Edgework

About 15 years ago, in the wake of a burnout in the context of church ministry, I started to pay attention to the world around me. Having been sidelined from gainful employment, I had lots of time to notice signs of the ecological crisis we were in. And, the more I woke up to the crisis, the more I began to wonder why my church community seemingly had nothing to say about it.

Gradually I came to the conclusion that if the human species did not make some dramatic changes soon my grandchildren would have to suffer dire consequences. So I became an environmental activist, because I was intent on leaving a legacy to my grandchildren. I imagined them, in the midst of their apocalypse, asking why people of faith had not seen this coming and tried to do something about it. I wanted them to know that their grandfather had, indeed, tried his best to address these serious issues as a Jesus follower.

So I was instrumental in forming the South Eastman Transition Initiative in Steinbach which sponsored monthly events to discuss ecological issues, offer environmental education and advocate for responsible lifestyles in the local media. In those days we avoided the term, “Climate Change,” because climate change was still considered a hoax by many who were not ready to question status-quo lifestyles. Now climate change is considered to be a real phenomenon by most serious scientists and an increasing percentage of the world’s population – minus some conservative politicians.

But now I have thrown all caution to the wind because the apocalypse I had envisioned for my grandchildren already seems to be upon us. I am now witnessing and experiencing what I had predicted for my progeny. Waking up to thick smoke from forest fires, as I did frequently this past week, left me with a sense of foreboding that the apocalypse has come earlier than I had expected.

This year California published its fourth “Climate Change Assessment,” drawing on more than 40 peer-reviewed studies in which they outline

“…expected economic and public health impacts – billions of dollars of damage as well as ‘earlier deaths and worsening illnesses’ among residents – based on climate projections, which include:

• Temperature increases coupled with more dangerous heat waves and droughts, which most dramatically affect ‘low-income’ households, people of color, and communities already burdened with environmental pollution;
• More intense rain events and sea-level rise, causing costly inland and coastal flooding that could wipe out many of the state’s beaches and waterfront properties;
• Less snow that melts more quickly, which will impact water supply; and

• More ‘extreme wildfires’ that destroy greater swaths of land.”

Although this study is focused on California, the fact is that such studies are being generated around the world and it seems they are all working off the same template. The massive wildfires in British Columbia are not unrelated to those in California. The threat to safe water supplies is equally ominous in places like California and Cape Town, South Africa. And it is no secret that the global temperatures of the last four years have exceeded all known records. All seven billion people living on the earth are in this together. Eventually none will be spared.

One of the reasons things are moving faster than we expected ten years ago is the effect of what is being called “feedback loops.” It is not as though we are just gradually getting warmer all over the world and we need to get used to these minimal temperature increases. What is happening is that even minor temperature changes in different parts of the world set off unexpected phenomena which speed up the heating process and cause unforeseen and often devastating results. You might think of it as chain reactions that keep getting more and more intense.

A case in point is the warming of the Arctic region. As polar ice melts it forms puddles on the ice which no longer reflect the sun’s rays as effectively as the ice once did, thus speeding up overall warming. Similarly, with more and more open water instead of ice-cover, even more heat is absorbed. Changing ocean temperatures affect ocean currents. There is mounting evidence that some of the Gulf Stream that normally heads across the Altantic toward Northern Europe is finding its way into arctic waters, flowing northward between Greenland and Baffin Island. No wonder that temperature increases in the Arctic are 2 to 4 times higher than in other places on the planet.

Another “feedback loop” example relates to the massive forest fires around the world. Of course, one of the reasons for the fires in the first place is drought brought on by increasingly hot temperatures. As forests burn they emit massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and eliminate millions of hectares of trees which would have absorbed carbon dioxide – both cause for even higher temperatures. On top of that, the burned forests destabilize the forest floor causing massive erosion and mudslides when the rains do come.

A third example is the unexpected effect of varying temperature changes on the jet stream. Historically, the jet stream was kept in place by a more or less fixed ratio between southern and northern temperatures. With faster warming in the arctic, the jet stream is stalling out and meandering more often than not. That results in a whole variety of new and unexpected weather conditions in many regions, creating unusual heatwaves, droughts, floods, cold snaps, etc.

And I am only scratching at the surface of what the human species is up against. It seems to me that the apocalypse has arrived and is not leaving any time soon. From my perspective, I think all people of faith should get on board to help mitigate the worsening trend and find ways of adapting to the new global realities we face – not only for the sake of our grandchildren, but for all who share life on God’s good earth with us today!