Make climate change legislation a priority, Presiding Bishop urges Senate
Episcopal News Service. March 31, 2008 [033108-01]
Matthew Davies
Urgent action is needed by the United States in response to global warming, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a March 31 letter to the U.S. Senate, urging Congress' upper house "to take up climate change legislation at the earliest possible moment."
Speaking "as one who has been formed both through a deep faith and as a scientist," Jefferts Schori said she believes "science has shown us unequivocally that climate change and global warming are real, and caused in significant part by human activities.
"Climate change is a threat not only to God's good creation but to all of humanity."
The full text of Jefferts Schori's letter to the U.S. Senate is available here.
The Presiding Bishop said she was encouraged by bi-partisan legislation, introduced by senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner, that "successfully moved through the committee process with many improvements and now awaits Senate debate."
Acknowledging support for Senate bill 2191, America's Climate Security Act, which she called "a strong step forward in achieving carbon emission reductions," Jefferts Schori said the legislation "includes measures aimed at addressing the needs of the world's most vulnerable: those, who for demographic reasons such as health or location are most susceptible to the effects of climate change, and those living in poverty at home and around the world.
"Our nation, historically the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, has a responsibility to lead the way in addressing the impact of climate change."
The 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church passed legislation (B002) affirming that "global warming threatens the future of God's good creation, and the effects of global warming disproportionately hurt the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable in the United States and around the world."
Jefferts Schori said in her March 31 letter that "climate change exacerbates extreme world poverty and poverty is hastening global warming," and emphasized that "most people living in poverty around the world lack access to a reliable energy source, forcing many to choose energy sources such as oil, coal, or wood, which threaten to expand significantly the world's greenhouse emissions and thus accelerate the effects of climate change. That need for resources to purchase energy must be addressed in any attempt to lift a community out of poverty."
The Presiding Bishop wrote the Senate that this cycle -- "poverty that begets climate change and vice versa -- threatens the future of all people, rich and poor alike. The poverty cycle driven by climate change will only add to political instability, social violence, and war. Our own domestic tranquility and security are intimately tied to the wellbeing of the poor both here and abroad."
She expressed her gratitude for the attention given to climate change by the U.S. Congress, but challenged the Senate "to support measures to further strengthen S. 2191 during floor consideration.
"I want to be absolutely clear that for those living in poverty, inaction on our part now will ultimately be the most costly of all courses of action."
In June 2007, the Presiding Bishop addressed the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee during a hearing titled "An Examination of the Views of Religious Organizations Regarding Global Warming." At the time, she described global warming as "one of the great human and spiritual challenges of our time."
In her March 31 letter, Jefferts Schori said that "many in the faith community have long been aware of the ways in which our lack of concern for the rest of creation results in death and destruction for our neighbors. We cannot love our neighbors unless we care for the creation that supports all our earthly lives."
On behalf of the Episcopal Church, Jefferts Schori urged the Senate to pass the strongest climate change legislation possible. "The acknowledgment of global warming and the Church's commitment to ameliorating it are a part of the ongoing discovery of God's revelation to humanity and the call to a fuller understanding of the scriptural imperative to love our neighbor as ourselves," she said.
Climate legislation could be taken up as early as this April but is most likely to occur this summer, according to John Johnson in the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C. Episcopalians who want to know more about global warming can visit www.episcopalchurch.org/climate.