September 1, 2009 – 10:41 pm
The BBC reports that the Royal Society has been evaluating the possibilities of Geo-Engineering to reduce climate change.
Geo-engineering, if you haven’t come across the term before, means dealing with climate change in ways that don’t involve cutting carbon emissions. The report examines a whole range of technologies which are said to be able to counteract the increase in the number of greenhouse gases, all of which require further research to be feasible.
The report takes the rather sensible line that these options should not become a diversion from efforts to reduce carbon emissions. It also points out that the technologies all have serious risks and uncertainties. But it does outline which options look the most practical should we come to that point.
My own conclusion from reading the summary is that the use of geo-engineering techniques would indicate that the human race has failed to take seriously our duty to care for the planet we live on. However, if we fail to take appropriate action now, then these more risky and costly alternatives may prove a necessary evil.
Our response to this report should be to increase our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, in order to ensure that such methods do not become necessary.
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August 30, 2009 – 9:36 pm
There is a lot said and written about protecting the environment. However, very little of it addresses the vitally important issue of why we should care. Whilst arguments like the phenomenal cost of not taking action to prevent climate change are important to bring up in public policy debates, they aren’t very effective at changing individual behaviour. It doesn’t bring home the individual responsibility to do anything. Many people think that their actions make no real difference, or that it’s somebody else’s problem.
The key to overcoming such objections is to persuade people that it is actually a moral imperative to care for the world around us. Our beliefs about who we are as human beings and how we should, as a result, relate to the rest of the universe are the key to motivating ourselves to do our part in caring for the planet. Obviously there are many who live in ways that do not reflect their stated beliefs, but this is often because they do not realise the implications of those beliefs.
This post is the first in a series which seeks to address the fundamental reasons why Christians should care about the environment. I’m writing this with two distinct audiences in mind. Firstly, the Christian who wants to know what the Bible says about the environment. Secondly, the Green activist who wants to be able to persuade Christians that they should care. If you’re in either of those categories, or are please read on.
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August 27, 2009 – 10:00 pm
Peter Mandelson’s suggestion this week of cutting off internet access to filesharers has got me thinking.
I’ve not been thinking about the ethics of illegal filesharing (it’s morally equivalent to taping songs off the radio), its impact on the music industry (good for obscure artists, bad for the big labels), or the futility of trying to stop it from happening.
No, what I’ve been thinking about is how politicians form their opinions when it comes to science and technology.
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August 25, 2009 – 10:10 pm
Having said in my last post that there is no party that entirely reflects Christian values, that raises the question of why I chose to join the Green Party. The answer lies not in policies, which change over time, but in values, which tend to be stable for much longer.
Of the six national parties with enough support to obtain Euro MPs, there are two that I consider to be particularly in conflict with Christian values. The first is the BNP – who are both racist and fascist. Their whole ethos is direct conflict with the core of the gospel. The second is UKIP. Whilst their central policy is an issue which is morally neutral, the party seems to be dominated by those with a “little Englander” mentality.
Of the remaining four parties, the Green Party’s values seem to me to match Biblical values a bit more than the other parties. They also match my political instincts, which may well colour my judgement.
So what are the values which attracted me to the Green Party?
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August 22, 2009 – 9:20 pm
Although faith and politics should not be separated, Christians need to be careful how we link the two. There are ways of doing politics as Christians which are unhelpful. The most obvious example of getting it wrong is America’s Religious Right, who have turned many US churches into de facto branches of the Republican Party and, in doing so, have lost – or at least obscured – the heart of their faith.
So how should Christians approach politics?
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August 20, 2009 – 9:55 pm
Ghandi once said that “anyone who thinks that religion and politics can be kept apart understands neither religion or politics”. For a Christian like myself who is a member of a political party, the question of how my faith and my politics should interact is really important.
In today’s world there are many different takes on how faith and politics should interact. At one extreme, some within America’s Religious Right or in the Liberation Theology camp have been known to treat their faith as, essentially, a political ideology. At the other, there are some Christians who believe that politics is too worldly to pursue and some atheists who think that religion should be kept away from politics at all costs.
I would suggest that neither extreme is healthy or helpful. Christians, and those from other faiths, should be free to bring our faith into the political sphere without being criticised for doing so. But equally we must recognise that there are ways of doing so that are unhelpful and counterproductive, and seek to avoid those.
Before looking at the question of how Christians should do politics, however, we should first look at the reasons why Christians should do politics. I believe that there are three things that are key to any Christian understanding of politics.
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