The Stop Climate Chaos coalition meet tomorrow to present and hear suggestions on Climate Change campaigning in 2011.

How are we going to make it zoom, people ?

From some of my project work with faith groups, I had this suggestion to make :-

Alliance with Ethical Investment groups

“Put your money where your mouth is”

Following on from the Church of England selling its shares in Vedanta :-

http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=9871

it was hoped that the Church of England investment portfolio would continue to be “cleaned up”. But there appears to be a long way to travel.

The Anglican Communion worldwide includes environmental protection as its “Fifth Mark of Mission”, and the Church of England is part of the international interfaith “seven year plans” :-

http://www.anglican.ca/search/faq/037.htm
http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr10009.html

but the Church Commissioners report in the last year has confirmed that the Church of England still holds shares in companies such as BP, responsible for ecological devastation of the Gulf of Mexico :-

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12234

Groups such as the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility and National Ethical Investment Week are all active in encouraging communities to put their money where their mouth is – and the faith communities have a very large amount to play with :-

http://www.arcworld.org/about_ARC.htm
http://www.eccr.org.uk/AboutUs
http://www.neiw.org/about

With the launch of the Green Investment Bank – even though severely under-capitalised – there is a chance to tie up the questions to the answers.

If every consumer choice were a green choice, there would be no environmental problem. The only way to reach that point is for every contract, every stock and share, every procurement order, every transport vehicle, every energy source and every material resource to be green.

The choices that companies make in the business they conduct is based on the premise that people want what they sell so much they are prepared to invest directly in them as well as buy their products.

There are several levers for change here. Investment, such as pension funds, if moved in bulk, can have a de-securitisation effect on unsustainable business models. Not so much a “boycott” as a “landslide” of change.

The faith communities have already proved that they can change international commerce with the Fair Trade movement. Now it’s time for the Green Investment movement.

A message from the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences [IFEES] :-

“Salam, Shalom and Peace brothers and sisters in humanity : Hope you are in the best of health and faith, Insha’Allah. Please find details of our forthcoming event. Please forward!”

“IFEES and Radical Middle Way (RMW) present: “Question Time: Can Islam meet the Environment Challenge ?” The panel will consist of : Kristane Backer, journalist and ex MTV VJ; Rianne C. ten Veen, Green Creation; Fazlun Khalid, IFEES; Shaykh Babikir Ahmed Babikir.”

Date: Friday 9th July 2010, Time: 6.30-8.30pm; Venue: Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS.

“Issues surrounding the environment poise the biggest challenge to the future of mankind. Unless we realise and radically change the way in which we treat the environment we are heading towards unprecedented disaster from which no technology can protect us.”

“Today more people die because of the consequences of our collapsing eco-system than even the senseless wars we are engaged in. In the next three months – if appropriate action is not taken – more people will die in sub- Saharan Africa from famine than all the people who have died in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the last fifty years.”

“If there is any jihad that can lead to real change in our times it is one aimed at saving our planet from abuse and destruction. In our times Muslims must not only be obligatory eco-warriors but also aware and able to share the Islamic teachings on the environment with their neighbours.”

“In a recent address at Oxford the Prince of Wales shared his conviction that Islam has the potential of making a positive contribution towards the issue of the environmental disaster humanity has created for itself. If that is so how is this likely to happen? What is the essential Islamic contribution towards the solution? Are Muslims able to deliver? Is the rest of the world prepared to listen?”

“Join us for a round-table discussion with leading Muslim environmentalists, scholars and activists as to what Islam has to offer. All welcome, free entrance, limited seats hence pre-registration is required. Light green buffet served.”

To REGISTER please email at info {at} radicalmiddleway.co.uk
Web: http://www.radicalmiddleway.co.uk

The technology is collected together on a project website called Faith Climate Connect, and it is free to use by anybody :-

http://www.faithclimateconnect.com

The demonstration conference was presented by Mark Dowd, with speeches from several guests, including Tamsin Omond, and theologians from around the world.

The technology came about from cooperation with Odyssey Networks, and the venue was The Barn at Global Tolerance.

The technology experience was not perfect : the bandwidth was narrow; but the contributions from the global participants were amazing; and the willingness to cooperate was inspiring.

I left with more ideas of how I need to use my natural affiliations to network more widely and effectively.

In the here and now, we are living the anti-Genesis. Climate Change is the story of how we unmade the World.

There is grace. We’re still here, to learn how to care.

Let us pray.

I was at a most unusual Christian meeting a few short weeks ago on 5th December 2009. Convening the meeting were the leaders of several of the main Christian denominations, a sight you would rarely expect. And strangely, most of the congregated faithful were wearing something blue, and not just blue clothing – people had on blue face and body paint, blue wigs, blue tinsel and draped themselves in blue flags, bedsheets and banners :-

http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/climate-service-2009-pr.htm

During the meeting, readings and expositions were given from some of the most hotly argued and prayerfully analysed passages of the Bible : Job chapter 38 and Romans chapter 8, verses 18 to 30 :-

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job+38&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%208:18-30&version=NIV

The debate centres on the Created world. What should the faith position be as regards Nature, Ecology, Environment ?

