May the inspirations of my mind,
the intuitions of my heart
and the words of my mouth
be pleasing unto Thee, O God.

I did most of my thinking about this homily while I was on vacation, hiking in several of Canada's national parks. Not a bad place to start a contemplation on the importance of climate in the maintenance of life and well-being on Earth and the beauty of creation.

So, what is climate? We tend to think of it in terms of weather patterns. Is it hot, is it cold, is it wet or is it dry? However, weather is the merely the effect while climate is the overarching principle which leads to earth's weather patterns.

Climate has been defined as : 'the long term effect of the radiation of the Sun's rays on the rotating Earth's various surfaces and its atmosphere" {1}. The word comes from the Greek word Klima which refers to the inclination of the Sun. In short, climate is light at work in the physical world. Climate is what Genesis defines as God's activity on the "first day" of Creation.

In the Beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.. Then God said, let there be Light, and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light, Day, and the darkness, Night. And the evening and the morning were, the First Day." {2}

Climate is thus the underlying source which makes possible the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat, indeed all of the world around us. Climate is both a primal source in the creation of life, and of primary importance in the maintenance thereof.

While there is not unanimity, there is a strong consensus of scientific opinion, that the climactic equilibrium which is vital to life on this planet is being eroded by human activity through the alteration of the earth's surface and the introduction of pollutants and excessive amounts of chemical substances such as carbon dioxide and methane gas into the atmosphere. These activities are resulting in a rise of the mean temperature of the Earth which may indeed be permanently altering life's essential balances.

In a very recent report entitled "Meeting the Climate Challenge" a group of scientists and policy makers have, for the first time set out a danger point of global warming, that is a temperature rise beyond which irremediable changes will occur, no matter what we do. The Report suggests that this change is two degrees centigrade above the average world temperature prevailing in 1750, just before the Industrial Revolution. This was the point at which the production of waste gases, such as carbon dioxide which result in the retention of heat in the atmosphere, began to have an effect. Since that time human activity has created a rise in temperature of 0.8 degrees, with greater rises already in the pipeline. We thus have a margin of about one degree centigrade and perhaps not more than a decade before the crucial point is reached. If the tipping point is reached, there will likely be massive agricultural failure, greatly increased numbers of people at risk of water shortages and irreversible damage to important terrestrial ecosystems such as the world's coral reefs and Amazon Rainforest and a risk to the integrity of both polar ice caps. {3} We are now playing the game on a geological scale. (Think Katrina, but on a global scale )

Let's face it, to a large extent, we are the problem. Its not wheat waving in the breeze, or cows belching in the field who are causing the problem. It is us, in the developed world, with our runaway industrialization, imposed on the rest of the world through the international economic structure, and our love affair with the internal combustion engine.

One of the primary arguments raised to justify our continued massive use of fossil fuels which pollute and damage the ozone layer is that the economy will collapse, if measures are taken to seriously curtail emissions. These are the same arguments which would have been raised one hundred and fifty years ago to justify the continuation of slavery and a hundred years ago to explain why it was out of the question to have legislation to eliminate child labour. It was nonsense then and it is nonsense now. There are alternate sources of energy coming on line which are non-polluting. Water, wind, hydrogen, hydricity, clean coal to name but a few {4}. All of these are sources which are non-emitting and with the exception of the coal, completely renewable. Until fully operational, they will be expensive, to produce, but then so are fossil fuels. What is missing so far is the will to intensify the search for and development of these alternate sources of energy production.

I would submit that as persons of faith we are ideally placed to play a leadership role in the creation of a revitalized and safer order on earth. It is our responsibility to demand that more earth-friendly technologies be developed, to create the market for the sustainable use of resources and to cease tolerating pollution and exploitation.

We are faced with not only a scientific and political problem but also an ethical and spiritual dilemma. However as we will see, our faith traditions can also be impediments to clear reflection, since many of the assumptions which undergird the current crisis are the result of the misinterpretation of religious creation narratives.

The concept of "dominion" over nature present in traditional nterpretations of the Genesis creation narrative has been used to justify unwarranted consumption and exploitation of the natural world. It is thus vital to re-examine the covert assumptions which divorce the natural from the sacred and result in indifference, if not hostility to the physical world.

In reference to my analysis and my approach as to how theological reflection has and should address this issue, I am very much indebted to Professor Heather Eaton of St Paul University. In particular, I commend to your attention her excellent article entitled :This Sacred Earth: At the Nexus of Religion, Ecology and Politics {5}. You will find a reference to this article in the bibliography at the back of the Church.

The article first cites three approaches or paradigms with which Christians have addressed this issue of climate change , and which, while constituting valid approaches, are nevertheless incomplete.

The first is Stewardship. This approach has a strong biblical motif and calls upon us to care for the created universe and to act as co-creators with God to jointly protect the environment. Stewardship has the advantage of being accessible for many of us, and is certainly an essential first step, and should be vigourously pursued. However, it does not require from us a change ofl perspective. {6}

The second approach is ecojustice. To a large extent , the dilemma we face is the result of unbridled consumption in the First World while the effects of climate change are most keenly felt in the developing world. Indeed, if we reach the tipping point, the resulting damage will primarily engulf the peoples of the Third World who have had very little to do with precipitating the crisis. This fact raises obvious ethical issues snd ecojustice addresses environmental degradation primarily as a question of equitable access and distribution of the Earth's resources {7}. But the view of the world remains anthropocentric.

