April 2, 2010 | 3:44 PM | By

Climate Change as a Moral Issue

FILED UNDER: The Science, Media, Views
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Photo: Gretchen Weber

Global warming is not just a scientific or political issue, it’s a moral one, said Reverend Sally Bingham of San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral, at the Commonwealth Club last week.  Bingham, who founded the Interfaith Power and Light campaign, an organization dedicated to “mobilizing a religious response to global warming,” joined Rabbi Stephen Pearce of Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco at the talk, which was organized by Climate One, to discuss the intersection of religion and climate change.

“I think believe of faith have come to realize that this is a moral issue, how we behave on the planet, ” said Bingham. “God put us here to be the stewards, and over the last few years as more clergy have come to realize that this is a matter of faith. You cannot profess a love of God and destroy creation.”

Pearce talked about how he first entered the arena of environmental activism in the 1990s, when he went to a rally to save redwoods in northern California.  After being moved by the experience he founded the Interfaith Coalition to Save the Headwater Forest, an activist organization dedicated to protect the forest. After a long battle, during which Pearce earned the nickname “The Redwood Rabbi,” the forest was eventually protected.

“I was moved by the plight of all of these people who got into their pick up trucks and came all the way down to make their plight known,” said Pearce.

In this video from the talk, both religious leaders talk about the passages from scriptures have contributed to their beliefs on environmentalism.

The hour-long program airs on KQED at 2:00pm this Saturday, April 3rd, and after that is available online.

  • http://ncfocus.blogspot.com Anna Haynes

    (caveat, I haven’t watched the video)
    This is what the talk about discount rates tries to skip over – when a different generation will be paying the bill (and science is telling us the interest rate may be ruinous), it’s reckless endangerment to keep running up the tab.

  • Peter Staats

    The environment is critical and must be protected. This does not mean that every alarmist prediction of impending environmental doom must be accepted and acted upon. We are wasting precious time, money, and creativity on means to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We will believe incomplete, unvalidated, and ethically compromised computer models rather than our own common sense. The resources being spent to reduce carbon dioxide should be applied to the mitigation of any climate change that will inevitably occur — as it has alway occurred independent of carbon dioxide.

  • falon
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