Now’s Our Moment: Faith Communities Critical to Climate Solutions

Astounding the world, 196 nations seized the moment on Saturday, December 12, 2015 voting “yes” to an historic, first-ever Paris Climate Agreement.   As Ms. Christiana Figueres, the UN climate chief, tweeted: “I used to say: we must, we can, we will. Today we can say we did.” President Obama thinks the Agreement our "best chance" of stopping global warming.

Humanities’ urgent task is keeping global average temperatures below 2° C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels. [The Agreement will pursue under 1.5°C (2.7°F).] Though the Agreement has insufficiencies, US Secretary of State John Kerry wisely reminded participants that the nations came to Paris not to “build a ceiling that contains all that we ever hope to do; we came to Paris to build a floor on which we can and must – all of us together – continue to build.”  The Paris Climate Agreement lays the foundation; continuing to build a livable CO2 ceiling requires everyone.  (Read the Agreement at: http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2015/cop21/eng/l09r01.pdf.)

Ms. Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary, UNFCCC; H.E. Mr. Laurent Fabius, President of COP21. Note the green leaf gavel.

196 nations, 97% of scientists, numerous faith groups, environmentalists and others agree on the urgency of ending GHG emissions. For the world’s faith groups, tending and caring for the earth has special resonance as sacred texts and stories cede such responsibility to us. Tending creation, the stranger, and one another are correlated; Earth care and climate justice are intertwined issues.  Pope Francis reminds us that Earth is our “common home.”

Now is the time for faith communities to seize post-COP21 momentum. Now is the time to initiate ending our contribution to anthropogenic CO2 pollution, taking care of our “common home” by  doing our part to keep  global temperature below 1.5°C (2.7°F).  Government leaders believe faith community participation is critical to solving global warming.

Consider; religious buildings in the US use 2% of energy consumed by all commercial properties. 30%-40% of the 2% is energy waste.  Congregations that commit to energy efficiencies can substantially cut waste resulting in saving utility costs by 25-30%. Imagine this: If US congregations cut energy use and costs by 25% the savings would amount to about $500 million while removing 5 million tons of CO2 emissions. Individual congregations can save approximately $8,000-$17,000 a year through energy efficiencies. Visit: www.creationjustice.org.

The following two tools could support congregations ending religious buildings CO2 contributions.

• The Paris Pledge: Interfaith Power and Light invites individuals and congregations to accept the Paris Pledge to “reduce carbon pollution 50% by 2030 and to become carbon neutral by 2050.”4500 individuals and congregations have already pledged. Visit: www.parispledge.org.
• The EPA Portfolio Manager: Portfolio Manager is a free online tool providing a way to benchmark and track property energy use. Using it helps decrease energy waste by increasing energy efficiencies with little to no increased spending. 2500 congregations currently use Portfolio Manager; 57 have gained Energy Star rating. Visit: https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/owners_and_managers/congregations 

To keep global average temperature growth below COP21 goals, Bill McKibben says we need to “decisively pick up the pace. In fact, pace is now the key word for climate…” 196 nations successfully met their historical moment; now is our moment to act on behalf of our “common home”. Faith groups can pick up the pace by boldly executing real climate solutions with the measurable, easiest, fastest, and cheapest - energy efficiency.

“Long Live the Planet. Long live Humanity. Long live life itself.”

Rev. Dr. Jean Wright, ABC/USA

Member, FACS