Fast to Slow Global Warming

I spent July 6 2005 at Lafayette Park in front of the White House, participating in what was apparently the first-ever fast against global warming to be held in the U.S., as well as one of the first coordinated actions between youth, environmental, and faith groups on the issue of global warming.  Below is the statement that I gave at the news conference.  For more information about the event, visit www.globalwarmingsolution.org.

My name is Margaret Bullitt-Jonas and I am an Episcopal priest.  I speak as a Christian, and faith tells me that we stand here in the presence of the God who loved us and all Creation into being.  According to the sacred story, God made human beings from earth, breathes life into our nostrils, and charges us to care for this web of life in which find ourselves. I’m not here because I’m frightened, though I am frightened when I consider that only a single degree of global warming is already heating the deep oceans, melting glaciers, causing lethal floods and droughts, and changing patterns of bird migration. I’m not here because I’m sad, though I am moved to anguish when I think of the ruined world that we may leave our children and grandchildren. I’m not here because I’m angry, though it does make me angry when our political leaders fail to lead.  It’s not only fear, sorrow, and anger that brought me here.  Above all, I want to bear witness to love.  I love this beautiful earth. I love its creatures.  And I love the God who created them. With you, I stand here on behalf of all the residents of this planet, human and non-human alike.  I stand here to say that I know that the earth is crying out for our care.  I stand here to say that when it comes to global warming, the time for mere talk or further study has come to an end. This is not just a Republican issue.  This is not just a Democrat issue.  This is not just a political and economic issue.  This is a human issue, a moral and spiritual issue. The task before us is enormous, but as a Christian I root myself in a God who loves every inch of creation and whose first charge to human beings is to care for the earth.  As a Christian I believe that the crucified and risen Christ sends us out by the power of the Spirit to renew the face of the earth. So it is not only with fear, anger, and sorrow, but also with the fervor of love that I urge our nation’s leaders–many of whom, like me, are Christian–in the name of God to slow global warming and to make a swift transition to a clean energy future.

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