The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Salem, Oregon

What Have We Learned Since the First Earth Day?

Presented by Phil Carver to the UUCS Sunday Service

April 25, 2010

Last Thursday, April 22, was the 40^th Earth Day.  The environmental movement can trace its roots to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and John Muir.  All three men shared a transcendental connection with nature.  During the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries many people experienced an increasing spiritual connection with nature.  This philosophical movement helped save many forests, much wildlife and supported the establishment of our national park system. 

 The modern environmental movement began eight years before the first Earth Day, when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962.  Due in part to her book, the U.S. banned DDT in 1972 to protect birds.  Because of lingering DDT in the environment and its effect on bird eggshells, in 1978 the bald eagle was listed as threatened under the U.S Endangered Species Act.  In 2007, 45 years after Silent Spring was published, the U.S. took the bald eagle off the threatened species list.  There is now a thriving population in the Willamette Valley .  

 Other environmental success stories include:

• Cleaning up car exhausts,
• Reducing water pollution in rivers and
• A world-wide ban on Freon and other chlorofluorocarbons to save the protective ozone layer in the stratosphere. 

These changes occurred because of state and federal legislation and international negotiations.

 Modern civilization now faces roughly a dozen critical environmental threats.  These include climate change and acidification of the oceans from CO₂ emissions, dead zones in coastal oceans from excessive phosphorus and nitrogen, over use of freshwater, over fishing, loss of habitat for animals and plants, soil loss, excessive logging and grazing, and dangerous levels of mercury and other toxins. 

 The world is losing over 100 species per year.  That is more than a hundred times the average rate we see in the geologic record.  There have been about 20 mass extinctions in the last 540 million years.  That is an average of one extinction event every 27 million years.  Over the next hundred years modern civilization is causing another mass extinction.   

As a source of moral and spiritual inspiration, religion can play a pivotal role in social change.  Many religious traditions are helping to awaken people to the environmental crisis.  Protection of nature and animals is a basic tenet of Buddhism and Taoism. 

 Even fundamentalist Christians are getting involved.  If you search the phrase “creation care” (in quotes) in Google, you will be directed to 70,000 web pages.  These conservative Christians are an active part of the political movement to slow the emissions of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. 

 This makes good theological sense.  If you have a creationist perspective, a human-caused extinction is a direct insult to the God of Genesis.  There is no implication in the Bible that God will replace species that go extinct. 

 Darwinian evolution at least allows for the replacement of species over geologic time.  Extinction should be a bigger deal for creationists than for those who believe in the natural emergence of new species. 

 Environmental theology is a growing movement in liberal religions.  The 7^thprinciple of UUism is Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.  The seven principles are in your Order of Service.  Several of us have lobbied the UUA to upgrade this principle to “reverence for the interdependent web.”  This change was proposed as part of a package of revisions the UU principles and sources that was narrowly defeated at the UU General Assembly last summer. 

 The movement to integrate environmentalism into liberal religion is usually referred to as Spiritual Naturalism or Religious Naturalism.  This movement seeks ways to access the spiritual feelings found in tribal religions without the inclusion of supernatural elements that are incompatible with the scientific method.  I am a religious naturalist. 

 So what is Religious Naturalism?

It is the belief that all living things are divine and intricate extensions from the mysterious source of complexity in the Universe.  All species deserve mutual respect from human beings.  UUs sing of the “Sprirt of Life.” 

 Belonging to a religion implies changes in one’s behavior.  Religious Naturalism implies a fair exchange of resources among all species.  When you are extincting species well above the natural rate, that is not defensible behavior. 

 Adherents to Religious Naturalism believe that Nature, in all its diversity and wonder, is sufficient unto itself in terms of eliciting the intellectual and emotional responses associated with spiritual experience.  There is no need for to have faith in an anthropomorphic god or similar ideas.  It’s a theology is similar to Taoism. 

 Adherents are generally scientifically-oriented.  The primary difference from other naturalists is that their abandonment of superstition does not imply abandoning a belief in a spiritual connection with other species.  This includes a belief in the sacredness of other species and non-living elements, such a high mountains.  It is a belief that transcendental experiences in nature are part of the path to enlightenment. 

 P. Roger Gillette of our congregation has written:

Religious reconnection implies love.  And love implies concern -- concern for the well-being of the beloved.  Religious naturalism thus is marked by concern for the well-being of the whole of nature. 

http://meadville.edu/LL_JLR_v6_n1_Gillette.htm

 Some initial environmental ethics are emerging regarding acceptable human tinkering with nature.  As Aldo Leopold noted regarding the extinction of species: “To keep every cog and wheel is the first precaution of intelligent tinkering”  It is unwise and unethical for humans to ever knowingly extinct another species. 

 Leopold also said that “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability and beauty of the biotic community.  It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

 The U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, although imperfectly drafted and implemented, was a watershed event that established respect for nature as federal law.  It says that humans have the responsibility to protect other species, whether they are useful to humans or not. 

