs in the house and will make what other changes we can.

The Church of England itself is also auditing and trying to improve its own carbon footprint. In response to last February's synod debate into the report Sharing God's Planet, the Church's own environmental auditors are reviewing bishops' palaces, churches and have already looked at Lambeth Palace. 'We are trying to walk the walk as well as talk the talk,' says environmental officer Claire Foster. All diocesan offices and parish churches are being asked to keep fuel bills and compare units used in 2005 with 2007. 'By 2008 we need to show a measurable reduction in consumption by church buildings themselves,' says Claire.

It is easy to mock those who go green, especially when they go apocalyptic at the same time. Maybe the Archbishop should have said millions rather than billions. Or maybe, just maybe, he is right, and the world is on the brink of catastrophe. (Read the latest Time magazine cover story on this issue if you still don't believe me.) In this case, it's less a case of changing the light bulbs, as switching them on in our heads in the first place, and off out there in the world, before it is too late.

Comments

[Matthew]

WORSE THAN GLOBAL WARMING by
Russ George
April 18, 2006
at http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=8268
is worth reading as it shows how to buy..." diatoms and fish and all other life that depends on a healthy ocean time while the world works to stop the madness that is the unabated burning of fossil fuels. "

[ROBERT MAX]

IT IS PURE NONSENSE AND A STUPID FEEL GOOD ATTITUDE TO THINK WE CAN OVERCOME ENERGY AND POLUTION PROBLEMS BY CONSERVING. ALL THAT CAN BE DONE IS TO CONTROL WORLD POPULATION AS DONE IN CHINA.WAKE UP AND SEE THAT PEOPLE ARE REPRODUCING WITHOUT ANY SENSE OF INSURING THIER CHILDREN'S FUTURE. EVEN IN A RELIGIOUS COUNTRY LIKE THE USA WE HAVE A MINORITY THAT HAS A 70% ILLEGITIAMCY RATE.

[Dr, Irene Lancaster]

Dear Robin

If the Jewish people went around hating everyone who had been nasty to them, they would not have much of a social life. It has been both our blessing and misfortune to have given birth to two daughter religions. As with teenage daughters the world over - these two children may have beautiful women's bodies that are the envy of all who look on them, but inside, some teenagers are still immature and are therefore prone to childish outbursts from time to time, often with devastating effects for their mother, who has to pick up the pieces.

It has been the role of the Jewish people therefore to act as the all-loving, all-forgiving mother to these two religions, sometimes watching them in disbelief as they go off the rails and sometimes being quietly proud of their achievements.

As we come up to Passover and Easter, let us never forget that it is the role of the Jewish people to act as Isaiah's 'suffering servant' and to teach quietly by example.

This is something that wise man, the Dalai Lama, has learned from us, as pointed out in the Chief Rabbi's Credo piece in Saturday's Times: at the Passover Seder on Wednesday, we will say 'Next Year in Jerusalem' and hope it is true. The Tibetan Bhuddists now living in Dharamsala India have created their own Seder, at which they say 'Next Year in Lhasa'.

Because we have the gift of memory through which the pain is transcended. Every year at this time, we all sit round the table and pass on our memory of slavery and freedom at a festive meal in which all participate: from the very oldest to the very youngest. At this meal we play games, hand out prizes, sing, eat and drink wine, whilst we tell our ancient story of hope and deliverance.

We even grieve for the deaths of our enemies. What could be more noble than that? And no doubt, that is why we have survived without rancour and bitterness. God said 'Choose life' and we do, daily.

[Robin Bather]

Irene, I read your very thoughtful posting and grieve for your mother's plight. I don't think that I could be so forgiving. More vengeful.
Whilst for once we seem to agree on several issues here, your style is benign, forgiving and gentle whilst mine is much more bullish and agressive.
Who knows which style achieves more results.
I must say that Ruth edits out some of my more cutting remarks with regard to, shall we say, "Catholic financial and business shenanigans".

[Amit]

It doesn't take a genius to work out that massive changes are occuring NOW to the climate and unless we consciously make a choice to do something about it then inevitably we will face serious global consequences in the future.

I do voluntary work in schools and I am shocked to see that the mentality of business and entrepreneurship is pushed so passionately without the counter balance of topics of real concern such as the environment.

