August
2006
Inconvenient Truths
It’s difficult, sometimes, to take the long view of things in making decisions. That’s clearly apparent in our foreign policy, but even more so in how we are carelessly destroying the physical world that every one of us, rich and poor, depends upon for the very basics of life — air to breathe, water to drink, earth to give us food. The past century of industrialization has blended with capitalism and globalization to create a planet-wide system of exploitation and destruction which has provided many North Americans with comparative wealth and a very comfortable physical lifestyle. No one did it on purpose; but as we see what this system has wrought, we need to start doing things on purpose now.
Our first responsibility is to look, carefully and honestly, at where creation stands at the beginning of the 21st century. The Los Angeles Times this week is presenting us with a series of articles on the sickness of the oceans, the water which covers more than half the earth’s surface, provides food for billions of people, cleanses the air we breathe, and creates the climate we walk through daily. The oceans, due largely to runoff from industrialized agriculture and increased development on the coasts, are blossoming with toxic algae which is collecting in the food chain to destroy higher mammalian life. The destruction of filtering systems such as marshlands, mangrove swamps, and oyster beds have removed one level of oceanic self-correction; the overfishing of large fish for market has destroyed another. We are begining to see the results in toxic shellfish, jellyfish and algae blooms, the deaths of coral reefs, and unbelievable amounts garbage strewn, incredibly, across thousands of miles of ocean currents.
As we think and pray about the sickness of our oceans, we see that there is not one simple answer, as there is not one simple cause. The state of the sea is the result not of one, but of many factors and activities and interests acting upon the world. The one thing all these factors have in common is that they are the result of human choices. Oceans of plastic in the Pacific, the use of industrial fertilizers in the heartland, sewage pipes spewing partially-treated effluent, the destruction of wild coastlands in favor of further housing and business development — we have done this, or we have benefited from others doing it. And so we need to think, and pray, and work together on creating alternatives.
Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth demonstrates that, like the oceans, the global atmosphere is also being affected by human activity — activity that was never intended to cause harm, but which simply came about as we pursued our own interests and developed a culture and economy dependent upon fossil fuels. We need now to look carefully at the unintended consequences — not in order to wallow in guilt and helplessness, but to act as responsible stewards of the earth, to choose to walk another way and to support one another in that choice.
Progressive Christians Uniting, partnering with California Interfaith Power and Light, will be sponsoring showings of An Inconvenient Truth at churches and places of worship throughout the Los Angeles region during the first week of October. We’ll provide printed materials about renewable energy in California and environmental struggles in Los Angeles as well. This could be a perfect opportunity to begin discussions with your Christian community about what our responsibility to creation and to one another might mean for our future ways of walking together. If you would like your church to show the movie, please contact for more information, and continue to check our Events page for future updates. Please contact us by August 25 to be part of this event!