Naomi Klein contrasts different responses to global crisis, and specifically uses this term- ‘Rapture rescue’- a kind of global economic secular event through which some get saved, and others get left behind.
We see this perhaps in the response to terrorism- there is in the West a longing for some kind of second coming to sweep aside the evil and leave us safe in our holy escape pods. Some used to believe that war would achieve this.
Or perhaps capitalism itself could be seen in this way- there are those who believe– who live well and play to the rules of the holy market, and the unfaithful. Some of these can be rescued- but only by becoming like us.
Then there is climate change, which Klein talks about a lot here. Those who still deny the science seem bound up in a defensive wall of self interest. The crisis is external doubt, and the possibility of a threat to a way of life.
The ‘Rapture’ image hit me hard, as it makes a lot of sense- religion is both the engine of our underlying assumptions about the world, and also the means through which we justify and apply a kind of sacred redemption to our actions and lifestyles.
This being true, how might our faith still be an engine, but rather an engine for grace– for us, our neighbours and our environment? How might this lead us to work for change NOW, not to wall ourselves away from the unfaithful, the undeserving, the already-lost?
Well I liked the simplicity of what Klein said, here-
“If we want the transformation, we can’t wait for it to happen in some massive jolt, we have to plan for it and model it…”
“Only a crisis, actual or perceived produces real change, and when that change occurs this depends on the ideas that are lying around. That is our function, to keep ideas alive until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”
We Christians are carriers of perhaps the best ideas- contained within the life of Jesus. Our function is to keep these stories alive, and to try to live them out in our context.
In case you missed it, the University of East Anglia has a Climate Research Unit, and some kind soul got hold of hundreds of e-mails that staff had been sending to each other over the last few years, and made them available on t’internet.
Should you be interested enough in to take a journey into banal academia- they are all here.
The timing of this release of information, immediately prior to the Copenhagen conference on climate change which begins next week. I am sure that the intention of whoever leaked the information was to undermine the scientific case for climate change. Most people believe that this is possibly one of the most important conferences in modern history- there is simply so much at stake.
Most of us are simply not that informed. We hear competing scientific voices, and note that a political consensus is gathering speed, and feel periodically concerned for the future. We in the west are guilty about our car use, our power hungry lifestyles and our central heating, but this does not really result in many real changes to our way of life- beyond the odd energy saving bulb.
Then there are the conspiracy theorists- t’internet is full of them. Of how ‘climate change’ is really a tool to spread fear and alarm amongst the populace, and so divert attention from the evil plans of the Cabal that are really running the world according to their own self interests.
We need the scientists. And we need them to be clear, and give clear summaries in words that we can understand. Most scientists are simply not that good at doing this. There is, however, a good summary of the arguments, and the most recent science via the good old BBC- here.
Science is never fully neutral of course. It always has a line of enquiry, influenced by all sorts of things, and all sorts of value based issues. The myth of ‘pure science’ has been killed for most of we post-moderns. It really should be no surprise that the people at East Anglia University were trying to make sure that we saw things from their point of view.
There is also the questions of what motivates those people who lobby on behalf of a skeptical stance on climate change? Whose interests are being served by this lobby? Oil companies? Industries who are reliant on production systems that will no longer be profitable if forced to examine green house gas emissions in detail?
Like many of us, I think that the way of living that we are caught up in is not sustainable. Not just because of its cost to our planet, but also because of its socio-political impact, and the consequences for the worlds poorest people, in the worlds poorest countries- who tend to be the most vulnerable to climate change. We need our leaders to LEAD, and we need to hold them accountable.
These debates have found their way into faith groups.
It is great to see groups like Tear fund and Christian Aid making it clear that they see it part of the life of Christians to look after all of creation.
However, there is another side to Christian’s engagement with this issue. Evangelicals in the USA will tend to be skeptical (unlike Evangelicals in the UK for example.) Check out the ‘We get it’ campaign– which appears to suggest that the policies to reduce global warming will result in more deaths for the worlds poor, in terms of food price rises and energy shortages. Hmmm some interesting twists of logic going on in that one!
The motivation for these fixed positions, which are labelled ‘Biblical’ of course, puzzles me. Is it just that if you call yourself a ‘Conservative Evangelical’ you just naturally do not want anything to change? Is is about self interest- the American way of life? Or is it the association with big business? Or is it a reluctance to trust science- through which all sorts of evils like evolutionary theory and abortion have entered the world?
Perhaps things are starting to change however-
So friends- for the sake of future generations, lets watch and pray about the Copenhagen conference. We have much to gain, but also much to lose…
this fragile tent 