Unlike the health-care debate, which touches each and every person in our country on the basic premise of their own, personal health, the issue of climate change can seem easy to dismiss as too scientific, too technical, or too boring for the average person to spend much time thinking about.
I am inclined to agree with this sentiment — especially after reading particularly laborious portions of the climate change bill passed by the House earlier this summer! International regulations, industry standards, and emission sequestration are a bit abstract for my daily attention … except for the huge-in-your-face fact that climate change is all about people.
And since it is about people, God’s people have no choice but to pay attention.
Climate change impacts how people live and thrive and their ability to provide for their families. Any legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in the coming months will impact people not only in our country, but around the world.
A great online video about this connection was recently put together by Sojo partner and friends, Faithful America. Check it out:
The video is part of the Day Six campaign to focus the attention of people of faith to the human impact of U.S. climate change legislation. The campaign name “is a reference to the creation story in Genesis, when God made human beings stewards of creation.”
I appreciate how the video takes simple images and words to drill down to the heart of the matter: climate change impacts people, and we should care.
Maybe I am preaching to the choir, and everyone is already on board with the importance of climate change. But after running a small advocacy campaign around the House bill earlier this summer that received hardly any response from Sojo activists, I think we have a long way to go.
As debate heats up in the Senate and continues on to international climate talks in Copenhagen, we’re all going to hear a lot more about climate change. But instead of tuning out, we need to listen up and pay attention. We might not always agree on the solutions, but we can no longer rest on the premise that we need not pay attention.
Elizabeth Denlinger is the deputy director of policy and organizing for Sojourners.