It's great that the debate has begun but unless we act quick, as cliched as this may sound, our children literally will be the ones picking up the pieces.

We need to introduce environmental concerns in schools at a very early point and get the children involved in projects in cleaning up the environment. There has to be a balance between that and economical concerns but right now it is heavily weighted towards the latter.

I just hope that this goes beyond the point of talk and that action is taken by the more influential members of society as they are the ones that everyone are watching!

[Alan Marsh]

Various unreal claims are being made here about the lack of scientific evidence for global warming. There is no comparison with the modest climate changes which have taken place within recorded human history: the present situation is unparalleled over many thousands of years in its speed and severity. There is no way to be 100% certain about what will happen, but we are already seeing rapid changes in the climate here in the UK, and there is no precedent upon which to rely as to what might happen in the next 20 years. If the Gulf Stream is weakened or even ceases to push warm water in our direction, we may find ourselves in a climate like Greenland, while much of the rest of the world, such as low lying parts of Bangladesh or the Seychelles simply disappear under rising water. Combine this with rapid desertisation elsewhere, and wars over water and other natural resources, and it is not difficult to see a doomsday scenario taking shape.

The crisis is upon us already. We are realising just how fine the tolerances are in many aspects of climate change, between the status quo, and radical alteration to the world we inhabit. Just how long will it take for the politicians actually to begin to halt, let alone reverse the process? Thank goodness the Archbishop has started the debate rolling!

[Dr. Irene Lancaster]

Dear Robin

I do understand what you are talking about. The Vatican also possesses a great many Hebrew manuscripts which scholars, such as myself, could have done with when writing our books, including mine on Abraham ibn Ezra. These were confiscated (to put it very politely) from Jewish communities with which the Catholic rulers did not see eye to eye (again being very polite about it).

However, if we only keep dwelling on the past, then we will never make progress in our dealings with fellow human beings. My mother, whose family was murdered by Catholics during the Holocaust in Poland, shared your views exactly.

However, when I organised a conference at Liverpool University on 'Interfaith Dialogue after the Holocaust', my mum came along and really got on with the Catholic Professor from Princeton and Durham Universities, who was one of the guest speakers.

This helped to break down barriers and I never heard my mum talk like that again.

I do gain the impression that although the Catholic community is very well integrated into British society, they still feel uneasy about their situation here. This is something I can empathise with, coming from a minority group myself.

For me, the Catholics are at least trying to make amends in all sorts of ways for years of hostility towards Judaism. I realise that you are coming from a different angle and your points are valid.

However, have you ever visited any Muslim countries and have you seen the opulence there, and moreover the great divide between rich and poor? Thanks to Saddam's downfall, the media has enabled us to learn about this type of discrepancy in Iraq, because we have seen Saddam's palaces on our TV screens

I would suggest that because it is very difficult for the media to have open access to certain societies, they concentrate on the democracies instead, which despite being imperfect in the way you describe, at least do not bar you and others from visiting.

I think that when any religion becomes powerful it runs the risk of excess: and this includes the religion of communism as well. On the other hand,in my daily life I do see a lot of the good that individual Catholics are doing and very many of them live modestly as well.

I do hope for the day when the Vatican and other similar religious centres release the very important documents that they are holding and return them to their rightful owners and I thank you for your very pertinent contribution.

However, I would also be very grateful if China gave back all that they have stolen from Tibet and Burma and if Muslim countries practised more humanity to their citizens, both politically and economically.

[Alistair McBay]

Surprise surprise! The Sunday Times ( 2 April) reveals the Archbishop's hypocrisy over global warming with details of the CofE's substantial oil investment portfolio, but such hypocrisy is nothing new.

In the recent past Williams has also denounced Britain's cult of consumerism, while his church's accounts for 2003 and 2004 reveal substantial investments in retail parks around the country, including the Metro Centre in Gateshead, from which it enjoys handsome investment returns.

This is like Alcoholics Anonymous condemning our binge drinking culture, and then being exposed as owning shares in a brewery!

Caterpillar shares, anyone?

