A Fourth Response to Climate Change
This post is based on the article A Fourth Response to Climate Change and on the associated articles.
The internet is awash in reports, web pages, blog posts and videos that explain the climate change crisis — often in great detail. These posts typically describe what the climate crisis is, what caused it, how it relates to other issues such as Peak Oil, and what the consequences are likely to be.
However, few of these reports provide specific guidance as to what we can do in response. If there are any recommendations they tend to be either too vague — for example, abolish capitalism — or too narrow — for example, drive an electrically-powered car. What is needed is a structured response that helps people and organizations figure out what to do at 8 o’clock on Monday morning.
The first step in responding is deciding exactly who is to respond. In the ebook Net Zero: An Opportunity, we suggest that there are three groups that can lead the response. They are:
Government
Business and Industry
Individuals and Small Organizations
Each has a critical role to play, and there is considerable overlap between them. (A theme of the ebook series is that governments have, by and large, failed to provide the necessary leadership. Business and industry can provide much of that missing leadership.)
There is, however, a fourth group that could be added to the above list, and that is the faith community. These are people who believe that there is a meaning to life — usually based on an acceptance that there is a God or spiritual world outside of this one. As material conditions in our world continue to deteriorate as a result of climate change and related issues, so it is likely that more people will turn to some type of faith in order to make sense of what is going on.
We have started a web/blog site called Faith in a Changing Climate. In it we explore how people of faith can respond to the various Age of Limits crises that beset us. It is not a missionary site — we are not trying to convert anyone to anything. We simply try to understand how people of faith are reacting to these issues.
Recent posts include: