We Can Delete and Deny, but Climate Change is Real

by Katherine Smith

This week, we celebrated the most wonderful day in the Christian calendar – Easter! Our lives are filled with a time of spiritual renewal of our faith and our worship of Christ as our Lord and Savior. Add to that the joy of Easter egg hunts, family meals, and Spring events. This week, we also get to celebrate this beautiful space we call home on Earth Day. God created and loves this world, and hopes that we do,too!

On the eve of Earth Day, we lost Pope Francis. For many of us, whether we are Catholic or not, PopeFrancis was a voice of hope for the poor and marginalized and a champion for the world that holds us all. His major work, Laudoto Si’, is as profound now as it was 10 years ago when it was first published. Francis heard the painful cries of the earth and of the poor. He bravely called out governments and corporations for contributing to the current troublesome situation. He also noted that there was a lack of leadership to move us beyond the same old methods and towards the new visions needed to confront the climate change crisis. Pope Francis didn’t realize how prophetic his words would be – and not in a good way! “It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been. (54)” 1

While there are many amazing things we can celebrate this Earth Day, the previous few months have given us pause. Many of us have been caught up in the sudden loss of jobs. We watch with horror every day as our rights are simply stripped away, as if they never mattered at all. Any words or articles about ‘climate change’ have been deleted, as if that will make it all go away. Funds to help those most affected by the climate crisis in Africa and South America have been stopped. Rules that currently limit pollution in our air, water, and soil are being challenged or removed. Websites that track pollution and climate impacts on low-income communities around the US have been taken down. Endangered species and

national forests are threatened. Our mental and emotional energies are drained as we struggle to hold on to the most basic of human rights.

Climate change doesn’t care if you delete the words from websites. It doesn’t care if any mention of it might some day be illegal. Climate change is real and the earth’s poor and marginalized will continue to suffer – and die – from the effects of a world that has been decimated by pollution and the continued growth of industrialization. We have misplaced the sense of the divine that is still available to us everywhere. We have purposely killed off some of the natural world, changed other parts to suit our needs, and are intentionally ignoring our part in the demise of what remains. And yet…we must find that internal gift from God – that graced part of ourselves – that was created to live in harmony with the natural world instead of exploit it. We must find the energy to care for creation in the midst of the daily

onslaught of news. We must find the strength to give up our ‘stuff’ in order to let others live. We need to stop and smell the flowers, hug a tree, and listen to cicadas sing. We must care. It is as simple as that.

1 https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-

laudato-si.html 24 May 2015

Katherine Smith serves as executive director of Baptist Creation Care Initiative.