[Robin Bather]

A few years ago my wife and I had a memorable holiday in Europe visiting England, Madrid, Paris and the wonderful Eternal City of Rome--a veritable museum on every street corner.
We of course visited the Vatican City, St.Peter's, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museum, a vast labyrinth of large rooms where we plodded along past untold thousands of rich artifacts that the Vatican has acquired over the centuries......paintings, rich tapestries, statues, crowns, jewelery, ornaments of gold and silver encrusted with priceless gems etc. etc.
There were so many long rooms with so much of the world's riches.
After a long day on our feet we had to hurry past so much that would have been interesting to see and read about but the sheer vastness just overwhelmed us.

Now I ask, just where is the honest down to earth "goodness" in all this, when millions are hungry in the world?

Irene, I do admire your religious knowledge and obvious desire to promote inter religious goodwill but I find that some religions seem to have a superficial cloak of goodness whilst deep inside I see great intolerance and a desire to control the lives of ignorant people all over the globe.
No doubt there are millions of good Catholics but I do believe the underlying structure is fundamentally based on a desire to control people's lives and to become ever more powerful and consequently wealthier in a very earthly way.
I do hate the sham of it all.

[Robert Dammers]

There are good stewardship reasons why one should be careful with resources. The duty of care for creation we have been given equally requires us to conserve the environment. However, I'm afraid the Archbishop seems again to be echoing the political sensibilities of particular media outlets rather than any new, rigorous science. It would be refreshing to have pointed out the fact that believing many of the latest models requires you also to believe that well established, key historical climatic events (like the mediaeval warm period and the little ice age) were purely local phenomena, despite archaeological evidence to the contrary.

We have plenty of real environmental concerns - however last weeks reports were hysteria. For the Archbishop to climb on that bandwagon (and the poverty for millions that is implied by it) is a further disappointment after his performance in Sudan.

[Alistair McBay]

Adrian suggests that Robin could find a way of blaming the Vatican for his team being knocked out of the FA Cup. Well, why not?

Last year in Scotland we were treated to the sight of an SPL player proclaiming his Glasgow-based club had won the chamionship due to his belief in God. This was followed up by an influx of new members - all fans - to the evalgelical church to which he belonged. And one famous ex-athlete is this country, now a BBC religious presenter, reminds us regularly us God is responsible for him winning gold at the hop, skip and jump.

Success is due to God, failure due to more earthly failings, it seems. The same people have never attributed their many failures to God. Now that the other famous Glasgow team is heading for success this year, I have no doubt some of those players and fans will attribute the success to divine intervention, in which case the Big Yin in the Sky has effectively changed sides this year!

If we can attribute belief in a personal version of God to success, then why can't we blame him too when we fail?

[Sergeant Raj Joshi, Leicestershire]

Dear Ruth,

I am left confused. Your next statement might be, "Raj why?"

I acknowledge fully that we should treat the earth with respect and one of the fundamental practices each morning for a traditional Hindu might be to respect the earth each morning by kneeling and placing one's forehead on Mother Earth.

I do not personally do this, but in my own way I believe most Hindu's do believe in respecting Mother Earth. I am confused not because of this article but because I am a Human being and I have noted with great love some of the discourse from the likes of Dr Lancaster and others.

Yet, why am I confused?

My confusion lies in the terrible manner in which some people treat others, yet these same people or followers from all manner of faiths continue to treat some people badly. I note your blog in relation to Iran and I am saddened by this.

Why can all people not treat all people with the same respect that we give mother earth? And truthfully, I have no answer to this, but today I was treated badly by an individual who states he is a Christian. I know I was treated badly because I am left upset. Treating people badly is a daily thing in all of our lives but each day does not go by without someone reminding me that actually I am different. I end up challenging racism inside on a daily basis. I don't enjoy it at all, but I have no choice, if things are to improve. And this experience is tremendously hurtful when actully we all love on the same earth. Please dedicate a blog so that we can share better ways to tackle genocide/hatred against minority people if you can.

[Malcolm Bowden]

Thanks, Irene, for your "mini tutorial" which I find very helpful and thought provoking. Although an Anglican, I have always been of the Liberal Protestant persuasion which, sadly, seems to be very much out of fashion in a Church of England that is ever more polarised into hard line "catholic" and "evangelical" factions. As a result one of my great heros has always been Albert Schweitzer who, like the rabbis you mention, became a medical doctor in order to be able to do what he felt as a Christian he was called to do.

