Global Climate Change and Repentance

Alternative Title: There's Hope for Job like a Cut Down Tree




For a long time I've noticed small parallels between prophets and scientists. We both are concerned with the future and making predictions. We both are interested in the well-being of the public. We both have to listen, to God or our experiments, and hear what they have to say even when we don't like what the implications are. And well-funded scientists are ones whose experiments pertain directly to real life. "Yes, you may build a highway here, there are no wetlands" or, "No, you may not tap this spring, you will destroy the ecosystem". These statements sound a lot like "Yes, the Lord will bless you in battle today." I'm not saying scientists have a direct line to God. But I do wonder how the message of global climate change would be different if it were written like it came from one of the Biblical minor prophets.

It might say,
"You have been too greedy, and stolen from your children. You have been too lazy and thus become dependent on the devices which will kill you. These are wicked ways. Repent or you and your children will be destroyed along with the Land you so abuse. Now is the time to repent. Do not wait for your neighbor."

Bad things happen when a culture does not listen to its prophets.

It does seem apparent to me though that at the stem of global climate change are moral issues like greed, sloth, and not listening to the voiceless - in our case, future generations. So approaching global climate change as a moral issue:

I don't think the people know how to repent of this. I don't think people have a good picture of what sustainable living looks like. They don't know how to choose anything other than what they've grown up with.

The closest thing to a healthy picture of sustainability in the public conscience may be Native American culture or Tolkien's Hobbiton or the Amish. These seem so primitive by comparison, but in a healthy world, some combination of these things may be an accurate picture of the future.

I think I'm joining the Regressive party ;)

Back to the point, though, I think we need to teach people how to repent (make 180 degree turns) of sins against the Earth.