An Opportunity for Leadership
The theme of the posts and articles at this site is simple and can be expressed as follows.
We are running headfirst into physical and ecological limits. We have left it too late to change course. We are now faced not with problems, but with predicaments.
Problems have solutions, predicaments do not. When faced with a problem we can find solutions, and the problem is solved. When faced with a predicament we can respond and adapt, but we cannot make it go away.
Governments, both national and international, have failed to respond to these limits, and there is no reason to believe that that situation will continue. Hence,
Leadership is needed. The church can provide that leadership; it has done so before and it can do it again. But first, church leaders need to work out a theology for out times.
I see many people and groups, including many church groups, working with great dedication on a wide variety of “Care of God’s Creation” projects and activities. These efforts are wonderful and deserve our unstinting support. However, I do have a concern as to whether we are always taking the best actions. For example, someone may purchase and electric vehicle (EV) and proudly say that they are now driving emissions-free. But such a statement may be disingenuous. After all, the electricity that the vehicle uses comes from a power plant that has plenty of emissions. And the mining of lithium and other rare earth metals needed for the batteries can be environmentally destructive. I suggest, therefore, that we need to think in terms of systems. And, since this material is written for people of faith, this means that we need a theology for our times.
I am a retired chemical engineer with only limited training in theology. However, I do have a grasp of the physical, thermodynamic, ecological and project management constraints within which we must work. Therefore, at this site, and in the book that I am writing, I provide some thoughts and suggestions that I hope that professional theologians, seminarians and ordained clergy will find helpful. To reiterate: the Church has a wonderful opportunity to provide leadership.
An Age of Limits
The first step is working out a theology for out times is to understand that we have entered an ‘Age of Limits’ — we are running headfirst and full-tilt into physical limits.
The topic that receives the most attention is climate change. We have already dumped so many greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that rising global temperatures are already having serious consequences. But climate is not the only limit that we face. Indeed, it may not be the most serious. We are also hitting limits to do with Earth’s resources. Oil and gas receive the most publicity, but we are also irreversibly depleting many other resources, such as the rare earth elements that are needed for our electric vehicles and digital devices, the freshwater that we need for our crops, and even the fish in the sea. We are learning the hard way that we cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet.
Probably the most important limit is ecological. We are destroying forests, animal species and insects at an unprecedented and unforgivable rate. In Genesis 28 we read,
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Well, we certainly nailed that one. If we are to restore a harmony with the world that we are a part of, we need to move away from that commandment.
Three Guidelines
We have already talked about the need for a theology for our times. Here are three guidelines/suggestions that I suggest as a starting point.
Understand and tell the truth.
Accept and adapt.
Be part of the ecosphere.
A Subscription Model
At the start of the year 2022 I started a subscription model for publishing information to do with Process Safety Management and related topics. That project has gone well. Therefore, I decided to use the same system for my work to do with ‘Faith in a Changing Climate’. I invite you to subscribe to the material posted here.
If you do choose to subscribe you will receive regular notifications of new posts at this site. This is a blog, so there is a chat feature. Therefore, I strongly encourage people to join the discussions posted here — we are discussing immensely complex topics, no one can grasp all of it. And that’s before we even start the theological ramifications of an Age of Limits.
Therefore, it you find the material that is presented here to be useful and/or interesting, sign up as a free subscriber. You can, of course, unsubscribe at any time.
