Published by the Eco-Justice Working Group of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
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GLOBAL WARMING: A RELIGIOUS ISSUE
Questions and Answers about Science, Public Policy, and Faith

What is global warming and how does it relate to climate?

• Climate everywhere is affected by small quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere that traps some of the earth's heat which would otherwise escape into space. This is called the natural greenhouse effect. It keeps the earth about 60 degrees F warmer than it would otherwise be and makes life possible.
  
• Climate change occurs naturally due to periodic changes in the intensity of the sun, the position of the earth in relation to the sun, and the shape and location of continents. As climates gradually change, plant and animal species evolve to adapt to new conditions.
  
• Global warming refers to the rapid climate change now occurring because human activities are adding more CO2 and other heat trapping gases, called greenhouse gases, to the atmosphere.

What do scientists know about global warming, its causes and effects?

• In the 19th century, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere began to increase. It increased more than 30% during the past century. Other greenhouse gases, notably methane and several synthetic industrial gases, have also been increasing, especially since 1950.
  
• The major source of CO2 from human activity is burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The destruction of forests also contributes to increased CO2. The main sources of increased methane are fossil fuel production, landfills, rice farming, and cattle.
  
• Since 1900, global temperature has increased more than 1 degree F, and global sea level has risen about 7 inches. The 10 warmest years since records have been kept have occurred since 1983. The warmest was first 1995, then 1997, and then 1998.
  
• The distribution of vegetation and wildlife, and growing seasons for agriculture, are beginning to shift. Outbreaks of dengue fever, malaria, and encephalitis in temperate regions have been linked to global warming.
  
• In 1995, the 2500 scientists of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) officially confirmed that human activity is contributing to rapid climate change. In 2001, the IPCC reported that there is now convincing evidence linking human activity to higher land and ocean temperatures, rising sea levels, and thinning of snow and ice cover. The National Academy of Sciences has concluded that "global warming is undoubtedly real" and requires policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
  
• To stabilize atmospheric CO2, the IPCC determined that global emissions must be reduced below 1990 levels by at least 60%. Since 1990, they have increased about 15%.
  
• The US, with about 4% of world population, produces over 22% of the annual carbon dioxide emissions resulting from human activity.
  

What do scientists project about future warming and its effects?

• It is now assumed that the equivalent of doubling atmospheric CO2 will occur by 2050 and lead to a global temperature rise of between 2.4 and 10.5 degrees F by 2100. The longer we wait to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the greater the rise will be. Land surfaces and higher latitudes will experience larger increases. Temperature will continue to rise long after emissions are reduced and greenhouse gas concentrations stabilize.
  
• Sea level will rise 10-30 inches by 2100, and will continue to rise thereafter. Wetlands will be flooded. Many low-lying regions and small island states will have to be evacuated due to storm surges and saltwater intrusion.
  
• Evaporation and precipitation will increase about 1% for every 1 degree F temperature rise, and their distribution will be increasingly uneven and unpredictable. There will be more frequent and severe heat waves and droughts, and heavier storms and floods. Rapid climate change will limit the ability of many plant and animal species to adapt. Insects, rodents, disease organisms, and other species that reproduce rapidly will increase.
  

Why has there been controversy about what is known and projected?

• The earth's climate system is exceedingly complex. Determining global temperature and sea level is not a simple matter. Determining how one factor affects others is more difficult and subject to differing standards of evidence and interpretation.
  
• Predicting what will happen in the future is even more complex because predictable changes will have unpredictable effects. For example, warmer temperatures will lead to more clouds, but it is not possible to know in advance if more clouds, which both reflect light and trap heat, will hasten or slow the warming trend. The IPCC makes its projections in numerical ranges because known uncertainties make more specific predictions unwarranted. The biggest uncertainty is future human emissions.
  
• A number of large corporations have opposed the conclusions of the IPCC, and have helped fund and publicize the work of a very few scientists who challenge its findings. As a result, news reports that present "both sides" make it seem as though there is much more disagreement among climate scientists than really exists.
  

Why is global warming a religious issue?

• First, as Psalm 24 tells us, "the Earth is the Lord's and all that is in it." We do not own it, but are to care for it as a sacred trust. Global warming will hurt God's creation.
  
• Second, as God's people we are "our brothers' and sisters' keepers" and are to attend to the well-being of our neighbors. Global warming will hurt God's people.
  
• Third, God requires us "to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly...." Because we of the industrialized nations created the increase of greenhouse gases, we have a special responsibility to do something about it.
  

