Well, it was a big night at the Neland Women's Book Club Tonight. I mean world changing--literally. We met to sort through Bill McKibben's book, Eaarth. Why the strange title? Because McKibben's point of view is that the world is a different place, so it should have a new name. It's a planet that reminds us of one we used to know, but it's not the same. He says we'd better come to terms with it as it is, instead of as we wish it to be.
The world is a different place due to climate change (please hold back your groans here). We've heard the naysayers who deny it is happening; we've heard the doomsday prophets who talk about cataclysmic change ahead. McKibben says the cataclysmic change is already happening, and while we haven't yet felt the full effect, we'd better get ready.
Everyone should read this book. I don't often think that is actually true of a book, but if everyone read this book, it would bring us to some common point of discussion, even if people disagree with it. However, everyone will not read this book. It is not a happy book. It describes the changes that have occurred and will continue to progress in our earth, and it is depressing. The majority of the book, in fact, lays out his description of what the earth is now, and what that says for the future.
The last portion of the book is what we can do to adapt to our new home. It is hopeful, but it describes a different kind of life than we have come to expect for ourselves. Instead of global, bigger, and faster, life will need to be sturdier, smaller, slower.
The call to build community, to deepen relationships and interactions, should resonate with a church group. After all, that's what we should be doing anyway! But we are part of a culture that speeds up, multitasks and travels, and it takes a conscious decision to think communally.
As we talked about the book, we talked about what we can do right now. What we can do that goes beyond the usual green suggestions of using real mugs instead of paper cups, building a compost pile. We can reduce, reuse, recycle (in that order). We can buy less. We can use less. We can do more for ourselves. We all agreed that simple living is attractive, and when we are put in a situation temporarily (camping, living overseas) we find it refreshing, but it doesn't take long to get sucked right back into the current of consumerism.
Annetta said one of her friends from the Netherlands told her "the reason Americans can't save money is because everything costs 88 cents." It's easy to justify buying something that costs you "almost nothing."
Mary, our fearless leader, told us that in January, the new Congress disbanded the committee that met on climate change issues. Perhaps, we think, this will need to be a civilian-driven issue rather than legislation.
In the meantime, what does it mean for a church? What can our community do to help? We can help educate people on caring for a garden or making homes energy efficient. We can share our resources to help slow consumerism. We can take active steps to conserve and to preserve. And we can expect to be frustrated, because change is hard.
Mary wondered if, when it comes to global warming and climate change, denial of its existence or depression in the face of its effects are just part of the grieving process, a grief at the loss of the world we thought we knew and controlled. The fact is that when things get harder, food becomes more scarce or more expensive, we will do what we have to do. Unfortunately, developing countries will (and already do) experience this much more fully than we can understand. Change will be forced upon us at some point. It might be good to give some thought to it in advance.
One of the ironies for me, with this book, was that I listened to a good portion of it while driving my kids to their various activities or on my errands. I listened to the effects that my carbon emissions are having on the earth as I blithely made my way back and forth across the city in my big blue minivan.
God created a beautiful place for us. Sometimes it seems that we humans have spent all of our waking moments dreaming up ways to defile it, whether it be relationally, societally, or environmentally. Thank the Lord that our comfort, in life and in death, is that we belong to him.
We all say we love our children, would give our lives for them. Would we give up our gasoline for them? Would we give up that really cute, really cheap sweater? Only time will tell. We may not have a choice, in the end.
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