Module 5: For Such A Time As This
Translating Theory into Practice
1
• We need to remember that the work of our time
is much bigger than climate change. We need to
be setting our sights higher and deeper. What
we are really talking about, if we're honest with
ourselves, is transforming everything about the
way we live on this planet.
- Rebecca Tarbottom, Executive Director of the
Rainforest Action Network, 1973-2012,
http://ran.org/becky
• If we would call 111 to save a life, why aren't we
(metaphorically) calling 111 to save all life?
- Matthew Sleeth, 2010: Hope for Humanity,
p.105
2
God grieves over the
destruction of creation
and so should we.
3
KEY
CONSIDERATIONS
4
Time is short
We are already halfway through Decade
Zero - beyond which the negative effects
of environmental degradation,
especially global warming, will become
inexorable and unpreventable.
• “Why aren’t we, as a species, rising to our
historical moment? Why are we so far letting
‘decade zero’ slip away?”
- Naomi Klein, 2014, This Changes Everything,
p.61
5
Climate change is an opportunity for
change on big scale
• “I am convinced that climate change represents an historic
opportunity on an even grander scale. As part of the project
of getting our emissions down to the levels many scientists
recommend, we once again have the chance to advance
policies that dramatically improve lives, close the gap
between rich and poor, create huge numbers of good jobs,
and reinvigorate democracy from the ground
up...transformations that would leave us with both a more
habitable climate than the one we are headed for now and a
far more just economy than the one we have now.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.10
• “Put another way, if there has ever been a moment to
advance a plan to heal the planet that also heals our broken
economies and our shattered communities, this is it.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.155
6
Minor tweaking and incremental change will not
now be enough
“Plenty of people are attempting to change their daily
lives in ways that do reduce their consumption. But if
these sorts of demand-side emission reductions are
to take place on anything like the scale required, they
cannot be left to the lifestyle decisions of earnest
urbanites who like going to farmers' markets on
Saturday afternoons and wearing up-cycled clothing.
We will need comprehensive policies and programs
that make low-carbon choices easy and convenient
for everyone.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.91
7
We cannot rely on political leaders
• Leaders have failed us - because many of
them are motivated by self-interest,
embroiled in the drive for endless economic
growth, or bound by corporate influence.
See Module 3: Objections and Excuses "It's up to the government to protect us"
8
A grass roots movement of unprecedented
proportions is needed
• “How do we create change so that the people
responsible for the crisis do not feel threatened by the
solutions?...The answer is: you don't. You make sure you
have enough people on your side to change the balance
of power and take on those responsible, knowing that
true populist movements always draw from both the
left and the right.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.59
• “...building a mass movement that has a chance of
taking on the corporate forces arrayed against sciencebased emissions reduction will require the broadest
possible spectrum of allies.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.157
9
Future
generations will
be affected by
what we do or
don't do now
10
Do nothing
“We know that if we continue down our current path of
allowing emissions to rise year after year, climate change will
change everything about our world. Major cities will very
likely drown, ancient cultures will be swallowed by the seas,
and there is a very high chance that our children will spend a
great deal of their lives fleeing and recovering from vicious
storms and extreme droughts. And we don't have to do
anything to bring about this future. All we have to do is
nothing. Just continue to do what we are doing now, whether
it's counting on a techno-fix or tending to our gardens or
telling ourselves we're unfortunately too busy to deal with it…
All we have to do is not react as though this is a full-blown
crisis. All we have to do is deny how frightened we really are.
And then, bit by bit, we will have arrived at the place we most
fear, the thing from which we have been averting our eyes. No
additional effort is required.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.4
11
Take action
“To serve as custodians of creation is not an empty title; it
requires that we act, and with all the synergy this dire situation
demands.”
- Desmond Tutu, 'We Need an Apartheid-Style Boycott to Save the
Planet', Guardian, 10 April, 2014.
“We need to re-think what really matters. Christians have a
crucial role to play in this process. But to do so the Church itself
must be reformed; in particular, it needs an ecological
reformation. Christians need a stronger and more compelling
theology of ecological responsibility and resilience, and they
need to practise what they preach. The care and integrity of
creation must become a key priority, not merely an optional
extra. There is a long and difficult journey ahead, but precious
little time.”
- Professor Jonathan Boston, Victoria University, speaking at the A
Rocha national conference "Christianity and the Ecological Crisis:
Lament, Hope, Action", Wellington, October, 2012
12
A Good Samaritan?
• Matthew Sleeth uses the
Parable of the Good
Samaritan (Luke 10: 25-37)
to identify three possible
responses.
• Environmentally speaking,
are you a priest, a Levite,
or a Good Samaritan?
13
TAKING ACTION
14
15
Reconnect with nature
• “If we fall in love with creation deeper and
deeper, we will respond to its endangerment
with passion.”
- Hildegard de Bingen (1098-1179) quoted in
Matthew Sleeth, 2010: Hope for Humanity, p.107
• “The power of this ferocious love is what the
resource companies and their advocates in
government inevitably underestimate, precisely
because no amount of money can extinguish
it…”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything,
p.342
16
Find joy in creation!
‘How many are your works, Lord!
In wisdom you made them all; the
earth is full of your creatures…
Psalm 104:24
17
‘The love of God
shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy
Spirit...’
(Romans 5:5)
overflows in our
love and care for
all God’s creatures.