There are many Christians that teach that this current Earth will be swept aside in favour of a New Heaven and a New Earth. (Note : clearly “Heaven” in this context means the Sky, not the Heaven where God resides which shall never pass away.) Many Christians disregard the concept of “stewardship of the Garden” painted in the first Chapters of Genesis. They disregard care of the Environment, and move to the end point of time with no context, Isaiah chapter 65 verses 17 to 25; and Revelations chapter 21 verses 1 to 4 :-

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%2065:17-25&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelations%2021:1-4&version=NIV

But on that day in early December, the faith leaders were courageous and bold and taught the “greater gospel”, the Good News that the Earth will be brought back to life, just as people will be resurrected in the everlasting, eternal House of God.

And here we come to Clive Stapleton Lewis who studied the Bible intensely and wrote many references from the Bible into his much-loved Narnia Chronicles for children.

Why is there a Lamp-post in the woods behind the Wardrobe ? It’s not just a symbol of the non-stop light of Heaven. It’s not just a “light at the end of the tunnel” to guide the young girl into the next world. It’s not just a miracle that it never burns out despite not having any source of fuel or power. And why is it broken ? The Lamp-post appears to be a “new creation”, something entirely new in the young world of Narnia, a living thing, sprung from a lump of iron…you’ll have to read the whole chapters to find out the back story.

C. S. Lewis knew that death, or “corruption” was, according to the theologians, a state that only came to the Earth after Adam and Eve “missed the mark” and failed God’s standards in the Garden of Eden. According to the Bible, people lived a very long time just after the Earth was made, but God stopped them eating the fruit of eternal life, and then limited their lifespans :-

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%203:22-24&version=NIV

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%206:3&version=NIV

A New Heaven and a New Earth could could come as the Old Heaven and the Old Earth are returned to this state of youthful innocence, this fertile longevity, this reconciliation between God and his beautifully crafted Biosphere.

It’s strange that very few Christian denominations or sects teach the Resurrection of the Earth. I know the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. It’s been a thorn in the side of the Evangelical Protestants for decades :-

http://www.kevinquick.com/kkministries/books/reasoning/earth.html

I congratulate the Christian leaders who started to teach the Greater Gospel earlier this month : that Salvation and New Life are not just for people; the whole Earth can be renewed, both spiritually and physically, and that this is what God is planning for.

You will probably know that the miracle of the coming of the Lion in Narnia brings the end of a hundred-year Winter. We may be seeing the last shreds of Winter. Over the next few decades it may fail entirely to snow or freeze, and Winter will be banished, and it will become forever Spring. Our “Lion Heart” courage must be set on making sure the Earth does not become perpetual Heatwave Hell.

True power is not force, it is gentle influence. I find myself averse to regal and warfare language in Christian songs, but just ignore the references to “king” and “prince” and the cultural violence of domination and patronage implied in this Christmas carol and see the promise of healing, the divine repair :-

“Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace,
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His Wings.
Mild He lays His Glory by,
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the New-born king!”"

References :-

“Prince of Peace” : http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+9:6&version=NIV
“Sun” or “Son”, meaning “Son of God” : http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205:16-30&version=NIV
“Mild” : http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=phillipians%202:5-11&version=NIV
“second birth” : http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%204:10-14&version=NIV
“Born to give them second birth” : http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john%203:16-21&version=NIV

Elements of my vision :-

Everything is the responsibility of God, who made it :-
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+24:1&version=NIV

Everything on Earth will be renewed, refreshed and sustained :-
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2066:4&version=NIV

Sustaining the universe, God gives new strength to mankind :-
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2040:21-31&version=NIV

The Earth itself is a witness to the power of God’s creative forces :-
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%201:18-20&version=NIV

The Earth can be renewed, just as people can be :-
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%208:19-21&version=NIV

Roger Helmer MEP, bless his holey cotton socks, has accused the Church of England of having “abandoned” the Faith, by espousing concern about Global Warming :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/20/climate-denier-roger-helmer-church

Oh come on, Roger ! Get with the programme. The Science programme. You know how the Holy Church of Rome denied that the Earth was round and not the Centre of the Universe ? Then when the Science finally got a look in, they recanted.

The Science does sometimes take a while to sink in, but eventually it does. One of these days the number of Evangelical Protestants who insist that the Earth is only 6,000 years or so old will dip to zero.

Climate Change : the Science is comparatively young, and has fuzzy edges, but the core facts are clear. The Church leaders have been convinced that Anthropogenic Global Warming is certain and serious enough to make public statements.

Some parts of their flock don’t quite get it yet, but the Church corporate is on the ball. As for the public resistance on Climate Change, I blame the Media for not spelling it out. I blame the journalists for fence-sitting and not going on study courses to find out the facts. I blame their editors and the newspaper proprietors for having their hands firmly stuffed in the Fossil Fuel cookie jars.

As a young person, I was sometimes ostracised by my Christian peers, my Brothers and Sisters, for studying Science. I’ve always been able to square my God with my Science. There is no conflict.

In fact, Science teaches me things that makes my God bigger than your God. Not “bigger” as in “more competitive”, but “bigger” as in “generous”. I think he’s willing to forgive the poverty and errors of our understanding. He’s also demonstrating extreme patience, while we fluff our lines and get confused and take wrong turnings, until that day when we can all stand up in full confidence and say : “Burn Less. Live More.”