I have always loved the puns and plays on words that you mention. Again, coming from a liberal Protestant perspective I am aware that there are many such subtleties in the Gospels that go unnoticed by the (far too many) Christians who don't really understand the nature and development of their own scriptures.

I do hope that even when you go to Israel to live (and I can understand why you are doing this) you will continue to enliven and enlighten us.

[Dr. Irene Lancaster]

I realise that I do contribute a great deal and am probably getting on some people's nerves, but as a member of the Jewish community, I don't think it is helpful to attack Catholicism in this way.

Whilst it is true that Galileo and others had their problems, the Catholic Church has now rehabilitated him and the present Pope has demonstrated a great knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish sources in his wonderful encyclical on love.

The fact is that I have worked with many fine Catholics and seen at first hand how others often persecute them. My best students have also constantly been Catholics, which proves that Catholics put a great deal of emphasis on education and also that they are interested in learning about other religions.

I really cannot understand why Catholics come in for this kind of abuse. I do not accept that their views of contraception are to do with reasons of power and domination, but are there for religious reasons which some may not agree with and, yet again, some may.

The Duchess of Kent is an example of a very gracious person who has converted to Catholicism and I have friends from other Churches who I admire for their integrity, who have also converted to Catholicism.

If we have to take a religion to task for its outmoded views on nearly everything, including the role of other religions, women, dissenters, the weak and the homeless and the poor, it is certainly not the present Catholic religion, from which I feel we can all learn a great deal. I think that the present Pope's views on the role of charity and society are absolutely admirable and honestly thought out.

By the way, I am married to a scientist who has told me that the theories of evolution are constantly changing and that Darwin is regarded in some scientific quarters as somewhat out of date.

I do not wish to cause offence to Robin, but even if he is right, I don't think that attacking Catholicism (or Judaism for that matter) in this way is really going to help the ecology of this world.

And by the way, just in case you want to know, I have two children.

I think that the Catholic Church provides much succour for a great many people and that it is one of the forces for good in this world.

And no, no-one has put me up to this: I just have a soft spot for all the Catholics I used to know in Liverpool and who helped me set up the Liverpool Burma Support Group and gave me prime time on religious radio to promote the cause of the Buddhist, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.

I also have a soft spot fo the lovely nuns who live next door to me in this very Orthodox Jewish part of Manchester, because they wanted to get to know us better, and no, they do not - as far as I know - read Ruth's blog - yet.

And finally, I have a very soft spot for the one Christian on the permanent staff of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, who lectures to Jewish educators and other experts on the Holocaust and how to prevent it happening again, and she is a nun who lives in Jerusalem.

[Robin Bather]

Whilst I agree with Aidan Twomey that the vast majority of the greenhouse gases are produced by developed countries, I believe that the Catholic church's policy of unregulated population growth for reasons of increasing the it's own power base contributes largely to the problem.
Aidan would like to dismiss my views as prejudiced but I see the Third World's population increase as alarming.

Deforestation, desertification, dumping of plastic rubbish in rivers and lakes, inadequate sewage disposal, the burning of tyres and oily waste, deliberate burning off of fields and forests.....all due to poverty, hunger, ignorance and above all overpopulation.
And meanwhile the catholics are more interested in preventing the mortal sin of using contraceptive devices.
Talk about fiddling whilst Rome burns!

The immediate problem of global warming is undoubtedly largely due to people like me who consume too much energy, however the church of Rome is also a great part of the problem and its denial of its responsability is nothing short of criminal.
But can we expect logic from a group that insisted that the Sun moved around the Earth or that Evolution is unproven?

As a final point of reflection, why is it that many of the strongly catholic countries are poverty ridden? Is there any connection with unworkable catholic dogma?

[Tom Edwards]

We live in a world where the wealthy, established nations have little sense of restraint when it comes to consuming resources, experiencing more and more of what life has to offer and taking advantage of their control and influence over political, industrial and commercial activities throughout the world. Emerging nations look on with envy, determined to increase their own involvement and contribution to this process.
The main polluters in the United States have decided to abstain from any real participation in reducing mankind's destruction of his planet. Over the next decade, countries such as China will negate any small reduction achieved by concerned nations where pollution of our environment is concerned.
Is it so pessimistic to predict that only when the Earth tilts on it's axis or the air we breathe becomes noxious or the seas rise up to flood our cities will nations come together, too late to take decisive, coordinated and effective action?

