Social, Environmental Justice and Theology

I must admit, I was wholly unsatisfied by  responses to my questions about social justice within the Catholic social teachings and Scripture, and how a much longer record of service to the poor and economic justice in these writings was hijacked in the minds of the faithful by sexual issues like abortion and gay marriage. Dr. Evans’ first response was that Catholics are not acquainted with the Catholic Social Teachings and therefore other issues took over the limelight; and referenced a preoccupation with salvation of individual souls. Unfortunately, there are some problems with this answer.

It ignores the long record in Scripture which calls for social and economic justice going back to the Old Testament. We cannot claim that this hijacking of the Catholic/Christian mind by issues such as gay marriage and abortion by claiming ignorance because if you are Christian, you should probably give the Bible a couple serious, if not critical, examinations. Even if you ignore Catholic Social Teaching, Scripture is full of references to the necessity of social and economic justice for a godly society.

The Pentateuch provides ample evidence: Yovel (jubilee) and Shmita (sabbatical) years were legal-spiritual codes that mandated at every 7 years, the debts of the impoverished would be forgiven and lands restored to them and slaves were freed from bondage (Leviticus 25: 8-13). From an anthropological perspective, this looks like a cultural practice intended to prevent cyclic poverty and perpetual inequality. The prophets even mention workers’ rights: Woe to him who builds his house on wrongdoing, his roof-chambers on injustice; who works his neighbors without pay, and gives them no wages (Jeremiah 22:13). Jesus is even more radical, claiming it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than the rich man into the kingdom (Matthew 19:24). He also tells myriad parables about the corrupting power of wealth such as that of Lazarus (Luke: 19-31).

This is but a small sample of the socio-economic justice in Scripture, and it far outnumbers prohibitions of homosexuality (mentioned in Leviticus and Deuteronomy) as well as abortions (not mentioned at all in Scripture). Therefore, based on the actual record, it is hard to argue that the Christian consciousness should be so focused on social-sexual issues when there is so much social and environmental injustice in the world. It seems that this would be a massive interpretation of Christianity itself. Small wonder then there has been a rise in the “nones”, those who do not practice formal religion. As practiced, particularly from this perspective of anti-homosexuality and anti-choice, Christianity seems very incoherent. Perhaps strong leaders in the Catholic Church and other denominations will reverse this troubling trend and misinterpretation of Christianity, but institutions move slowly and grudgingly accept change.

Convincing Climate Change Deniers?

One of the issues I have been mulling over in my mind since Troy’s discussions is the feasibility of convincing those who do not yet accept climate change. Much of Troy’s scientific presentation was review for me, and the basics of global climatic heating have been around for thirty years and more. Given all of this time that has been spent trying to convince recalcitrant climate change deniers, with denial still fairly strong in the United States, does it make sense to continually try to persuade these deniers?

My answer is no. At this point, from my perspective, climate change deniers have reasons that logical argument and scientific facts will not overcome. From where I stand, the two major reasons for continuing climate change denial are ideological and economic. Those with an ideological bias against recognizing ACC have a problem with the solutions, which include government intervention in energy and renewables markets, carbon taxes, etc. As they find any government intervention in economics abhorrent, they will deny up and down that there is any need for increased regulations. From the economic side, there are people whose incomes, some of them very high, are dependent on the fossil fuels industry. When it means literally taking food out of their mouths, even for the benefit of the many, or the greater good, it is exceedingly unlikely that these deniers will come around.

So, this means that continually investing in public education of adult ideological/economic climate change deniers is probably a waste of money and time. All of the preceding does not include children in schools, who may not have the ideological and economic biases that act as barriers to accepting science. In my view, it seems more effective to go directly to educated, responsible policymakers and lobby them for implementation of effective policies. These policies include carbon taxes, increased public investment in renewable energy, and changes in government subsidy structures to favor renewable energy industries instead of fossil fuels as well as increased individual tax incentives and subsidies to convert homes, businesses and the automobile fleet into renewable energy consumers.

