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Energy and Ethics

by Robert Edgar

Introduction: Our Responsibility Toward Creation

After God created the Earth and its inhabitants and called it all good, God directed humans “to till” this garden and “to keep it” in the sense of protecting its inherent integrity (Gen. 2:15). From the beginning, then, God established our responsibility toward creation. If we accept that responsibility, we will not exhaust the resources that the Lord has given us; rather we will leave God’s Earth intact as an inheritance for our children.

Our responsibility carries over into daily choices that impact creation. Increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and pollution from fossil fuels harm creation itself, and also affect the health of humanity’s most vulnerable: our children and elders, people in inner cities, the poor of the planet. Our current, non-sustainable dependence on oil is warming the planet, fueling causes of war, and increasing the burdens of poverty and illness. We can use natural resources for our benefit. However, God’s intention was never for us to be careless with the abundance that has been provided. If we are thoughtless in our use of energy, it has consequences—not the least of which involves global warming.

“Keeping” Creation

By burning fossil fuels—oil, coal, and natural gas—we emit into the atmosphere large amounts of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas causing global warming. According to the National Academy of Science, over 96% of the world’s accredited scientists agree that human activities have contributed to a steady shift in the atmosphere. Yet, we continue on a dangerous course. Consider these trends:

  • Global greenhouse gas emissions, most significantly from burning fossil fuels, are projected to increase average temperatures by 2.5 to 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit into the next century. The result: rising seas, weather and agricultural disruptions, floods, migrating diseases (like the West Nile Virus), refugees, and other dislocations that disproportionately harm the planet's poor and vulnerable.
  • The United States, with only four percent of the world’s population generates over twenty-five percent of the world’s CO2 emissions. Roughly one-third of those emissions come from the vehicles we drive, a third from power plants, and the final third from other, individual energy use.
  • We are becoming more and more accustomed to driving our own automobiles instead of using mass transit or car-pooling. This poor energy choice is compounded by the fact that the petroleum-fueled automobiles now being built and marketed in the U.S. are, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, at a 15-year low in fuel economy.

Energy choices that damage the Earth also fuel injustice in many parts of the world. For example, the United States now imports more than fifty percent of its oil, almost one quarter of which comes from the Persian Gulf. Growing world demand for oil—particularly from China, India, and Brazil—will mean a transfer of more than $1 trillion over the next twenty years to the Persian Gulf alone, whose nations historically have had leadership that is autocratic, undemocratic, corrupt, or violent. Saddam Hussein is a prime example.

As committed peacemakers, people of faith also must question our oil-hungry nation’s interest in conflicts that involve oil – most especially the looming possibility of initiating war against Iraq, which controls vast oil reserves. If such an invasion occurs, it will be the children of Iraq and their families who will pay most heavily with their lives. As citizens of an industrialized society, we must begin to challenge ourselves to be better stewards.  A good place to begin is with the cars we drive.

Values and Vehicles

Last November, I was part of a group of Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical leaders who met with auto industry executives and union leaders in Detroit to talk about fuel efficiency as a moral issue of global sustainability, security and justice—or as catchy TV ads released simultaneously from the Evangelical Environmental Network put it: “What Would Jesus Drive?”

We sought candid dialogue with the auto executives because “automobiles are having such an extraordinary global impact,” according to an open letter we delivered to the automakers. “Automobile manufacturing now requires thinking about ethics, not just engineering, about values not just vehicles,” we said. “We ask you in the automobile industry a more explicit question: what specific pledges—in volume, timing, and commitments to marketing—will you make to produce automobiles, SUVs, and pick-up trucks with substantially greater fuel economy?”

Our faith groups pledged themselves to fresh initiatives in education and advocacy aimed at establishing greater fuel economy as a moral priority. These efforts include programs to:

·        bring the need for greater fuel economy before national and local religious groups;

·        send sermon and study materials to 100,000 congregations;

·        train hundreds of clergy and laity as spokespeople for energy conservation and fuel economy;

·        publish articles on fuel economy throughout the extensive religious media—in bulletins, newsletters, magazines, e-mail, web sites and other outlets;

·        encourage bold efforts, nationally and locally, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles; and

·        seek ongoing conversations with other stakeholders in the communities of labor, commerce, science, religion, and government.

Moral Action Steps: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

All people of faith may not be policy makers or energy experts or have the technological know-how to engineer a fuel-efficient future. What all faithful Americans do have is the power of individual choice and an individual responsibility. In regard to fuel economy, here are three simple things we can do:

  1. Choose an alternative to driving: Next time you need to get to the store or to work, ask yourself if you can get there by taking public transportation, walking, or bicycling. You’ll cover the same ground and protect the air at the same time.
  2. Purchase with prudence: When you find yourself in the market for a new automobile, remember that buying a car is a moral choice. Consider buying a fuel-efficient car that conserves energy and does the least damage to the environment. Be mindful that every mile you drive has an impact on the air we breathe.
  3. Speak you mind—and your heart: If you are willing to do your part to reduce the harmful effects of global warming, shouldn’t automakers and political leaders meet you half way? Tell Ford, GM, and Chrysler executives that you support the development of vehicles that use hybrid-electric, fuel cell, and other clean technologies. Go to: www.protectingcreation.org. With a single click you can tell the automakers to build cleaner cars. You can also let your elected officials know that you support conservation policies that invest in renewable energy, limit pollution and drilling in environmentally sensitive areas, and increase gas mileage standards.

Let us resolve to be better stewards; even small steps will get us moving in the right direction. Let us live out our values in driving our cars, and stop letting our cars drive our values.

The Rev. Robert Edgar, a United Methodist minister, is General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ.  Formerly he served six terms as a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania.

 
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