Reflection: Why haven't we done anything about global warming?

Image by Roxanna Falleiro

Fr Philip Dyer-Perry, Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Rosary church in Staines gave this homily over the weekend - during which the parish held their Pet Blessing.

'I first heard about the environmental crisis about thirty years ago when I was a teenager. Back then global warming was called the 'greenhouse effect'. And since then not a lot has changed - or rather things have changed - they've got worse. And I so I wonder why over all that time we've not really done anything about it.

I think there's three reasons for this. First of all, for most of us it's a bad news story, it's a disaster, and while disaster stories make good movies they don't bring about lasting behaviour change. Instead, faced with news about rising sea levels, climate change, loss of habitats, our first reaction is to close our ears and think about other things - and that's a very human reaction. Some of you might be old enough to remember hell-fire sermons where the preacher would try to guilt and frighten you into behaving in a certain way - but that kind of approach doesn't really work in the long term, and it's the same with this. If we frighten people, guilt people, shame people it just doesn't work, which is a serious problem when this is such a serious issue.

The other reason for our lack of activity is that all too often it can feel like it's someone else's concern - that someone else is persuading us, cajoling us, making us do or don't do certain things. It's those environmentalists, it's those hippies, it's those protesters, it's that government legislation, it's the EU, it's even the Church - and let's face it, none of us like being told what to do (well, I speak for myself...), even if it is the right thing.

And the third reason is that faced with this climate emergency we can feel powerless to make any kind of difference. What's the point of changing our energy provider, investing in solar panels, switching to public transport, replacing our appliances, sometimes at considerable inconvenience and expense, if others around us, and certain other large industrialised nations seem to be going on polluting to their hearts' content?

But while all of these reasons are valid, I think as Christians we need to look at things differently, because our faith is all about good news and I think that when we look at the environment, at the world we live in, we're looking at a good news story, not a disaster movie. The good news is that the world in which we live is the most precious gift of God, and not only is it a beautiful, wonderful precious gift, but it's a gift that we have the supreme privilege of being called to be stewards of. You only have to watch a David Attenborough documentary, or go for a walk by the river Thames, or feel the refreshing breeze on a warm day, or play with your pet, or get your fingers green in the garden to know we've been given something so precious, so beautiful that we actually quite enjoy and really love taking care of it. Care of creation is innate to us.

And that word, creation, says a lot too, because creation is not a done deal - it's not finished. God didn't just create the world and leave it to us to mess it up, but rather God is still at work, God is still creating the world and we are not only its stewards but co-creators with God. God shares with us the task of creating, caring, nurturing our world - isn't that a wonderful thing?

And so, to answer the other two objections, we're all environmentalists, because we're already engaged in that task of caring for our world - and in a sense even if what we do seems to make little difference, our actions to care for our planet are an act of God's creative love and so they are always valuable, they are always worthwhile.

Now sometimes when you love someone, or you're passionate about something, it does involve a level of behaviour change, it does involve some inconvenience, some expense, and even some sacrifice - but we do it because we want to do it, because it matters to us, because it's our free and loving response to such a great gift of God.

May the Holy Spirit which breathes all over the face of the earth, cause us to fall in love with her creation, and inspire us to do what it takes to put that love in action.'