Wind turbines or aircraft turbines?

Wind turbines or aircraft turbines?

Psalm 8 (ESV)

O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honour.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

It’s an extremely hot summer.  Wildfires have destroyed great swathes of countryside in the UK and across Europe and north America. Climate scientists tell us that their research demonstrates that human interaction with the natural world is creating conditions that are causing a global climate crisis. Fossil fuel use creates greenhouse gasses that have heated the planet by about 1.5 degrees C over the past 300 years.  This has increased the risk of prolonged heat that turns forests and grasslands into tinderboxes. In some regions, such as the Mediterranean, global heating is also fuelling droughts that dry out lush greenery exacerbating the risk  and extent of wild fires.

The human impact is devastating. The UNHCR highlights the increasingly interconnected nature of climate change and human displacement. They estimate that in 2022, for example, around 26 million people were internally displaced due to weather-related hazards such as floods, storms, wildfires and droughts.  UNHRC also highlight that climate change is a “threat multiplier”, that is it magnifies the impact of other factors that can contribute to displacement such as poverty. In Burkina Faso, for example, armed groups have exploited tensions over shrinking sources of water and arable land.  This has resulted in some of the worst violence and displacement in recent years.

Researchers from Imperial College London, the Met Office and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have calculated that over 2,700 people in England and Wales are thought to have died from heat-related causes during the May and June heatwaves this year. Of those, it’s estimated that 42% died as a result of the extra heat caused by human-induced global warming.

Global warming is also devastating for wildlife. For example, it disrupts pollinating bee reproduction and their food sources; fish are struggling in warming rivers.  Extreme weather events are also affecting global biodiversity.

The first couple of chapters of Genesis describe creation.  But this is not a science book.  These accounts date back into pre-history.  They are best read as parables, stories with parallel meaning of a deeper nature.  They tell us something about God, the natural world, human beings, and the interrelationships between them.  In Genesis 1:28 God gives humankind dominion over his creation.

How do you read this critical verse. Does dominion, or rule, or subdue as the Hebrew is variously translated, mean that people are free to do what they like with the natural world? We used to speak of the UK monarch’s dominions across the globe.  Did that imply the King or Queen was able to abuse people living in these territories and use, plunder or destroy those lands just as they pleased?

Other Old Testament verses, such as Psalm 24:1, make it clear that the “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it”.  This suggested that God the creator has put people in charge of the earth as a landowner might ask a steward to look after his land on his behalf and to manage it in the way the landowner would if he were directly managing it himself.

So, how does our understanding of who created the natural world and our role in it influence our attitudes and response to the climate crisis?

Moving away from fossil fuels is extremely important as the world moves rapidly to tipping points in global wind and ocean systems that will be impossible to rectify.  As an Eco-church Award holder, it is good that Ledbury is adding to its solar panels.

Soon we’ll be singing that wonderful song by Estelle White, “Autumn days”, written over 60 years ago.  It was written for use in schools but even in those times was criticised as the lyrics do not mention God, although the song’s imagery is about creation. Nevertheless, it is in Signing the Faith, 121.  It also carries that unfortunate line, “jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled” with connotations of both jet fuel and military aircraft.  Indeed, the global warming effect of just the first two months of the war in Gaza have been estimated to be greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations.  Perhaps it’s time for a revision.  So, given the climate crisis, perhaps the first verse and the chorus should be:

Autumn days when the grass is greener

And the silk inside a chestnut shell.

Turbines spinning in the breeze so power is cleaner

All these thing I love so well.

So I mustn’t forget.

No, I mustn’t forget,

to say to God, “I thank you”.

I mustn’t forget.

Prayer

Creator God, forgive us that we have misused your creation and have not cared nor cherished it.  We have allowed greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the world to warm, causing droughts, and fires, powerful winds, and floods.  Comfort those who have lost their homes and treasured possessions. Wrap into your care all who are fearful or traumatised.  May those who are particularly vulnerable, new-borns, people elderly, frail, or disabled be assisted and provided with care.  Protect all who clear away debris and seek to rebuild communities. We pray for a wholehearted response from the international community. May leaders of nations everywhere take the climate crisis seriously and implement policies that will help us reduce carbon emissions and arrest rising global temperatures. Help us to treasure your creation and cherish all life upon the planet. In the name of Jesus, we pray.  Amen.

PS.  The song also has a line about “the song the milkman sings”. This is more of a historical than current cultural reference. Daily doorstep deliveries of milk are largely a thing of the past.  Perhaps that line should be rewritten as, “and the song the blackbird sings.”