So, I scan the timeline*, and at no time has the issue of the Climate Crisis been considered worthy of a serious communication effort, even as this has become glaringly obvious as a reality of IMMENSE social , political, and economic upheaval. When will this cross the threshold from “an issue” among others, to a Crisis worthy of SERIOUS ethical, Continue Reading
So I see this page on UMC.org under “What We Believe” and “UMC Topics” at http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/united-methodist-topics I scan, see no listing for Climate Change or even Environment. So I click “Ask A Question” and submit this: I am asking this questiuon from the page http://www.umc.org/what-we-believe/united-methodist-topics I want to know if “Climate Change” or “Climate Crisis” is ever going to make this list? Continue Reading
Saw this article on the UMC.org website this week, and , as I am apparently programmed to do, reflected upon it in the context of “A Church in a time of Climate Crisis”, or “A Planet in Peril” (as I once heard Phillip Clayton say). There was no place for me to make comments below this article which was published Continue Reading
A Twitter acquaintance (Ryan; met him via some post comments on UMC.org), asked me via Twitter yesterday: “Can you give me a list of top 10 things to do to live as an ecological steward?” . I responded with a followup , clarifying question: “as individuals, collectives, or all of the above?”. And also : “regardless of your reply, Continue Reading
Video from PandoPopulus, ( Click here to begin at 24:50 is when Wes Jackson begins speaking)
Yes! Pope Francis devotes an entire chapter of the encyclical to the need for an “ecological conversion†among Christians, “whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or Continue Reading
“By asserting that nature has a value in and of itself, Francis is overturning centuries of theological interpretation that regarded the natural world with outright hostility—as a misery to be transcended and an ‘allurement’ to be resisted.” – Naomi Klein in “A Radical Vatican?” via The New Yorker Yes, Naomi, it is a STEEP theological legacy that must be reformed. But Continue Reading
another choice quote from the above article by Naomi Klein: We’re here because many powerful Church insiders simply cannot be counted upon to champion Francis’s transformative climate message—and some would clearly be happy to see it buried alongside the many other secrets entombed in this walled enclave. – Naomi Klein in “A Radical Vatican?”, New Yorker Magazine I get this same sense Continue Reading
Building on my last post here, I saw an article on UMNS , here, entitled “United Methodists achieve milestones despite differences” , and began the article with this: Different viewpoints over societal changes have led some to speculate whether the unity of The United Methodist Church will hold when its top legislative body meets in May 2016. (the linked article Continue Reading
As I have been posting this morning about the “acceptance of Climate Change” at a level required for us to “get it” regarding the urgency of the crisis it represents, I am once agin reminded and brought back to something Tim DeChristopher said in these reflections he offered when I asked him to say a few words about why he Continue Reading
“Extricating ourselves is going to be much harder than Ms Klein likes to acknowledge.” the above quote appears in the longer text below, which is a comment submitted by Murray Reiss under an article by John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark “The liberal attack on Naomi Klein and ‘This Changes Everything’ “ on the Climate & Capitalism website Foster and Continue Reading
But don’t worry, “the pope is not an economist.” @EndPovertyUSA @americamag — Nathan Schneider (@nathanairplane) July 2, 2015 (And yeah, I RT’d it and trying to embed it on Facebook. May just have to copy the text. )
Yes. And to that I would add the enormous, far-reaching, ongoing moral crisis of refusing to see the writingon the wall about what the scientists are telling us we are doing to the earth’s ability to sustain us. It doesn’t matter what our “OPINION” is, it is the ecosystem. It doesn’t care about our politics (except about that part which Continue Reading
Initially posted to my Facebook account: Every church denomination need to issue actual response to Pope’s theological work in LaudatoSi. Need constant, current updates of processing (ie. Not just go back into their past statements and “find a mention of ecology”. We need ongoing, updated, dialogue on what this means NOW, as things get much worse than they were back Continue Reading
Reading “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs The Climate” literally changed my life. I read it as soon as it came out last fall, and it was during the reading of it that I turned a corner in my heart and mind, such that I would never again be able to look at the Climate Crisis in the same relatively detached Continue Reading