Content copyright . Rev. Dr. Paul Hull. All rights reserved.
In the twentieth century the glory of the human had become the desolation of the Earth, and now the desolation of the Earth is becoming the destiny of the human. From here on, the primary judgement of all human institutions, professions, programs, and activities will be determined by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a mutually-enhancing human-Earth relationship.
~Thomas Berry
I hope these words inspire you as they do me.
For too long, humans have acted as if we were the only species with rights on this planet. It is time this changes. For to long, humans have acted as if the Earth could not be damaged beyond its capacity to support human civilization.
Now with the specter of human-caused climate change, massive shifts in global climate are underway.
If significant change doesn't happen soon, global human civilization will collaspe and the extinction of species will accelerate.
But there is still time to act. There is hope.
Religious people all over the planet are looking to their faith tradiitions and drawing out those stories and rituals that "foster a mutually-enhancing human-Earth relationship."
Religion concerns ultimate values. If we are to reverse the destruction of the Earth by human activities, change has to come from a diverse religious environmental movement of global scale.
Here are a few humble offerings in hopes that they may inspire action and change.
This web page section is about finding inspirations to act for change.
INSPIRATIONS FOR CHANGE
A LITANY FROM AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
SERMONS BY REV. DR. PAUL HULL
January 7, 2007: "What’s Cooking? The Earth!"
This sermon focuses on what could happen if we don’t change human contributions to global warming and provides examples of hope for change.
April 20, 2008: Reflectons on Environmental Action by Paul
A short reflection as part of an Earth Day Service based on Dr. Seuss' story The Lorax.
April 22, 2007: "We Are the Earth"
A sermon to help us see that we are truly connected to the Earth and part of it. The sermon call for a new kind of patriotism– an Earth patriotism. Here too is an ecological interpretation of the Genesis story where humanity is seen as the Earth Creature tending the garden. The sermon ends with an appeal of interfaith understanding and a call for Christians to drop exclusives position in religion to create true dialogue about environmental issues among the religions.
September 27,2009: “A Greener Faith”
Religion has often been used to justify explotation and destruction of the Earth. Subdue the Earth and multiply, we are told. An yet there are other sources just as valid that view the earth as a garden to be cherished. This sermon draws on Jewish, Christian, and Hindu sources to show how religious inspiration from cherished religious traditions and rituals can be reframed into an emerging religious environmentalism.
A LITANY FROM AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
A collection of quotations from Al Gore’s movie, An Inconvenient Truth, in two voices:
Voice 1: There is a misconception that the scientific community is in a state of disagreement about whether global warming is real, whether human beings are the principal cause, and whether its consequences are so dangerous as to warrant immediate action. In fact, there is no serious disagreement remaining on any of these central points that make up the consensus view of the world scientific community.
Voice 2: According to Jim Baker, when he was head of NOAA, the scientific agency responsible for most of the measurements related to global warming, “There is a better scientific consensus on this issue than any other… with the possible exception of Newton’s Law of Dynamics.”
V1: Articles in the popular press about global warming in the past 14 years: 626
V2: Percentage of those articles in doubt as to the cause of global warming: 53%
V1: Number of peer reviewed articles studied that deal with climate change published in scientific journals during the previous 10 years: 928
V2: Percentage of those articles in doubt as to the cause of global warming: 0%
V1: A memo from the Brown and Williamson tobacco company in the 1960s:
“Doubt is our product, since it is the best means of competing with the body of fact that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy.”
V2: The ten hottest years on record have occurred in the last 14 years.
V1: Unbelievable tragedies have been unfolding in the part of Africa that includes southern Sudan to the east of Lake Chad, where genocidal murders have become commonplace in the region of Darfur. In Niger, just to the west of Lake Chad, the regionwide drought has contributed to the famine conditions that put millions at risk.
V2: Since the 1970s, the extent and thickness of the Arctic ice cap has diminished precipitously. There are now studies showing that if we continue with business as usual, the Arctic ice cap will completely disappear each year during the summertime. At present, it plays a crucial role in cooling the earth.
V1: The melting of ice represents bad news for creatures like polar bears. A new scientific study shows that, for the first time, polar bears have been drowning in significant numbers. Such deaths have been rare in the past. But now, these bears find they have to swim much longer distances from floe to floe.
V2: The Larsen-B ice shelf in Antarctica was about 150 miles long and 30 miles wide. Scientists thought this ice shelf would be stable for at least another century – even with global warming. But starting on January 31, 2002, it completely broke up within 35 days. Scientists were absolutely astonished. They couldn’t figure out how in the world this had happened so rapidly. They learned it was due to a process of melting and tunneling that is also happening in Greenland.
V1: If Greenland melted or broke and slipped into the sea – or if half of Greenland and half of Antarctica melted or broke up and slipped into the sea, sea levels world wide would increase between 18 and 20 feet.
V2: Half of South Florida would be underwater.
V1: San Francisco Bay would rise and overrun huge portions of Oakland, San Jose and the bedroom communities of the Silicon Valley.
V2: More than 20 million people would have to be evacuated from the area surrounding Beijing.
V1: More than 40 million people in Shanghai.
V2: And in Calcutta and Bangladesh, 60 million people would be displaced.
V1: Our new technologies, combined with our numbers, have made us, collectively, a force of nature. Our minds make us a force for creative change.
V2: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead
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