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, theological, and technological reflection? UMC is certainly not alone in this neglect of the Crisis. The American churches , in particular, must awaken to the level of responsibility we bear as a nation for this situation. And the churches, as bearers of theological resources to “speak the truth to power”, MUST begin undertaking this task.

*  I do not expect that this urgency would go back to the earliest days of the discovery of the global warming problem (which I set at around 1988, when James Hansen first went public with the concern of many in the climate science community).  But as the evidence mounted,  this became a bigger and more urgent call for the churches to begin to speak up.