Gordie,
I don't think that "Christian churches" should do anything about this.
However, Christians certainly should consider what options are available and
formulate policies that are consistent with Christian stewardship and a
concern for the poor and disenfranchised. There are enough scientists that
are Christians that have the skills to lead the way in curing our excessive
energy demands and to find ways to protect the poor from the inevitable
massive dislocations that will result from a shrinking energy supply. If we
don't, and chasing after the diminishing resources becomes a free for all,
to the rich and powerful will go the spoils.
For starters, we could find out what our energy demands are: how much energy
do we need to commute, to heat and cool our homes and churches, to fly to
conferences. How much energy do we require in the form of aluminum soft
drink cans, having things transported to us (oranges from Florida,
grapefruit from Texas, grapes from Chile). The list goes on.
We could think about what it would take to change our life styles to reduce
our energy consumption. Do we all need to live in suburbia? Do we continue
to build homes as if there was an infinite supply of energy (windows facing
north, homes built without the benefit of shade trees to provide cooling)?
Some figures to ponder (source:
http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/trends/emis/tre_tp20.htm ) :
In 1996, the per capita fossil fuel-related CO2 emission for the USA was 5.4
metric tons of carbon per year. For Canada, the figure was 3.8 and for
France 1.7. Compare this with China (0.76, but growing rapidly) and India
(0.29).
I'm not suggesting we should all live like Chinese or Indians, but the
numbers are telling. One can also wonder what gives us, North American
Christians the right to suck most of the oil and gas out of the earth's
crust for our own enjoyment. If we were using these resources to spread the
gospel, maybe we could make a case, but I don't think that all our energy
expenses can be chalked up to that venture.
Chuck Vandergraaf
Pinawa, MB
-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Simons [mailto:gsimons@email.unc.edu]
Sent: Monday July 30, 2001 11:19 AM
To: glenn morton
Cc: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: Agriculture and oil
I think Glenn has made a convincing case that permanent oil shortages are
on the way. This raises a couple of questions:
1. While the issue of global warming has attracted the attention of our
political institutions, no political institution seems to be viewing oil
shortages as anything but a temporary problem. A permanent oil shortage
could easily be more disruptive than some modest global warming.
2. What do Christian churches plan to do about it? Besides helping to
alleviate some of the pain it will cause when it comes, it could easily
give rise to a major evangelistic opportunity. Should not some attention
be given to planning for this?
Gordie
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