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Evangelical Perspectives on Climate and Air
A Statement of Concern
on Climate Change and the Need for Clean Energy
As evangelical Christian scientists we confess
that Jesus Christ — the Second Person of the Trinity — creates,
sustains, and reconciles all of creation (Col.
1:15-20; Jn. 1:3; Heb. 1:3; I Cor. 8:6). From
the beginning God declared the creation to be
good (Gen. 1:31). Through Christ, God made a world
of balance and order (Ps. 104), with appropriate
seasons to ensure the fecundity of the Earth (Lev.
26:4; Dt. 11:14-15; Jer. 5:24). However, Scripture
warns that the actions of human beings can pollute
the Earth and cause disruption of the balance
God desires (Jer. 2:7; 3:2b-3a; 12:4-5). The burning
of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas to
produce electricity for our homes and offices
and to power our vehicles results in significant
air pollution and water pollution. Through the
release of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse
gas, the burning of fossil fuels also substantially
contributes to the threat of global climate change.
We concur with the scientific consensus represented
by the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) which was overseen by our
evangelical Christian colleague Sir John Houghton
in his capacity as co-chair of IPCC Working Group
I. The IPCC’s Second Assessment Report concluded
in 1995 “the balance of evidence suggests
that there is a discernible human influence on
global climate.” |
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The findings of the IPCC Third Assessment Report
of 2001 have served to confirm and strengthen
this conclusion. The ever-increasing concentrations
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human
activities are causing climate to change at a
rate probably greater than has occurred for 10,000
years. This poses a serious threat to all of creation – especially the poor, the children, and
the unborn or future generations – and therefore
works against the reconciliation of all creation
wrought through the blood of Jesus Christ (Col.
1:20).
Specifically, global climate change is likely
to lead to:
- A substantial increase in many places in the
intensity and frequency of floods and droughts
(the causes of the world’s most damaging
disasters), and;
- A significant rise in mean global sea level
(at a rate of about half a meter per century).
- These changes would in turn seriously affect
many human communities. In particular it could:
- Render substantial areas of low lying river
delta regions (such as Bangladesh, Southern
China, and Egypt) and low-lying islands (e.g.
many in the Pacific and Indian oceans) uninhabitable;
- Reduce agricultural output in many tropical
regions where a substantial number of the world’s
poor live;
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