The third approach and one which was addressed by Rachel a few weeks ago is eco-feminism. I will certainly not want to repeat what she has already said most ably. Suffice it to say, that eco-feminism, and here I am quoting from Professor Eaton's article:" insists on an eco-justice that includes women in a reclaiming of the interconnected sacredness of humanity and the natural world." {8}

However, in order to address climate change fully, we need to go much further and to trnsform the way we consider the natural world, rather than supporting an earth seperatism, which creates barriers between the physical and the spiritual, and between humanity and the natural world.

This is the fourth road and one which is difficult for us to envisage, since it requires us to abandon the conceit that the universe was designed as a backdrop for human activity, and that other creatures and the earth itself are mere fodder to feed the needs of humankind {10}. We also need to revisit the illusion that humanity is the culmination of God's creative activity. After all, while Genesis tells us that human beings were created in the image of God, there is no reason to assume that all of creation is not equally in God's image. These texts can just as easily and perhaps more accurately be interpreted to reveal that God's creative activity is most fully realized in the Garden, with humankind being merely one of its many denizens. This interpretation also corresponds more accurately to geological data. After all the earth was in full flower and full richness billions of years before humans and their ancestors came along.

The self-revelation of God may thus be primarily present in the created universe. It is hubris to believe that humanity is God's final word and indeed in adopting that conceit we are creating our own nemesis. It is thus essential, that we adopt a respectful humility and recognize our own limitations. It is also apposite to recognize that God's creation is universal in scope and to acknowledge that all of creation is in the image of God.

If we fail to do this, we will be hearing the voice of God as Job did; out of a whirlwind

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the Earth
Who determined its measurement
Who stretched the line upon it.
On what were its bases sunk or who laid its cornerstone
When the morning stars sang together...
Have you commanded the morning and caused the dawn to know its place..

Have you entered into the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep...

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
and have you seen the storehouses of the hail that I reserved for the time of trouble...

What is the way to the place where light is distributed or where the East wind is scattered upon the Earth..
Anyone who contends with God must respond .{11}

We need to create a new paradigm which rejects indifference and lack of consciousness, and as suggested by theologian Kwok Pui-Lan to adopt a passionate rather than a passive spirituality and to articulate an integrated and functioning cosmology which would properly situate humanity within the created universe {12}.

Thomas Berry , the great American theologian refers to the task before us as a Great Work {13}. He calls for a re-visioning of creation and our essential nature as creatures. He calls upon humanity to reclaim its genetic consciousness and to "dream of the earth". Berry suggests an all-encompassing faith which sees the divine not only in the universality of the cosmos, but also in the particularity of the gene. He invites us to move from science and rationality to a visionary approach based on the spirit inherent in the material world. Only when we are grounded in our reality as physical beings, and develop the capacity to perceive the Spirit through the "soles of our feet" {14} as suggested by the Maori theologian , Rob Cooper, can we hope to find solutions to this climactic crisis.

Most importantly, it is essential to recognize that the physical world is "sacred space". In order to see the kingdom of God, all we need is to just step outside into nature, preferably on foot.

The magnitude of the ecological crisis, which is largely the result of untrammeled human activity, is thus challenging us to re- interpret our narratives and to frame new Revelations. As pointed out by Anne Primavesi, it is imperative that religions bring ecological concerns into the "growing end" of their traditions {15}. For Christians in particular, it is essential to re-evaluate a Christology which interprets the salvation of the soul as an exemption from creaturehood and denies the presence of the divine in the natural world.

These are issues which also require that people of good will transcend institutional and sectarian barriers to communicate with another, and to engage the tapestry of wisdoms which the many traditions together may bring to the healing of the world. No individual tradition can claim to have the whole solution, but each tradition has wisdom to bring to the table. {16} The Judaic and Christian traditions reveal the sacredness of creation. The gift of Buddhism is the sense of inter-relatedness and interbeing within nature. Indigenous traditions remind us of the sacredness of natural sites, Jainism of the necessity of moderation and Taoism of the exercise of proper deference to the world around us. The ecological crisis must act as a stimulus and a reminder to all traditions of the necessity for respectful and transparent inter-religious dialogue.

As people of faith we do not have the option of abrogating the responsibility to act and be present in the created world. While environmental issues must, of course, also be addressed in their scientific, economic and geo-political aspects, we need to do more. The remaining resistance in here and in the United States to full adherence to and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, makes it clear that we have not yet understood the essential concept of "enoughness. " We need to alter both our social and our individual life-style choices. It is our responsibility to address these issues, in their full breadth and depth; that is, in cosmic terms.

The state of our world and our dilemma is perhaps best expressed by the poet Gerald Manley Hopkins in his poem God's Grandeur. {17}

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil
It gathers to a greatness like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell; the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went.
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! Bright wings.

I pray that soon we may have the wisdom to recognize those wing beats, and to behold nature in all its fullness, to recognize that we are beholden to nature for our every breath and act accordingly.