Faith demands action on climate change, Archbishop says

-29/03/06

Dr Rowan Williams, s


Faith demands action on climate change, Archbishop says

-29/03/06

Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the worldís 77 million Anglicans, has called on the UK government and other governmentís around the world to take practical steps to get people to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC in London this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that both faith and human values demand consolidated action to address the climate change situation, not least because of the terrible impact it is having, and will continue to have, on the worldís poorest people.

The Archbishop said that there was no escaping the fact that ordinary people had a moral responsibility to change lifestyles. But he stressed that this was not a matter of simply ëlecturingí. It was something pressed upon us by the facts of the situation.

The consequences if we did not address C02 emissions, Dr Williams warned, would be the deaths of billions of people worldwide from the effects of extreme climate change.

He said the biblical narrative made it clear that God would hold people accountable when they had been warned they were going down the wrong path.

And the Archbishop also said that US President George W Bush’s stance of refusing to cut emissions because it might compromise American jobs was not compatible with a Christian point of view.

“I think if we look at the language of the Bible we very often come across situations where people are judged for not responding to warnings,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I think what the Bible and the Christian tradition suggest is that those who have that challenge put before them, and not only that challenge but the evidence for it, and don’t respond, bear a very heavy responsibility before God.”

His comments came on the day of the UK government’s long-awaited climate change review. This is supposed to demonstrate how the government will achieve its self-imposed 20% cut in CO2 levels by 2010.

But the most optimistic scenario in the document will achieve no more than 18%; the worst-case scenario is less than 15%. The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) has been bidding for big business to be allowed to actually increase emissions.

Responding to the Archbishopís comments on The Today programme, government minister Margaret Beckett said that she agreed with them. But she said that the government declined to use moral language too much, ìbecause people do not like it.î

The UK government has frequently been criticised for its over-concern with opinion polls, focus groups and sceptical media comments. But Ms Beckett denied that Labourís policy was being hamstrung by short-termism.

The US administration has also been defensive about the Archbishopís remarks and has embarked on a counter-spin operation.

An American government commentator today told the Radio 4 Today programme that the Bush administrationís refusal of specific targets to cut harmful emissions was just a ëportfolio approachí which was ëappropriate to local conditionsí.

He also tried to play down the US governmentís policy of exporting polluting practices to third world countries in order to improve its own statistical performance, and claimed that the Kyoto Protocol would make the situation worse. The overwhelming majority of the worldís expert scientists disagree.

In the US, some evangelical Christian leaders have initiated pro-environment and climate change campaigns parallel to church initiatives in Europe and ecumenically worldwide. But they face an uphill battle with the religious right and Middle America, which remains dedicated to ëgas guzzlingí.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Rowan Williams says that British Christians and people of goodwill should not merely point the finger at others ñ they should take action themselves.


Faith demands action on climate change, Archbishop says

-29/03/06

Dr Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the worldís 77 million Anglicans, has called on the UK government and other governmentís around the world to take practical steps to get people to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC in London this week, the Archbishop of Canterbury said that both faith and human values demand consolidated action to address the climate change situation, not least because of the terrible impact it is having, and will continue to have, on the worldís poorest people.

The Archbishop said that there was no escaping the fact that ordinary people had a moral responsibility to change lifestyles. But he stressed that this was not a matter of simply ëlecturingí. It was something pressed upon us by the facts of the situation.

The consequences if we did not address C02 emissions, Dr Williams warned, would be the deaths of billions of people worldwide from the effects of extreme climate change.

He said the biblical narrative made it clear that God would hold people accountable when they had been warned they were going down the wrong path.

And the Archbishop also said that US President George W Bush’s stance of refusing to cut emissions because it might compromise American jobs was not compatible with a Christian point of view.

“I think if we look at the language of the Bible we very often come across situations where people are judged for not responding to warnings,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I think what the Bible and the Christian tradition suggest is that those who have that challenge put before them, and not only that challenge but the evidence for it, and don’t respond, bear a very heavy responsibility before God.”

His comments came on the day of the UK government’s long-awaited climate change review. This is supposed to demonstrate how the government will achieve its self-imposed 20% cut in CO2 levels by 2010.

But the most optimistic scenario in the document will achieve no more than 18%; the worst-case scenario is less than 15%. The Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) has been bidding for big business to be allowed to actually increase emissions.

Responding to the Archbishopís comments on The Today programme, government minister Margaret Beckett said that she agreed with them. But she said that the government declined to use moral language too much, ìbecause people do not like it.î

The UK government has frequently been criticised for its over-concern with opinion polls, focus groups and sceptical media comments. But Ms Beckett denied that Labourís policy was being hamstrung by short-termism.

The US administration has also been defensive about the Archbishopís remarks and has embarked on a counter-spin operation.

An American government commentator today told the Radio 4 Today programme that the Bush administrationís refusal of specific targets to cut harmful emissions was just a ëportfolio approachí which was ëappropriate to local conditionsí.

He also tried to play down the US governmentís policy of exporting polluting practices to third world countries in order to improve its own statistical performance, and claimed that the Kyoto Protocol would make the situation worse. The overwhelming majority of the worldís expert scientists disagree.

In the US, some evangelical Christian leaders have initiated pro-environment and climate change campaigns parallel to church initiatives in Europe and ecumenically worldwide. But they face an uphill battle with the religious right and Middle America, which remains dedicated to ëgas guzzlingí.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Rowan Williams says that British Christians and people of goodwill should not merely point the finger at others ñ they should take action themselves.