What
we Believe
H4PJ Position Statement
The
World Health Organization estimates that up to 160,000
people die each year due to the direct and indirect
impacts of global warming. That is the same as experiencing
the 2005 tsunami every year. If they all
had died in a single hour would millions of Americans have
risen up to demand that the United States change its attitude
toward environmental issues? Or do we simply not care about
children choking for lack of air, climate changes that
result in the starvation of millions or the fact that much
of our coastline may disappear in our lifetimes?
On National
Public Radio, the Rev. Jim Ball, Executive Director of
the Evangelical Environmental Network, said:
“The
impact of global warming will get much worse as the
century progresses. Millions could die. God’s
other creatures will suffer as well. A report in Nature
magazine suggests that up to 37 percent of God’s
creatures could become extinct in this century due
to climate change, their songs of praise to their creator
snuffed out forever. On Wednesday, [February 16, 2005]
much of the developed world takes an important first
step to address global warming as the Kyoto Protocol,
the international climate treaty, goes into effect.
The United States, however, is not participating. While
I believe President Bush cares about the plight of
the poor, this is not reflected in his climate policy.
As a country, and as the world’s No. 1 source
of green house gases, America needs to do much more.” In that
same story, the British Environmental Secretary noted that
developing nations were not among the 140 countries who
signed the Protocol because it would require some to make
choices between environmental protection and feeding the
starving. What she was graceful enough not to note was
that the richest nation on earth was almost
the only developed country not to sign the treaty. After
the Clinton administration had been a party to drafting
the treaty, the Bush Administration refused to sign it.
The whole world was stunned by the arrogance of the nation
best able to afford to honor the protocols and the nation
most responsible for many types of pollution. What
does this say about the kind of people we are?
Hope
for Peace & Justice calls upon the United States government
to recognize that global warming is a serious
and legitimate crisis facing the world. H4PJ also
calls for the signing of the Kyoto Protocol.
Today the U.S. watches as the rest of the world takes a
step toward saving the planet. The question is what will
we do?
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