18
Reduce consumption
“If we are ever able to stop destroying our
environment, it will be because person by
person we decide, by God's grace, to turn aside
from greed and materialism. It will be because
we learn that joy and fulfilment come through
right relationship with God, neighbour and
earth, not an ever-escalating demand for more
and more material consumption. Nowhere is
that more possible than in local congregations
that combine prayer and action, worship and
analysis, deep personal love for the Creator and
for the Creator's garden.”
- Dr Ronald Sider, Professor of Theology and
Society, Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary
19
20
James 5:1-6
21
22
Make better choices
23
Palm oil:
30+ names
300 companies,
40% of supermarket products
Orangutan
The
victims
Sumatran tiger
24
-Vegetable Oil
-Vegetable Fat
-Sodium Laureth Sulfate (in almost everything
that foams) ^
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfate ^
-Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS or NaDS) ^
-Palm Kernel#
-Palm Oil Kernel #
-Palm Fruit Oil #
-Palmate #
-Palmitate #
-Palmolein #
-Glyceryl Stearate #
-Stearic Acid #
-Elaeis Guineensis #
-Palmitic Acid #
-Palm Stearine #
-Palmitoyl oxostearamide #
-Palmitoyl tetrapeptide-3 #
-Steareth -2 *
-Steareth -20 *
-Sodium Kernelate #
-Sodium Palm Kernelate #
-Sodium Lauryl Lactylate/Sulphate *
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate ^
-Hyrated Palm Glycerides #
-Sodium Isostearoyl Lactylaye ^
-Cetyl Palmitate #
-Octyl Palmitate #
-Cetyl Alcohol ^
25
-Palmityl Alchohol #
26
Many of the causes of environmental
degradation in our country and in our
world today come down to simple
everyday choices.
We make choices that are good for the
planet or bad for the planet.
Too many of us are making bad choices
because we don’t know any better.
We need to be better informed and
revise our practices.
27
Resist the production of, and minimise the
use of, fossil fuels
• “From a climate perspective...if there is to be any
hope of meeting the agreed-upon 2 degree
Celsius target, wealthy economies...must make
getting off fossil fuels their top priority.”
- Naomi Klein,2014: This Changes Everything, p.69
• “It is now technically feasible for everyone to
have enough energy for a good quality of life,
using only existing renewable technology.”
- Catherine Cheung, Forest and Bird, May 2015, p.4
28
Get involved in environmental projects
(and stir your church to do so!)
29
In Romans 8:19 we are told that “The creation
waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to
be revealed” (TNIV).
Among other things, some interpret this to
mean that the world is waiting for the church to
rediscover its mission to creation.
The Christian Church is the world’s biggest
movement and largest NGO. It incorporates 25%
of the earth’s population and is active in every
corner of the globe. Just imagine the potential if
the world-wide church, including that in New
Zealand, were to more effectively pursue its
biblical mandate for environmental stewardship!
30
Put pressure on, and pray for, leaders
“I appointed watchmen over you and said; ‘Listen to
the sound of the trumpet!’ ”
Jeremiah 6:17
Prophets are those who speak
uncomfortable truth to their generation.
31
“...when governments are willing to introduce
bold programmes and put goals other than
profit making at the forefront of their
policymaking, change can happen at astonishing
speed.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything,
p.132
"the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, King of
Persia“ (Ezra 1: 1 NIV)
"the Lord controls the mind of a king”
(Proverbs 21:1 GNB)
"there is no authority except from God.”
(Romans 13:1 ESV)
32
33
Adopt and articulate a different worldview
• “...protecting and valuing the earth's ingenius systems of
reproducing life and the fertility of all its inhabitants,
may lie at the centre of the shift in worldview that must
take place if we are to move beyond extractivism. A
worldview based on regeneration and renewal rather
than domination and depletion.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.424
• “Fundamentally, the task is to articulate not just an
alternative set of policy proposals but an alternative
worldview to rival the one at the heart of the ecological
crisis - embedded in interdependence rather than hyperindividualism, reciprocity rather than dominance, and
cooperation rather than hierarchy.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything, p.462
34
Challenge current economic paradigms
“...the bottom line is what matters here: our
economic system and our planetary system are
now at war. Or, more accurately, our economy is
at war with many forms of life on earth,
including human life. What the climate needs to
avoid collapse is a contraction in humanity's use
of resources; what our economic model
demands to avoid collapse is unfettered
expansion. Only one of these sets of rules can be
changed, and it's not the laws of nature.”
- Naomi Klein, 2014: This Changes Everything,
p.21
35
Maintain optimism and hope in God
We must not be paralysed by fear and depression.
Jesus says: “Take courage. I am with you always…”
(John 16:33, Matthew 28:20).
Our efforts to conserve, heal and restore God’s creation
will never be in vain (I Corinthians 15:58). We are not
oiling the wheels of a machine that is about to fall over
a cliff. We are not restoring a great painting that’s about
to be thrown in the fire. We are not planting roses in a
garden about to be dug up for a construction site. We
are accomplishing something which will become, in due
course, part of God’s new world.
Whatever we do will have effects that will be preserved
in the new creation which God will one day bring to its
culmination and completion (Revelation 21:1).
36
Act with hope!
May the God of
hope fill you with all
joy and peace as
you trust in him, so
that you may
overflow with hope
by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
37
Today history has knocked at your
door. How will you answer?
“The test of a preacher is that his
congregation goes away saying, not
‘What a lovely sermon!’ but, ‘I will do
something!’ ”
- Francis de Sales
• “This one thing I do…”
- Paul: Philippians 3:13
• Complete your Stewardship Action Plan
38
39
The problem with the ship
has to be fixed, or nothing
else will matter…
40