NEWS STORY: NCC unveils interfaith effort to combat global warming

c. 1998 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The National Council of Churches, in an attempt to bring a”religious and moral consensus”to an international effort aimed at decreasing the effects of global warming, has unveiled an interfaith initiative urging the United States to adopt a controversial treaty designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emission levels of […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The National Council of Churches, in an attempt to bring a”religious and moral consensus”to an international effort aimed at decreasing the effects of global warming, has unveiled an interfaith initiative urging the United States to adopt a controversial treaty designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emission levels of developed nations.”The issues of the environment do not come as new issues but are long thought of as the work of the churches,”NCC General Secretary Joan Brown Campbell said Tuesday (Aug. 18) in announcing the effort.

Campbell, noting the NCC has worked on environmental issues for the past 20 years, said the council is”taking the lead”against global warming because it is a”moral issue”involving Christian concepts of justice.”It is often the poor, often people of color … often the developing nations who pay a greater price for environmental waste … than others do,”she said.


The NCC’s four-point environmental strategy includes a letter to President Clinton urging him to submit to the Senate the Kyoto Protocol, a hotly debated treaty calling on the world’s developed nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, which many in the scientific community believe cause global warming. Under the proposal, the United States would be required to cut its emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels.

In a separate letter to each U.S. senator, the NCC urges the ratification of the pact, which was developed by 159 nations last December in Japan. Both letters were signed by 24 of the NCC’s 34 member denominations, which includes mainline Protestant, Orthodox and historic black churches.”We have been encouraged by your administration’s public commitment to address climate change responsibly,”the religious leaders wrote Clinton on Aug. 10.”… The Kyoto Protocol represents the initial commitment by the nations to take the first steps in reducing emissions of the gases that are causing global warming. It is an important move toward protecting God’s children and God’s creation.” The Clinton administration _ most notably Vice President Al Gore _ already supports the Kyoto Protocol but has stalled in signing the treaty because it faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

Senate Republicans say the measure is unfair because it requires only developed nations to roll back their emission levels. The treaty also is opposed by major industries, especially coal, oil, steel and electric power producers, because of the huge expenses they say are associated with cutting greenhouse gas levels.

But the religious leaders say local congregations overwhelmingly support measures that help improve the overall well-being of the environment. They hope to build grassroots interest on the issue into a nationwide campaign.”National religious leadership is responding to the concern from people in the pews across the country who believe this is something on which we should be working,”said Campbell.

Other aspects of the NCC’s environmental strategy include:

_ Sending global warming information packets, containing an editorial by Campbell entitled”Global Climate Change: A Religious Issue”and a public service announcement featuring best-selling writer and poet Maya Angelou, to 540″environmental justice coordinators”associated with the NCC. In addition, some 60,000 congregations have been sent a five-session Bible study and church bulletin inserts concerning global warming.

_ An educational effort on the harmful effects of global warming that targets key industrial and agricultural states _ Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Nebraska, Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota. In addition to NCC member churches, other participants in the nine-state initiative include Roman Catholic, Jewish and evangelical Christian groups.

_ A Midwest Interfaith Climate Change conference scheduled for Oct. 25-26 in Columbus, Ohio. In addition to providing current information and strategies about combating global warming, the meeting will prepare religious leaders to explain the message to U.S. senators.”We are concentrating on states with legitimate needs to be protected and whose senators will be pivotal in the global warming debate,”said Campbell.”We are going where the problems are and where the votes are.”


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