[Aidan Twomey]

Robin Bather's anti-Catholic prjudices have descended into farce. The idea that "over-population" (which I don't accept anyway) is responsible for global warming is self-evidently nonsense - the vast majority of the world, not owning cars or flying round the world or over-heating their homes produce very little CO2 emissions. In fact, the richest 5% of the world population produce the vast majority of greenhouse gasses. I'm sure Robin can find a way of blaming that on the RC church, but then I suspect he could find a way of blaming the Vatican for his team being kocked out of the FA Cup.

[irene lancaster]

I do think there can be a religious response to environmental issues. I suppose in my own life, I tend between Ruth and her sister. I walk or bike everywhere I can and even walk some miles to the local Tesco. I prefer Tesco to the smaller shops in our area, because they are far more ready to take back merchandise and are also, as it happens, far more willing to assist customers and take on board positive suggestions. Since I gave my car away, I am then normally picked up by my husband by car on the way back from his work. But not everyone is in this position.

I also keep the heating as low as possible and tend to pile on the jumpers, if cold, as is the case this March. But that is because I am very warm-blooded and love English weather. The rest of my family thinks I am bonkers - or mean - depending on the mood.

However, not everyone is as lucky as I am: some have to use the car. Moreover, London is not Southampton or Manchester. On the other hand, I used to cycle in London as a twenty-something 30 years ago and I remember the taxi drivers cheering me on round Marble Arch as I wended my way to work in the centre of town from North London. But I now think I must have been mad even to attempt it.

To answer Malcolm's point more specifically, in Genesis, a word has unfortunately been mistranslated from the Hebrew as 'dominating' the fish and the other earthly creatures. This is because translations from Latin also brought with them Roman ideas of - well - dominance.

The Hebrew word is hard to translate accurately (all translations are problematic), but (apologies to feminists) the verb 'husband' is probably better. Another translation would be 'nurture', but the word also has the implication through punning (a great rabbinic device that if you just let nature, 'take its course' and don't intervene, then humankind will probably somehow 'sink down' and not live up to our own true nature of being 'in the image of God' and thus helping with the world's development (if not 'over-development). This is possibly why so many great rabbis have also been scientists, especially medical doctors.

There is a lovely festival in Judaism called Tu-B'shvat, the New Year for Trees: this is when primary school children in Israel and in Jewish schools in the diaspora learn about ecological needs and also embark on tree-planting in areas where this might be of help. The festival comes exactly before the carnival festival of Purim (based on biblical book of Esther) and two months before Passover. It therefore takes place in January or in February, the time when, in Israel, the first signs of spring often appear. This is signified by the Hebrew word for 'almond', the letters of which also spell 'wake up' and 'holy' (shaked; kadosh). The implication here is that being 'holy' also means 'waking up' to the 'environment' (symbolised by the almond) and working with the environment.

I am sorry that I don't have any concrete suggestions for this subject, but tend to agree with Malcolm's very thoughtful conclusion that there is a balance to be struck.

I hope that some of the biblical insights might be of use and it is such a joy to being able to give my normal seminars on a blog and to inject something of the personal into them as well.

Is this the future of education, I ask myself?

I may even use this as the theme for my regular Wednesday afternoon Hebrew class to local Anglican clergy and lay people. The vicar and is wife are very environmentally-conscious and I shall ask their views on these issues and report back if appropriate.

I do note, however, that the environmentally-friendly light bulbs which they have just installed in the church hall in which the lessons take place do not give as much light as before, so no doubt the class will have to create their own inner light to compensate.

[Matthew]

The environment provides the raw materials for economic development (fossil fuels, minerals, timber, etc.); acts as a sink or dumping ground for the waste (often toxic) of the system; provides life-sustaining environmental services (eg climate stability, soil conservation); and supports human (and animal) habitats, cultures and livelihoods. The problem is that the more the environment contributes to the first two functions, the more the latter two suffer. Global warming, the thinning of the ozone layer, ground, water and air pollution, over-fishing and the loss of forests and wetlands are all very serious consequences. But this is disguised in the way we measure economic growth - the decline in the value of the environment is not taken into consideration in national income accounts.

