Column: The Clock is Ticking on Climate Change

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By Marek P. Zabriskie

Three-time Pulitzer-prize winning author and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman is coming to Christ Church Greenwich on Sunday, November 3 from 5-6:30 p.m., and I have the privilege of interviewing him as he helps us explore major issues like climate change.

The event is free and open to the public, and you won’t want to miss it. In 2008 called Hot, Flat and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution.  His book focuses on how we are destroying the very planet that gives us our life.  Friedman wrote,

The world… is getting hot, flat, and crowded.  That is, global warming, the stunning rise of middle classes all over the world, and rapid population growth have converged in a way that could make our planet dangerously unstable. 

He notes that “the convergence of hot, flat, and crowded is tightening energy supplies, intensifying the extinction of plants and animals, deepening energy poverty, strengthening petro-dictatorship, and accelerating climate change.”

Young people understand.  They know the environment is the issue of our day.  If we don’t get this right, it won’t matter what we what we do with Social Security, Medicare, gun control, or abortion.  We won’t be here to worry about these much debated issues.

As we get older, it’s all too easy to think of climate change and environmental destruction as someone else’s problem.  We think, “I’ll be dead.  It’s not my problem.  It’s an issue for younger generations.”  This kind of thinking is both disgraceful and dangerous, which is why we need our younger generations to keep speaking up.

Our 24-year-old daughter, who spent last year teaching in Germany, recently related to me that, “Germans don’t use the amounts of paper and plastic as we do, and they recycle everything.”  She politely redirected my paper towel use to a dish towel.

“Dad, you have to start somewhere,” she said.  “If everyone started doing something small, it would make a huge difference.”  Her words struck home.  I’ve carefully recycled, but I also know that I consume far too much paper and plastic.

Americans use 38 billion water bottles a year, which go to landfills and take 1.5 million barrels of oil to produce.  We pay 1,900 times more for bottled water than tap water, believing that it comes from fresh mountain streams, when in reality the bottled water industry does not disclose the results of its water tests. 

Meanwhile, 1.1 billion people lack clean water, causing countless deaths.  The United States has 4.5% of the world’s population but contributes 25% of global greenhouse emissions.  We bear a significant moral responsibility to heal the earth’s wounds. 

Thousands of species are dying off.  The earth’s water, air, forests and soils are suffering from pollution and depletion.  We face global warming and environmental disaster.

Sadly, today we are less connected to the earth.  The average morsel of food that we eat has traveled 1,500 miles to reach our table. Less than 1% of Americans are farmers. 

When it comes to caring for the earth, the Bible is amazingly relevant.  Over 1,000 Bible verses speak about creation.  The Good Book begins and ends with trees.  We cannot turn far in the Old Testament without finding vivid references to creation and its importance for humanity. 

The Bible’s final book, Revelation, makes a sobering declaration against “those who destroy the earth” (Rev. 11:18), for our fate is linked to the earth.  Genesis 1:26-28 states that we are created in God’s image and God has given humans dominion over all other creatures. 

Dominion does not mean domination.  Rather, it means to be good stewards of this fragile earth, where all created things are interdependent. 

Climate change is the gravest moral question of our time. The clock is ticking.  We could soon reach a point when we cannot reverse the damage that we have wrought.

We need people and major religious traditions to get behind being great environmental stewards.  What can we do? 

Here are a few things that you can do:

Become more educated about conservation and climate change.

Avoid using or serving bottled water.

Support co-ops and local farmers and restaurants that offer farm to table.

Recycle everything that you possibly can.

Reduce what you buy so you have less to recycle or throw out.

Reduce your carbon footprint.  Eat less meat, which has the largest carbon footprint.

Avoid buying foods that are not in season.

Purchase a fuel efficient car.

Plant trees. 

Support one organization dedicated to conservation.

Come hear Tom Friedman speak at Christ Church.

Contact your representative and senator to find out more about what you can do to help them combat climate change.

In everything that you do, keep this mantra in mind: don’t waste.

Kermit the Frog sang, “It’s not easy being green,” but it is actually easier that you think.

The Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie is Rector of Christ Church Greenwich

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