Reflection 10 - the one about climate change

Unless you’ve been hibernating for the past few weeks it can’t have escaped your attention that there’s an important UN climate change conference taking place in Glasgow at the moment. On Sunday we were thinking about our response to the climate crisis and praying for those with important decisions to make at COP26.

A compilation of most of the talks, videos and interviews from Sunday can also be found here: https://youtu.be/iNHm0wy4BVI

One thing that can be said about the climate crisis is that it is an extremely complex issue. Not all scientists agree on where we are and what we need to do. But the majority voice coming out of Glasgow is that we need to do something and we’re running out of time in which to do it. Unless big changes are made now then it is going to be too late. Many of the world’s most vulnerable communities are already finding that it is too late as they are struck by ever more extreme climate events leading to drought, fires or floods.

In Philippians 2:3-4 Paul tells us that we are not simply supposed to look out for our own interests but each of us should be looking out for the interests of others. We now live in what has been described as a global village. Recent interruption in global supply chains has highlighted just how dependent we all are on communities that live on the other side of the planet. 

But it can be very easy to take an ‘out of sight – out of mind’ attitude. In Luke 10:25-37 Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan to redefine how his audience understood the concept of ‘neighbour’. If Jesus was telling this parable today would the man who was left for dead at the side of the road be replaced by an exploited worker who picked the beans for my morning coffee or a Bangladeshi farmer whose fields are knee deep in flood water?

I expect that most of us agree that something needs to be done. The question is ‘what?’ And by whom?

Paul’s instruction to put the interests of others first is counter-cultural – especially when the other person doesn’t live next door, doesn’t look like you, doesn’t speak your language and you’re never going to meet them. There seems to be mentality that we in the west can keep on getting richer whilst enabling the poorer nations to get richer too. Of course, that is not true. As a planet we share a finite set of resources. The reason we are where we are is because a minority have more than their fair share. Any primary school aged child with a bag full of sweets will know that if everyone else is going to have a fair share of the sweets then that means that they are going to have less for themselves. And as anyone with primary school aged children will tell you – most people think that sharing is a good idea, unless they’re the one holding the bag!

Part of the solution to the climate crisis is for us to consume less. To live more simply. And each of us will need God’s wisdom on what that looks like for us.

As I’ve already said, this is a really complex issue. 

On Saturday there was an interesting programme on BBC2 – Horizon: Feast to save the planet. Watch it on iPlayer if you get the chance. This programme was just looking at diet and the CO2 impact of the dinner choices of five celebrities. They appreciate that most people don’t have the time or the ability to do what their scientists did - rating every plate for its environmental impact based on the exact weight of each specific ingredient. But there were some broad take-aways. Eat food that is locally sourced and in season and therefore hasn’t been flown half-way round the planet. (But if it does need to travel, boats are better than planes.) And avoid anything that comes from a cow!

But the purpose of the programme wasn’t to get us all to go vegan overnight. As beneficial as that might be for the planet - in practice, it’s simply not going to happen. Neither was the programme trying to use shame as a motive to get us to change our behaviour. But it was a very interesting programme that will no doubt start some very interesting conversations. And that’s the point, because it’s not just about what we choose to give up but also about the choices we make with what we carry on eating. Whether we’re buying wine, cheese, meat, or even vegetables – some choices are significantly worse than others. Not all asparagus is equal.

I don’t know what you thought about Pete Grieg’s comment on Sunday when he talked about looking forward to a time when every person who became a follower of Jesus saw becoming a climate activist as a part of the package. But we certainly talk about our faith impacting every area of our lives. I wonder if it’s time to start thinking about what we eat as one of those areas that Jesus wants to change. Our vision deliberately uses the language of a journey - and you know what they say about every journey: it starts with a single step.