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The signs are right in front of us: extreme weather, changing temperature patterns, the increase in the number of droughts. Our climate is changing due to global warming, and human beings are largely responsible for this, said Jim White, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
“Once you’ve studied the issue, you realize there is no debate about climate change,” said White, who also directs the university’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. “The notion of debate is a false narrative that people have put forward to delay action.”
Speaking out to inspire action in res
ponse to climate change has been a significant part of White’s work and life. White, a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Boulder, said his faith informs his perspective on climate change and how we steward God’s creation. In July 2014 he stood with other Lutherans and offered testimony at an Environmental Protection Agency public hearing in Denver, where he argued that there are ethical implications that must be considered as we address climate change.
“The poor of the world are disproportionately being impacted [by climate change],” he said. “Faith and our moral compasses need to be considered when dealing with this problem.”
The event was one of four major hearings across the country.
Peter Severson, director for Lutheran Advocacy Ministry– Colorado of the ELCA Rocky Mountain Synod, organized the advocates. By participating in the public hearing, these leaders were able to “live their faith in a real way,” he said. “The participation of ELCA members in the process itself was a transformative experience for all involved.”
The local advocacy taking place in the Rocky Mountain Synod is part of a unified effort led by the ELCA churchwide organization’s advocacy office in Washington, D.C., as part of its “Clean Air for All” campaign. The ELCA advocacy office, working with the ELCA Metropolitan New York Synod, also encouraged members to participate in the People’s Climate March in September 2014. The march brought together thousands of people in New York City to raise awareness of climate change.
Mary Minette, ELCA program director for environmental policy and education, was there alongside other members of the ELCA advocacy network. In a blog leading up to the march, Minette described the harrowing effects of climate change that are predicted in the coming years, including destructive heat waves and flooding. “In the face of these sobering predictions, some may lose hope,” she wrote. “We march … to demonstrate God’s love and hope for each of us and for the world. We march, marked by the cross, saved by grace, out of love for our neighbors and God’s earth.”
The ELCA Advocacy staff continues its efforts to organize Lutherans to speak out for “clean air for all” through testimony, marches, letters and more. Through membership in the ELCA’s advocacy network, ELCA members can be leaders in the public square and speak out for ethical political action.
Adapted from Stories of Faith in Action
© 2015 ELCA • ELCA.org • LivingLutheran.com
