Today, the global world experienced a tragedy of mass proportions. The earthquake which hit Japan’s coast this afternoon has now become part of the long list of natural disasters occurring, the world over. As we watched the videos, heard the eye witness accounts and saw the pictures, our hearts were filled with sympathy, shock and dismay. And even now as I write the death count continues to rise and the full extend of damages are unknown. Has not this scene become all too familiar? Was not the video footage of people standing on buildings amidst rising flood waters reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina? And did not the images of once massive buildings, now toppled, evoke memories of the Jan. 12th earthquake in Haiti?
My brothers and sisters, the writing is on the wall. The consequences of climate change and global warming are clearer than ever and the unfortunate reality is that scientists and climate change experts predict that this is only the beginning. As atmospheric temperatures continue to rise, so will circumstances and conditions necessary for more natural disasters in the way of category five hurricanes such as the eight which developed in the Atlantic Ocean during the last ten years, heat waves such as those experienced by Europe and Russia in 2003 and 2010, respectively, tsunamis similar to the one which struck Indonesia in 2004, tornados like those which touched down in Brooklyn and Queens, New York in Sept. of 2010, spontaneous wildfires like those throughout California in recent years and earthquakes similar to the one we stand distraught over today.
As a Christian, I am prayerful; as an ethicist, I am concerned; as an environmentalist, I am challenged and as a scholar, I am compelled. I am compelled to write and remind you and perhaps even to remind myself of the reasons I wear this label…“environmentalist.” It is because beneath the academic presentations, the scholarly conferences, the class room lectures, the philosophical debates and the religious dialogue I understand that human lives are hanging in the balance. As Dr. King once wrote, “All persons are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” And while I would be the first to admit that I am the least qualified to correct Dr. King, I would suggest for your reflection today that it’s not merely all persons who are caught in this garment of destiny, it is all creation.
As theologian Thomas Berry points out, the only self-referential entity is Earth. Air, water, trees, soil, sunlight…these, my brothers and sisters are the universal components of life and existence. They are not determined by philosophical ideologies, motivated by political affiliations nor subject to religious doctrine. Instead, they are impartial and freely given to all: Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Republicans, Democrats, Communists, Blacks, Whites, Asians, those young, those old, the rich, the poor, humans and animals. I suggest that our mutual respect for those things is a sign of our very humanity. Our disregard however, is cause for great concern. For inasmuch as we deny this reality, we deny the very nature of existence. As we pray for Japan and all those affected by this tragedy, let us also look inward and take accountability for our own environmental disregard. Let us each ask ourselves how our own materialism, over-consumption and nonrenewable ways of living have made possible and perpetuated such disasters? It is not until we begin here that we can stand in solidarity with the victims and begin to construct from the rubble new modes of sustainable and harmonious living within a shared world of existence.
…to be continued…
TLJG
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