Creation Corner Column for April 2023
Larry Rasmussen in Sojourners Magazine, et cetera
1. Sojourners Magazine for April 2023 features an article by Larry Rasmussen adapted from his 2022 presentation at the Society of Christian Ethics, entitled "The Times They Are A-Changin'". Rasmussen is the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary and author of The Planet You Inherit: Letters to My Grandchildren When Uncertainty's a Sure Thing. sojo.net
2. In the Sojourners "Great Reads/Books to inform and inspire" section" are two titles of interest:
The Cross in the Midst of Creation: Following Jesus, Engaging the Powers, Transforming the World, by Sharon Delgado.
Love Your Mother: 50 States, 50 Stories, and 50 Women United for Climate Justice, by Mallory McDuff.
3. In The Upper Room (Where The World Meets to Pray) for March-April 2023, a Daily Devotional Guide, comes a two-page "Caring for Creation" article with an invitation to visit their web site for "Create a Green Team" at upperroom.org/resources/create-a-green-team.
4. Mindful that for Earth Day on April 22 many communities sponsor park, streambank, or neighborhood clean-up events, a link has been shown to be a factor between poor neighborhood cleanliness and human longevity. According to a study by the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) that appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, poor neighborhood cleanliness was one of 8 social factors that can forecast longevity (help predict early mortality). A summary of this is in the MGH "Mind, Mood & Memory" newsletter for Mary 2023 (vol. 19, number 5).
5. Compare and Contrast "a" here with "b" .
a. from the 2008 issue 37 of Creation Care: A Christian Environmental Quarterly article by Scott Sabin: Environmental Emigration: The World on Our Doorstep. Poor families worldwide are already on the move to escape environmental degradation. What's our responsibility?
b. 2023 book The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration, by Jake Bittle.
6. IPCC March 20 Report. Following the issuing of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, a newspaper boldly quoted Antonio Guterres, the U.N. Secretary-General, with his stark conclusion that "Humanity is on thin ice---and that ice is melting fast".
It is the opinion of this blogger that Guterres is perhaps in the best position of anyone in the world to be aware of the dire potential consequences of global climate heating, given that he has the ability to receive the scientific community's assessments at his fingertips. He has called for rich countries to quit coal, oil and natural gas by 2040, and for an end to new fossil fuel exploration. His views are well worth researching.
7. Climate Homicide. Definition: The theory that because climate research by fossil fuel companies showed its products caused harm, and they continued to fight to delay regulations, that this showed they had a "culpable mental state" as their continued extraction of oil, natural gas and coal inflicted harm on people, including death. "Google" this subject for clarification.
8. To end this column on a hopeful note, this article appeared on March 24, 2023 as an Associate Press release by Isabella O'Malley. "US renewable electricity surpassed coal in 2022" is the headline. The article reads thusly:
The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced that electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal electricity production in the United States for the first time in 2022. The growth of wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and experts say these two resources will be the "backbone" of clean energy growth in the U.S. because of their reliability and affordability. Renewables passed nuclear electricity production for the first time in 2012 and continued to outpace it.
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