Florida Catholic | Climate Changes Connected To Inequality

Climate changes connected to inequality

An interfaith environmental conference stresses the need for pew-level responsibility for stewardship of the earth.

BETTY ANN WEBER | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 03.07.08

LONGWOOD | “Today, we all see that man can destroy the foundation of his existence, his earth,” Pope Benedict XVI declared on July 25, 2007. “We must respect the inner laws of creation, of this earth; we must learn these laws and obey these laws if we wish to survive.”

Echoing the pope’s fervent call, Bishop Thomas Wenski, one of four keynote speakers, spoke out at a daylong environmental conference Feb. 21 at Northland, a Church Distributed, in Longwood.

Addressing climate change, Bishop Wenski pointedly asked his audience, “Are we to ignore the signs and sentence future generations — mine and yours — to untold human misery and suffering?”

When introducing the bishop, the Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of the host church and a nationally recognized evangelical voice for the environmental cause, said, “The new evangelism is like the old Catholicism. We’re the ones late to the table. The goal of this conference is to get resources and information to faith leaders to speak to their congregations.”

Other noted speakers, all connecting climate change to economic inequality, were Calvin B. DeWitt, professor, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison; Tri Robinson, senior pastor, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, Boise, Idaho; and Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals in Washington.

“I have told people … you’ve got to care about this,” said Cizik, “because when you die, God is not going to ask you about how he created the earth. He’s going to ask, ‘What did you do with what I created?’”

The Washington-based lobbyist, who prefers the term “creation care,” emphasized that, “Pilate was accountable to a higher force. We must hold our leaders accountable.”

Bishop Wenski said wealthier countries consume significantly more of the world’s resources. “Climate change is a poverty issue. The poor have contributed the least to climate change and will suffer its worst consequences. God gives, men don’t share,” the bishop said, quoting a Haitian proverb.

“Some of us come out of the womb loving nature,” said breakout session leader Peter Illyn of Vancouver, Wash., founder and executive director of Restoring Eden in La Center, Wash. Restoring Eden works with evangelical colleges and churches on environmental stewardship. “Create sacred space. Try community gardening, tree planting, invasive species removal. Be more than thankful,” he said. “Be aggressive!”

Comfortable in hiking boots, Illyn admitted, “After 10 years as an evangelical pastor in the Foursquare Church, I made a 1,000-mile trek up the spine of the Cascade Mountains. It changed my life. I went into the mountains an evangelical minister, but I came out an environmental activist.”

The conference, co-sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals and Energy Star, a U.S. government program to promote energy-efficient consumer products, drew 125 people from Florida to California.

Lori Reinneck, a conference participant and director of family life at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Winter Park, enthusiastically said, “My favorite part of the day was resource economist (Lowell) Rusty Pritchard’s breakout session, ‘Connecting Families to Creation Care.’” Reinneck said that Pritchard, national director of outreach for the Evangelical Environmental Network, emphasized “the role of nature in building a child’s character.” She said, “His catch phrase (is), ‘No child left indoors.’”

Bishop Wenski reminded the assembly, “Religion is not about pie in the sky. Earth is our way to heaven. We have to do maintenance.”

Rev. Hunter added, “People of faith need encouragement from the pulpit and training to become better stewards of God’s creation.”

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