1. Climate Calamity: Reflections from a religious activist
Rev. Peter Sawtell
Eco-Justice Ministries

2. My area of work
Eco-Justice Ministries works primarily with Christian congregations.
My own “home base”
The dominant faith group in the US
Need for a fresh environmental theology
Ability to talk “in house” about beliefs and practices
We try to focus on congregational programs, not on individual actions. This is an effort at religious and social change, not pastoral care.

3. I come to this work with:
Decades of involvement in mainline churches
A deep background in ecological studies
Extensive social change studies and activism related to institutional racism
Alarm about the scope and pace of climate change – along with other crises

4. Exceeding planetary boundaries
Climate change is only one of many global environmental crises
Eco-justice considers the interconnection of ecological crisis and issues of social and economic injustice

5. We are in “overshoot”
We are using more resources than can be sustained
We are creating more waste and pollution than nature can process
We have exceeded many environmental and social limits

6. No more data on climate science!
We don’t need more information this morning
We do need to decide how the information about reality shapes our beliefs, behaviors and actions

7. A spectrum of climate belief
41% are alarmed or concerned; 67% are alarmed thru cautious
From Faith, Morality and the Environment, Portraits of Global Warming’s Six Americas

8. Science and religious beliefs
Those who place the greatest trust in religious teachings are more likely to be climate “doubters”
This is why Eco-Justice Ministries connects science and religion!

9. How many problems? Are there countless separate problems?
Or are they all symptoms of one deeper problem?

10. What kind of change is needed?
This chart shapes most of Eco-Justice Ministries’ programming.

11. Pope Francis’ encyclical
“Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal.”
“Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress.”

12. Redefining progress
People will not accept long-term deprivation, even for a good cause. They will not give up their aspirations for “the good life”
People can choose a different definition of “the good life” – one that is more just and sustainable.
The biblical principle of shalom – peace with justice for all creation – is one religious image of an alternative.

13. The dieting Sumo wrestler
How do you persuade him to lose weight?

14. Two kinds of hope in times of crisis
Hope for Optimism, desire for a specific outcome Often passive Very hard to maintain in crisis
Hope in Commitment, values and faith Strongest when active Sustaining in times of crisis
Macy & Johnstone’s excellent book affirms a hope in approach

15. A modern religious mandate

17. Not used for the 2/17/16 presentation
Additional slides
Not used for the 2/17/16 presentation

23. Opportunities and obligations
Name the issues ... as matters of important moral concern. Don’t contribute to denial and doubt!
Nurture hope. Transformational change can happen! Hope involves action.
Act for justice.