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No planet B | With biblical floods and famine on the cards, the fight against global warming needs faiths to get serious about green issues
Environment
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19 June 2019
Giuseppe Ciccia/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty ImagesBy Graham Lawton
IN 2011, when the Republican party took back the US House of Representatives from the Democrats, one of its first actions was to get rid of environmentally friendly crockery in the cafeterias there and bring back good ol’ plastic. The Republicans insisted that the eco cups and cutlery weren’t biodegradable and cost too much, but the subtext was clear: screw the environment, and all who sail in her.
I retell this anecdote not to rake over old coals, but to suggest that you can tell a lot about an organisation’s environmental commitment by looking at its catering operation. Judging from the cutlery at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, the Vatican still has a long way to go. At first glance, the knives, forks and spoons look like metal. But they turn out to be metal-coated plastic. Non-recyclable, metal-coated plastic. One use, and they are off to landfill purgatory.
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I was there for a conference on non-religious belief (yes, at a university administered by the Vatican!), but unexpectedly ended up hearing a lot about the environment. It turns out that secularism, religion and environmentalism are entwined in ways that have scarcely been explored, yet will become more important as the environmental crisis gathers pace.
Shortly before the minor political tremor over tableware in Congress, a real earthquake struck Christchurch in New Zealand. It caused widespread destruction and killed 185 people. There was an unexpected aftershock. New Zealand is one of the world’s least religious countries, but after the quake, attendance at religious services rose dramatically and stayed high for months.
This is taken as good evidence of the “existential threat” hypothesis of belief, which holds that where life is more precarious, people increasingly turn to religion.
One little-explored effect of climate disaster – which pretty much defines the concept of an existential threat – is what it will do to religiosity. Given what we already know about quakes and other natural disasters, I would bet good money on it driving people into the arms of God.
In other words, what the major world religions teach about environmental issues will become increasingly important. And from what I heard in Rome, I am not confident that they will be helpful. The Catholic church looks quite green. But like its cutlery, appearances can be deceptive.
“I’d bet good money on the threat of climate change driving people into the arms of God”
In 2015, Pope Francis issued an encyclical on the environment. For those (like me) unfamiliar with Vatican terminology, that is a bit like a memo from head office informing regional managers about the boss’s latest thinking. It isn’t an instruction, but is guidance that you are well advised to heed.
The encyclical called for rapid action on environmental destruction and biodiversity loss, which enraptured some environmentalists. The Catholic church has 1.3 billion followers worldwide. They don’t hang on the Pope’s every word, but he is still influential.
However, there are reasons to regard the encyclical with scepticism. For one thing, it said nothing about birth control, which the church opposes, and hence the topic of my last column, population growth. The encyclical also seems to have been quickly forgotten. In Rome, I asked a young, devout theology student from the Philippines whether it had made an impact on the church’s teachings or the attitudes of its followers. Not a bit, he said.
There is a more fundamental reason to be suspicious. According to Lori Beaman, professor of religious diversity and social change at the University of Ottawa in Canada, the encyclical remains steeped in the Christian tradition of stewardship, which holds that God entrusted humans to take care of Earth but will heal whatever damage we do. In the past, this has been interpreted as divine consent to rape and pillage the planet as we see fit.
Of course, the Catholic church may be absolutely sincere. If so, it needs to up its game and start preaching the message. And it isn’t the only faith in town. How other religions respond to environmental breakdown matter just as much. There are some positive signs: there was a strong religious presence at Extinction Rebellion’s recent climate protests.
Like many other progressive, secular environmentalists, I am deeply conflicted about getting into bed with religion. But as we descend into a climate and biodiversity crisis, we are going to need all the help we can get.
There is probably no God, but if there is, it would be better if He was on our side.
This column will appear monthly. Up next week: Annalee Newitz
More on these topics:
climate change
religion