Week 2: Oreskes and Conway's Collapse of Western Civilization

Oreskes and Conway's "The Collapse of Western Civilization: a View from the Future" is an interesting, compelling read. The book does well in terms of pointing out all the ACC ironies. My favorite was western civilization's brilliant scientific paradigm is able to document in detail the catastrophic climatic changes while larger society and its leaders sat on their hands as consequences spiral out of control of the most powerful civilizations the world has known. Oreskes and Conway place much of the blame at the feet of culture, especially the professional norms of scientists and climate experts. Specifically, much of the "uncertainty" that peddlers of doubt can point out derives from scientists' high "burden of proof" before accepting a claim, including many specific claims about the impacts of ACC.

Another salient irony is that doubt peddlers and fossil fuels representatives, in league with many political conservatives, have lambasted government intervention and maintained their cause for the sake of "freedom from government action". Meanwhile, their own actions are making said intervention in the future far larger by putting it off until a government response is necessary and very heavy-handed. If we continue on a path of false equivalence and denial constantly used to delay action in preventing further fossil fuel development, very strong, painful government intervention will be inevitable to meet an existential threat. I think this is something the general population needs to understand, and is our job as responsible global citizens to promote: humanity faces an existential threat. Massive temperature and climatic swings could mean our extinction.

Perhaps I am America-centric, but the authors do somewhat gloss over the impacts the collapse of the West would have on everyone else, including China. While China would almost certainly survive, as it has endured thousands of years, it functions in a global economy. Relative to the collapse of Rome, the world is more interdependent. All states, dependent on Western consumption, financing, trade, and capital aka technology (almost all of them, maybe North Korea could be an exception, but not really) would also suffer greatly if Western civilization collapsed.

Week 1: Klein, McKibben, and Dove

What is clear, even without reading Klein or McKibben’s articles, is that people around the world would be foolish to trust leaders to make the right decisions necessary to offset anthropogenic climate change (ACC), left to his or her own devices. The fight to mitigate ACC must be a grassroots movement in which the public strongly pressures leaders and delegates to Paris (Klein), but institutions such as Ivy League universities can make a huge difference in divesting from recalcitrant oil and gas companies (McKibben) which are desperate to squeeze whatever profits they can from fossil fuels regardless of common sense and scientific evidence.

Another interesting concept brought forth in the articles was Klein’s “looking away” idea. That is, almost all of us look away from ACC. There are outright climate change deniers, but also those who acknowledge the problem but claim “too busy” when it comes to action. Even those who recognize the problem, but are convinced only individual action is worthwhile. The bottom line is, fossil fuel use is systematic, ACC is a systematic problem, and therefore these problems require systematic, not merely individual solutions. This is an important lesson for everyone: public policy matters, and combating the fossil fuel interests in the halls of power will not happen if nobody stands up to speak truth to power.

Dove’s article was also enlightening, his basic argument is that humans’ significant relationship with climate and the environment has changed over time, and this dialog matters in the current “debate” over ACC. Two fundamental ideas in his chapter were: 1.) history traditionally separated humans from the environment, something which is now changing as our impacts on the climate and environment become apparent (Climate Cultures, 27) and 2.) wild landscapes once represented danger, lack of civilization and its comforts but now are becoming appreciated as teachers or laboratories for understanding the world in a new way (Climate Cultures, 42). This “historic reversal in geographic pedagogy” was very valuable to my thinking on this issue.

Bio

My name is John, I am a senior at SJU with a major in Political Science and minor in Philosophy. Unfortunately, I will not be joining classmates in Paris for what will be an amazing experience, good luck to all of you! My interests in this course lie at the nexus of ACC and its impacts on indigenous peoples, and wildlife. My term paper for the course will probably involve ACC and its effects on wildlife and wild spaces, and therefore the culture of indigenous peoples.

I work for Stearns County Environmental Services as well as Wyoming Wildlife Advocates as a legal and policy researcher. I love the outdoors, and hiking in wild spaces is one of my favorite pastimes. Other passions include reading/writing, politics, social and environmental justice.