What tasks does global warming present us as people of faith and as citizens?

• To take responsibility for dealing with global warming in our own choices and actions before expecting or demanding this of others,
  
• To reduce our use of energy and of things we don't really need that require energy to make and to use,
  
• To help those in need improve their quality of life without using more energy from damaging sources,
  
• To inform ourselves about public policy relating to global warming at all levels - local, regional, national and international.
  

What has happened about global warming in international diplomacy?

• A UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was adopted by more than 160 nations at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. It set a goal of stabilizing global temperature and provides for annual conferences to negotiate agreements until this goal was reached. The President signed and the Senate ratified the Framework Convention in 1993.
  
• At the 1997 conference in Kyoto, the industrialized nations adopted the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the Framework Convention, in which they each agree to make specific emissions reductions by 2012. The US reduction is to be 6-7% below its 1990 level, which is about 30% below the level of US emissions otherwise projected for 2012.
  
• At Kyoto, some important decisions about implementation were postponed. At the Hague Conference, which took place shortly after the 2000 US presidential election, the European Union (EU) insisted that every nation should reduce its domestic emissions. The US did not agree. The US also continued to press developing nations to limit their emissions as a condition for US ratification. The developing nations, led by China and India, insisted that the industrialized nations begin making reductions before they would consider limits. The Hague Conference ended with no agreement.
  
• Soon after taking office President Bush stated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol on the grounds that it could hinder the US economy. This position has generated a great deal of negative publicity in the US and in Europe. In the summer of 2001, the other 178 parties to the UN Framework came to final agreement on the terms of the Kyoto Protocol without the US. The Protocol can take effect without US participation, but it will not be possible to significantly slow global warming without US cooperation.
  

Can the Kyoto Protocol work if the developing countries don't participate?

• Opponents of the treaty in the US have repeatedly insisted it "won’t work" if developing countries "don’t participate." This assertion is based on a distortion of the Framework Convention and ignores the prior agreements that led to the Kyoto Protocol.
  
• All nations that signed the Convention must inventory their domestic emissions, create pilot programs to limit them, and participate in the international efforts to reduce global emissions.
  
• In 1996 it became clear that the 1992 agreement to reduce greenhouse emissions wasn’t working. That year in Berlin, all parties, including the US, accepted the principle that agreeing to binding reduction targets for the industrialized nations should come first, and then limiting emissions from the developing nations would follow.
  
• US per capita energy use is about twice that of Western Europe and Japan, 12 times that of China, and 20 times that of India. Since 1990, China's and India's emissions remained about the same while US emissions increased over 15%.
  
• Simple justice requires industrial nations, and the US in particular, to take the first steps to slow global warming. Clearly, it is the US, not the developing nations, that is failing to keep its agreements, and it is the US whose participation will be essential if goal of reducing greenhouse emissions on an equitable basis is to be reached. Let us begin to remove the beam from our own eye so we can see more clearly how to help our neighbors consider the speck in theirs.
  

What is happening in national policy and politics?

• In 1997, before the Kyoto conference, the US Senate passed a resolution stating it would not ratify an agreement that might harm the US economy or did not include participation by developing nations. The Global Climate Coalition, a lobby for certain coal, oil, and auto interests, was an active proponent of this resolution.
  
• Soon after taking office, President Bush reversed a campaign pledge to begin limiting CO2 emissions from coal plants. In the spring of 2001, the President released his energy plan, which focuses on increased production of fossil fuels and a renewed commitment to nuclear power. The plan largely disregards energy conservation and offers little support to promote energy efficiency and renewable technologies. It has been estimated that Bush administration’s proposals would result in an increase in US greenhouse gas emissions of as much as 35% above 1900 levels.
  
• Also in the spring of 2001, the House Foreign Relations Committee approved the Menendez Resolution, which states: "The US should be taking responsible action to ensure significant and meaningful reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide" and "continuing to participate in international negotiations with the objective of completing the rules and guidelines for the Kyoto Protocol." The primary voice for leadership in addressing climate change within the federal government is no long the executive branch, but is coming from concerned members of Congress.
  
• Reducing greenhouse emissions must become a priority of US public policy, especially energy policy. This is a reality that our leaders and our people must come to understand and accept before global warming can begin to be slowed and eventually stopped.
  

What are the alternatives to our present energy system?

• An essential first step is to replace less efficient equipment and technologies now in use with more efficient equipment and technologies that are already available.
  
