COMMENTARY: Hurricanes Reveal Religion’s Needed Role in Ecology

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) In the years that I have worked on environmental issues in religious congregations, I have often seen the topic get pushed down the list in deference to activities seen as more germane to the mission of the faith community _ feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, other charitable acts. […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) In the years that I have worked on environmental issues in religious congregations, I have often seen the topic get pushed down the list in deference to activities seen as more germane to the mission of the faith community _ feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, other charitable acts.

You will never hear me condemn acts of charity and humanity, and they are certainly necessary now.


But what we have seen in the Gulf Coast states in the last few weeks is a perfect illustration of why ecological issues matter. They matter most for the poor and least protected members of any society _ and therefore they are an issue of concern for religious people.

We don’t always want to make connections between our own actions (the cars we drive, the electricity we use) and damage to humans and the planet, but they are laid out before us along the devastated coast. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, all their belongings gone. While Rita was less damaging than early reports had feared, it reinjured parts of the coast that had barely drained from the damage of Katrina, and some people were displaced twice.

Toxic water is being pumped into Lake Pontchartrain _ and very little is being said about what permanent harm that toxic soup might do to the lake. While no ecological model can forecast a specific storm on a specific date as a result of human activity, we do know that warmer water generates higher-energy storms, and we know that human activity has already warmed the Atlantic and the Gulf, and will continue to do so. Whether these storms were worsened by human-caused global warming or not, they model for us what our behavior will bring in the future.

Even with a sufficient budget, the Army Corps of Engineers does not have the capability to build a levee that can withstand a Category Five hurricane. What has happened along the Gulf Coast is likely to happen again, and at shorter intervals. Any steps taken to restore the landscape of the region should be taken in light of that solemn fact.

The areas hardest hit by Katrina and Rita reflect or predict the effects of global warming. What we still don’t hear being talked about is what global warming is _ an environmental issue. Not an act of God but a consequence of humans.

Human activity, especially the consumption of fossil fuels (which play such a crucial role in the economy of Louisiana), has permanently altered the conditions of the Earth. Supply interruptions in crude oil and refined gasoline have driven prices up, but the big supply interruption is coming when we finally run out of the stuff _ and that is only a few decades away. Nothing will bring the prices down significantly ever again, until it’s gone.

This planet is becoming a decreasingly hospitable place for humans even as there are more and more humans seeking a livelihood here. The rich will always be able to buy their way out of these problems (and the levels of consumption by the rich contribute to the problem in a vastly disproportionate fashion). The poor sit in the path of destruction, alone, in the dark, without food or water.


People of faith need to be more aware of the connections between our behavior and the lives of others. We often see matters such as energy conservation, support for public transportation, and the development of non-polluting renewable power (wind and solar) as luxury issues _ things we will get to when issues of justice are addressed. Now we can see that these too are justice issues.

As people of faith we will drive less, carpool and take public transit more, purchase renewable energy for our congregations and homes, and demand public policies that support its development. We will do this because our faiths teach us to love our neighbors. And our neighbors along the Gulf Coast have shown us what our future looks like if we don’t.

MO/PH END RNS

(The Rev. Clare Butterfield is a Unitarian minister and executive director of Faith in Place, a ministry that calls people of faith to reflect and take action on religious teachings about environmental stewardship.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of the Rev. Clare Butterfield, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

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