As Bahá'u'lláh, the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, warned over 100 years ago:
"If carried to excess, civilization will prove as prolific a source of evil as it has been of goodness when kept within the restraints of moderation."

source http://bahai-library.com/?file=warwick_sustainable_development

Also check Beliefs inspire invention of stove
http://news.bahai.org/story/360

[Malcolm Bowden]

I have to confess to being a total agnostic on global warming and indeed other related environmental issues. On the one hand the science seems convincing; on the other the cost, both financially and in terms of freedom of choice, seems excessive. Then I ask, surely climate change is not altogether new. What about the dinosaurs? Whatever it was that caused their extinction, it had to do with some kind of climate change and all long before Man emitted a single mg of carbon, so surely it can be argued that climate change is going to happen anyway - that's how God arranged things. But then, we are here now have an obligation to our fellow human beings. That's also how God arranged things and it's the difficult bit.

I was in Sainsbury's last weekend and the shop was full of flowers for Mothering Sunday. On close inspection they seened overwhelmingly to come from Kenya, so the number of air miles and carbon emissions involved was considerable. My first thought was that this is an unnecessary extravagance - what's wrong with a simple bunch of daffodils from no further than the Channel Islands? But then ,I thought, Kenya's economy, I gather, relies a lot on the export of(to us) out of season flowers, fruits and vegetables and this is only feasible by virtue of air miles and much carbon emission. If we curbed the air miles, what would happen to the people who rely on the trade? In other words how do I best help my fellow human being in Kenya - by taking action on global warming or encouraging their bit of the global trade action? I am confused and even more so when, to cap it all, I read that the activities of the farmers in Kenya are using so much water that they have virtually drained a lake and put hippos in danger!

I find the Archbishop's warning over-apocalyptic. To talk in terms of answering to God is like frightening people into religious observance - and in this case it might frighten them into complying by buying locally, not going abroad for holidays, not spending as much in the global economy and thereby depriving people in the underdeveloped or developing world, driving them back into poverty. I have rambled on, because I really am confused and would like to hear what others feel, particularly from a Christian perspective. The only positive thought I have is that Man's God-given talent for ingenuity in the form of science and technology may bring us the answer - find ways of having our creature comforts, maintaining the global economy and raising standards of living for everybody without the carbon emissions or without unnecessary hair shirt wearing. Could it be that that is what God wants of us?

[Fr. Greg Blevins]

While I am not a Fundamentalist, it is nevertheless interesting to compare this projected apocalyptic future to that portrayed in last book of the New Testament. In many ways, the two are strikingly similar.

[Mark Hart]

"It is, I suspect, no accident that it is in Europe that climate change absolutism has found the most fertile soil. For it is Europe that has become the most secular society in the world, where the traditional religions have the weakest popular hold. Yet people still feel the need for the comfort and higher values that religion can provide; and it is the quasi-religion of green alarmism and what has been termed global salvationism — of which the climate change issue is the most striking example, but by no means the only one — which has filled the vacuum, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as a form of blasphemy.
But that can be no basis for rational policy-making." Nigel Lawson, The Spectator, 11/3/06

[Robin Bather]

Thinking a little more about this serious subject and now being more agressive, surely the world overpopulation is a major part of this problem.

Just WHEN will the Roman Catholic church accept their large share of the blame for world pollution, ozone depletion and polar melting by insisting on their cruel and stupid policy against the use of contraceptives?

And what's more to the point, WHEN will they change their policy?

[Robin Bather]

Now HERE'S a subject we should all agree on.
Let's all:
Not wash our cars with the hose.
Recycle.
Walk more instead of using the car.
If you are in business or industry:
Insulate pipework, windows and doors.
Use waste furnace heat to preheat hot water.
Redesign forms to be smaller. Less copies.
There's so much to do and our planet urgently needs protecting.
Hey, is it such a stupid idea that vicars, rabbis and mullahs talk about this subject after prayers each week?
Ruth, thanks for including us Atheists in your first line.