{"id":14468,"date":"2015-06-17T13:17:22","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T17:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/?p=14468"},"modified":"2019-08-19T00:19:39","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T04:19:39","slug":"what-the-popes-encyclical-means-for-uus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/what-the-popes-encyclical-means-for-uus\/","title":{"rendered":"Rev. Terry Ellen, former UUSJ Executive Director – What the Pope’s Encyclical Means for UUs and Everyone Else"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rev.
Rev. Terry Ellen, former Executive Director of UUSJ and current Chairman of the Board of CCAN<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to share with you why the Pope\u2019s encyclical on climate is so important and what we can do in support.<\/p>\n

I began my interest on climate when the evidence became clear that our warming world was having disastrous consequences for the poor, marginalized, and most vulnerable \u2013 children of course included – but also for all the other species, future generations, and, even with the buffers of privilege included, all of us. It struck me then as the biggest moral issue facing us, but when Bill McKibben added \u201cYou can\u2019t negotiate with the laws of physics,\u201d the pressing time limit turned a moral issue into a crisis.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t help learning that the seas were taking the heavy CO2 hit, masking the effects from us while acidifying and warming them, risking the whole food chain there.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t help learning that our easily-disrupted food supply was humanity\u2019s Achilles heel with warming, It didn\u2019t help learning that between 50-80% of fossil fuel reserves would have to be left in the ground to achieve the maximum \u201csafe\u201d limit of 2 degrees Centigrade rise by 2100, thus directly taking on the profits of the\u00a0 largest corporations in history, which dominate our political process. It didn\u2019t help learning that science, because of its rigorous process of funding, research, peer review, publishing, was always about six years behind the ball.<\/p>\n

\n

The dramatic, devastating weather events made it clear this was no longer the nature we had all grown up with. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Then, finally, things began to change for the better, bringing real hope. The dramatic, devastating weather events made it clear this was no longer the nature we had all grown up with, so the public began to get it.\u00a0 And, secondly, climate change began to be seen not as a remote issue of science, but as a moral issue.<\/p>\n

Thus, rather quickly, faith traditions were welcomed at the discussion table on what we should do.\u00a0 And, wonderfully, it turns out moral arguments are the most powerful ones of all: moral issues we get in our gut.\u00a0 And moral issues belong to us all, together, beyond politics and certainly beyond greed.<\/p>\n

And now the Pope\u2019s June encyclical on climate change and visits to Congress and the U.N. in September have the potential to morally impact more people than ever before.\u00a0 And that is why it is so important that we UUs raise our voices in support to help make this an interfaith consensus.\u00a0 The timing is crucial, coming just before the talks in Paris in December.<\/p>\n

What can we do? Specifically, the UUA is working on a written response to the encyclical.\u00a0 There is also a proposed Resolution of Immediate Witness, http:\/\/climate.uu-uno.org\/<\/a>, coming up at General Assembly urging us to do all we can for a strong US commitment to action in Paris.\u00a0 And UUSJ and area UUs are working on supporting events for when the Pope comes to D.C., from a moral march for climate justice on Sunday, Sept. 20, to following visits to the Capitol in witness to the moral need for appropriate, urgent, action to vigils, religious services, and moral witnessing events at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool when he is in town the 23-24 (www.moralactiononclimate.org<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Further, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (Fairfax County, faithforclimate.org<\/a>) provides a model for how UUs can help mobilize local interfaith action.\u00a0 Citizens Climate Lobby is working on legislation in Congress.<\/p>\n

This is a pivotal moment for addressing this most pressing issue, and our whole faith tradition cries for us to be fully present<\/span>.\u00a0 But this time it is essential we act with others, for on this one we are all in the same boat and need each other like never before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I\u2019d like to share with you why the Pope\u2019s encyclical on climate is so important and what we can do in support. I began my interest on climate when the evidence became clear that our warming world was having disastrous consequences for the poor, marginalized, and most vulnerable \u2013 children of course included – … Continue reading Rev. Terry Ellen, former UUSJ Executive Director – What the Pope’s Encyclical Means for UUs and Everyone Else<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1313,16,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-environment","category-interfaith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14468"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20957,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14468\/revisions\/20957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}