• Natural gas is less polluting as a fuel than coal or oil, but it still adds both CO2 and methane to the atmosphere. Nuclear power is not a direct cause of greenhouse emissions, but the problems and risks of radioactive contamination are incompatible with caring for the earth as a sacred trust. Both natural gas and nuclear power may help make a transition away from our present system, but neither is ecologically sustainable.
  
• Wind turbines already produce electricity at a cost that is competitive with fossil fuels. Photovoltaic cells already produce electricity directly from sunlight and would be much more widely used if the cost of using fossil fuels increases.
  
• Fuel cells are being developed to produce electricity without combustion, using hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen can also be used in a combustion engine with only water as an exhaust, and electricity from solar, wind or other renewable sources can generate hydrogen. Many people are coming to think a solar/hydrogen energy system can be a solution to our present dilemma. Public policy decisions are needed to hasten the development of a practical energy system based on renewable sources.
  
• However, any energy technology used on a large scale will disrupt natural eco-systems. The more population and affluence increase, the more disruptive human impacts will become. Creating a culture in which all people can find fulfillment using less energy and fewer of the earth's physical resources is both possible and essential for sustainability.
  

Will complying with the Kyoto Protocol cost jobs and hurt the economy?

• The National Academy of Sciences found the US can reduce energy use by 20% at a net economic benefit. Eight Nobel economists and 2,400 of their colleagues concluded that cutting greenhouse emissions would increase efficiency, add jobs, and reduce costs, wastes, and oil imports. Predictions by critics of the Kyoto Protocol that it will destroy the US economy are based on unwarranted assumptions about public policy and economics.
  
• Compliance with many existing environmental regulations, including recent reductions in sulfur emissions, has cost much less than the industries involved had predicted.

But the Kyoto targets are just a first step. Dealing with global warming will cost money and will change the way we live our lives. We should not expect it will be easy, and we must find ways to be sure the burdens of change do not fall primarily on the poor and those who are most directly affected.

The longer we wait to deal with global warming, the more harm will occur and the more will be the human and economic costs for our children and grandchildren. Faithfulness to God means that we must protect God's earth and God's people regardless of cost. "To whom much has been given, much will be required."

Other resources are available from NCC Environmental Justice Resources, PO Box 968, Elkhart IN 46515, 800/762-0968:

• God’s Creation and Global Warming — This excellent video describes the threat of climate change and why people of faith care about this issue. EJ0017 $10.00
  
• NCC Global Warming Information and Strategy Packet - contains this briefing paper, two booklets ("Climate Change: State of Knowledge," and "Our Changing Climate,") "It's God's World" (see below), and suggestions for witnessing to global warming as a religious issue in congregations and in public policy - $3 (EJ-9900)
  
• John Firor, Our Changing Atmosphere, 1992, Ingram - $12 includes postage (EJ-9950).
  
• "It's God's World: Christians, Care of Creation and Global Warming," a five session study for congregations, by Vera K. White - single copy @ $2, 5 or more @ $1 (EJ-9701).
  
• Energy Stewardship Guide for Congregations — Suggestions for how your congregation can use less energy, EJ9960, free
  
• "Your Health and the Environment: A Christian Perspective," a study/action guide by
  Shantilal Bhagat - 1 to 3 copies @ $7.50; call for prices on larger orders (EJ-9780).
• Ross Gelbspan, The Heat is On, 1998, Perseus Books - $13 including postage (EJ-0012).
  

Also see these websites:

• Interfaith Climate Change Network - www.protectingcreation.org
• Union of Concerned Scientists - www.ucsusa.org
• UN Framework Convention - www.unfccc.de
• US Environmental Protection Agency - www.epa.gov
  

What can you do?

• WRITE YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE! Tell them that the US has a moral obligation, rooted in all our nation’s faith traditions, to participate in strong and fair international agreements and adopt strong national policies to reduce the pollution that contributes to global warming. This is the most important thing you can do right now!
• RESOLVE TO USE LESS ENERGY!
  • Use electricity and water, especially hot water, only when needed.
  • Use thermostat settings and insulation to conserve energy with heating, hot water and air conditioning .
  • Use a car and airplane less and a bike, bus, train or the sidewalk more.
  • Buy the most efficient appliances, lighting equipment, and cars available.
  • Discover new ways, and rediscover old ways - to have fun, get things done and enjoy God's creation without using electricity or fuel.
• ASK YOUR CONGREGATION TO MAKE A COMMITMENT to care for God's creation through worship, teaching and learning, congregational lifestyle, and community, national and global involvement. For information about the NCCC Environmental Justice Covenant Congregation program, call 212/870-2386.

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