 The law enjoys widespread support.  In a poll conducted in 1997, 5% of respondents wanted the ESA revoked, 11% wanted it weakened, 35% wanted it retained as written, and 49% wanted the ESA strengthened.

http://www.umich.edu/~esupdate/library/97.05-06/czech.html

 So how should UUs respond to the challenges ahead? 

 First, learn more about the unsustainable practices of modern civilization. Humans are pushing many natural systems to the breaking point.  In the April issue of Scientific America the Editors note that

Promptly switching to low-carbon energy sources, curtailing land clearing and revolutionizing agricultural practices are crucial to making human life on Earth more sustainable. [emphasis added]

 That article and similar articles published in the journal Nature support 350 ppm of CO₂ in the air as the “boundary” condition.  Boundary conditions are defined as “tipping points that would push the global environment into dangerous new territory.”  Going beyond these environmental limits “could disrupt the planet’s ability to support human life.” 

 The article discusses eight other boundaries.  In addition to exceeding the CO₂ limit, the authors find that we are also exceeding the limits for biodiversity loss and over-fertilization of coastal oceans.  Only two of the indices are going in the right direction:  particulate pollution in the air and stratospheric ozone depletion.

 Second, reduce your personal impact on the planet. 

No one will listen to you if you talk-the-talk but don’t walk-the-walk.  So walk, bike, take the bus, carpool, sell your large vehicle and buy a hybrid car, vacation locally, insulate your house and replace leaky windows, move to a small well-insulated house closer to your job or your close relatives, eat less meat and more locally grown food and most importantly buy less new stuff. 

 As I have biked more, I have gotten in better shape and enjoy riding more.  It is important to get a good jacket, rain pants and good gloves.  New ones of these are OK.  You can afford good biking equipment.  Because my wife, Marie, and I both bike a lot, we only need one car. 

 Third, organize politically. 

Incremental reforms are possible.  Write to your federal and state representatives and demand stronger climate change legislation.  U.S. Senators Kerry, Lieberman and Graham plan to introduce a bi-partisan climate bill next week.  The bill is reported to cap and reduce CO₂ emissions from power plants and to apply a carbon tax to transportation fuels.  Help political candidates who support environmental regulations.   

Citizen action after the first Earth Day in 1970 made a huge difference.  We passed state and federal legislation to protect endangered species, to clean up our air and our water and to save the Earth’s protective ozone layer. 

 This is the crucial year for members of religious communities to step up to the environmental challenges of the 21^st Century.  If worldwide CO₂ emissions don’t level out and start trending downward within this decade, we may soon pass a tipping point for an ecological system in the ocean, the temperate or tropical forests or the Arctic . 

 It is not a difficult policy choice to decide to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  It will require an addition cost to fossil fuels equivalent to a dollar per gallon of gasoline.  This is less than the year-to-year variations it the price of gas due to changes in supply and demand. 

 Nor can we afford further delays.  Modern civilization has to option to consciously take one too many risks and to abruptly end.  Taking unnecessary risks, such as pushing the climate system, does not seems wise. 

 My fourth and final recommendation to you is to act locally.  Look for specific things you can organize locally. 

 Last year I walked 350 miles starting September 20 in Coos Bay ending at a rally in Portland on October 24.  I was joined by friends and family along the way.  The rally was organized by 350.org, an organization dedicated to returning the level of CO₂ in the air to 350 parts per million.  The level now is about 390 and growing 2 ppm per year. 

 I talked with people at 12 public meetings along my walk.  I also met with people from the UU church in Florence , with Presbyterian, Episcopal and Methodist ministers, and the minister of conservative Quaker church.  I warned that the sea level is expected to rise 2 to 6 feet this century with increasing intense storms. 

 My walk was co-sponsored by the UUCS Social Action Team.  350.org helped coordinate 5,248 rallies and protests spread across 181 countries on Oct 24.  It was the most widespread demonstration in history. 

 By doing this walk, I got in much better shape, physically and spiritually.  I was able to see, really see, the Oregon coastline in a way I never had before.  I felt better connected to the creatures, plants and people of the Oregon Coast .  Even walking along the highway in the rain was an uplifting experience. 

 Starting out, I didn’t know what kind of experience I would have for those 35 days.  I knew it would be challenging, especially the logistics of camping on the coast in the fall.  I just knew that I had to do something.  Otherwise, I could not feel good about my relationship with my planet. 

I will be helping organize events in Salem for the Global Work Party Day on 10/10/10 (Oct 10).  The event is being organized by 350.org.  The idea is to follow up on the Oct. 24 demonstrations of last year, but to do fun things that reduce CO₂ emissions or sequester carbon in soils or trees.  Please contact me if you have ideas or are interested in helping.

 You can organize locally in other ways.  You can help sell locally-grown foods or work with organizations to protect species that are locally endangered.  You can organize hikes to natural or wild areas through the Fellowship Team here at the UUCS.  You can grow some of your own vegetables in your back yard or in a community garden. 

 Whatever you do, replenish your spirit.  If what you are doing does not replenish your spirit, you are on the wrong spiritual path.