Christianity and the Climate Crisis

by Jacinta Peachey

I was sat in mass on Sunday, not in the best headspace, but nonetheless I was there. My little brother to the right of me, grumpy that he had lost his football match, and my sister to the left of me, very distracted by the “well fit” guy that just walked into church. With a big sigh I thought ‘can we just start already, it’s cold and wet, my siblings are frustrating me and I want to go home’.

As all masses go, we had the readings, the Gospel and then Father stood up to deliver his homily. He opened his homily saying “a young girl, Greta Thunberg, has caused quite the storm in the media recently”. I looked over and smiled at my sister as if to say ‘here we go…’.

Father surprised me and spoke in support of the work of Greta Thunberg, describing how she has rallied for environmental awareness, and praised her efforts and impact. He then spoke of Extinct Rebellion (if you are unaware, Extinct Rebellion are group who use “non-violent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction”). Father explained that while Greta Thunberg talks about hope, Extinct Rebellion use words like “mass extinction” and “social collapse”.

We cannot hide from the fact that there is evidentially an issue with our crisis, Thunberg says “I want you to act as if the house if on fire, because it is”. 2,240,000 acres of the Amazon rainforest has recently burned caused by a ‘slash-and-burn’ approach to deforest land for agriculture and effects of climate change. Antarctica’s ice is melting at a scary rate, and our oceans are FULL of plastic. Greta Thunberg is campaigning for change; that we, companies and consumers don’t “sacrifice priceless values” to continue to make unimaginable amounts of money and to satisfy our consumer wants.  

Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 16: 19-31) told the story of the Lazarus, a beggar who lay at the gates of a rich man clothed in fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every day. When both men died, Lazarus joined Abraham in heaven, and the rich man was buried in hell. The rich man cried out asking Abraham to send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool his tongue. Abraham replied “Son, remember that in your lifetime you were given all good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain.” The rich man pleads to Abraham, that Lazarus go down to his father’s house to warn his brothers, so that they may not come “to this place of pain”. But Abraham responds to say that his brothers have Moses to warn them, and that if they will not listen to Moses then will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from dead.

(Stay with me here, I’m about to make the link).

See Moses gave us the Ten Commandments sent from God, to warn us of gluttony, habitual greed, excess in eating and consuming more than we require. God gave us the Ten Commandments to live by, to govern our lives. I like many try to live a good and holy life, but fail relentlessly, but we have a forgiving God who brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (see Exodus 20:2). We have a God who performs miracles, who bears children to those past childbearing age (see Hebrews 11:11). We have a God who “in all things works for the good of those who love Him” (see Romans 8:28-29). We have a God who loves us, and who will not allow us to suffer for He has given us Hope.

Hope, our main theme for the recent Walsingham Festival 2019, allows us to come into His eternal glory, allows us to reap from eternal life. “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:8).

Like Greta Thunberg, we can hope for our world, we can share the Good News. Our world is full of pessimistic views; opinions of destruction and extinction, but we have the opportunity of external life. As Christians we must spread the Good News in our daily lives, and that can start with something as simple as respecting the earth that Our Lord created for us. We can (and should) obey the Ten Commandments, not being greedy or gluttonous. We must find hope within ourselves and share that hope with others, for “how can they believe if they have not heard the message?” (see Romans 10:14).

This Friday, 4^th October is CAFOD Family Fast Day. By fasting we can donate the money that we would have spent on food, to CAFOD who are working to feed those less fortunate than ourselves*. We can learn from the young, like Greta Thunberg who are hopeful for a better future; a future that begins with change. We should make an effort this Friday and from now on to change our gluttonous and sinful ways; reduce the use of packaging and single use plastics, abstain from meat on Fridays, recycle correctly and research how we can make a positive impact on the environment. As Christians we are very responsible for our environmental footprint, and we should be taking campaigns, such as Greta Thunberg’s, seriously in order to respect the house God created for us.

Isaiah 40:31 – "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint”. 

*For more information on how to get involved for CAFOD Fast Day, see: https://cafod.org.uk/Fundraise/Fast-Day