No so long ago ... on a planet not so far away ... a very unusual alliance was forming and taking root; rallying the people to care for their planet ...
Oxford Declaration on Global Warming
Forum 2002: Global Climate Change
Oxford, England, July 14–17, 2002
More than 70 leading climate scientists, policy-makers and Christian leaders from across 6 continents gathered for "Climate Forum 2002" in Oxford, England to address the growing crisis of human-induced climate change. The Forum recognizes the reality and the urgency of the problem, which particularly affects the world’s poorest peoples and the very fabric of the biosphere. The Forum also recognizes that the Christian community has a special obligation to provide moral leadership and an example of caring service to people and to all God’s creation. [...]
[The Oxford Declarations:]
Human-induced climate change is a moral, ethical and religious issue. [...]
The Earth's climate is changing, with adverse effects on people, communities and ecosystems. [...]
Action is needed now, both to arrest climate change and to adapt to its effects. [...]
Christian denominations, churches and organizations need to take action [...]
Then an abrupt about-face to that fledgling movement took place from around 2006 to 2010, regarding the Christian community's "moral obligation" to "arrest climate change."
Ahhh, scratch that -- what were they thinking!?
A new climate change "Declaration" was issued -- one focused on subduing and domineering the Earth, not caring for it and adapting to it ... and its people ...
Cornwall Alliance releases An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming
October 16, 2010
[...]
Man was made by God to have dominion over the earth. We were created to subdue it.
An so the new era of subduing began ... and
it was not good.
An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming
by the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation
[...]
What We Believe
1. We believe Earth and its ecosystems -- created by God’s intelligent design and infinite power and sustained by His faithful providence -- are robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting, admirably suited for human flourishing, and displaying His glory. Earth’s climate system is no exception. Recent global warming is one of many natural cycles of warming and cooling in geologic history.
2. We believe abundant, affordable energy is indispensable to human flourishing, particularly to societies which are rising out of abject poverty and the high rates of disease and premature death that accompany it. With present technologies, fossil and nuclear fuels are indispensable if energy is to be abundant and affordable.
3. We believe mandatory reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, achievable mainly by greatly reduced use of fossil fuels, will greatly increase the price of energy and harm economies.
4. We believe such policies will harm the poor more than others because the poor spend a higher percentage of their income on energy and desperately need economic growth to rise out of poverty and overcome its miseries.
[...]
Why the abrupt about-face, with a focus on relying only on
God's providence to stop global warming -- that and
status-quo energy sources alone?
What could be behind this radical 180 degree "change of heart" in just those few short years ....
Here are some of the 'prime movers' that prompted the Cornwall Alliance to issue its revised "Declaration on Global Warming." They seem to have some very questionable origins ...
Exclusive: The Oily Operators Behind The Religious Climate Change Denial Front Group, Cornwall Alliance
by Lee Fang, thinkprogress -- Jun 15, 2010
[...]
In late 2005, evangelical leaders like Rick Warren joined a drive to back a major initiative to fight global warming, saying “millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.” To counter this historic shift in the evangelical community, a group called the “Interfaith Stewardship Alliance” (ISA) was launched to oppose action on carbon emissions and to deny the existence of climate chance. One of the men guiding this group was Paul Driessen, a consultant for ExxonMobil, the mining industry, and for CFACT [Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow].
For “stream lining” reasons, ISA relaunched as the Cornwall Alliance in 2006. With the new name came a redesigned website, highly produced web videos, and an organized network of churches to distribute climate change denying propaganda to hundreds of pastors around the country. The branding for the Cornwall Alliance is derived from the “Cornwall Declaration,” a 1999 document pushing back against the creation-care movement in the evangelical community. The Declaration “stressed a free-market environmental stewardship and emphasized that individuals and private organizations should be trusted to care for their own property without government intervention.” CFACT President Rothbard has been hailed as the “driving force” behind the Cornwall Declaration public relations effort.
[...]
But who is the “driving force” behind CFACT? According to disclosures, CFACT is funded by at least $542,000 from ExxonMobil, $60,500 from Chevron, and $1,280,000 from Scaife family foundations, which are rooted in wealth from Gulf Oil and steel interests.
CFACT and the Cornwall Alliance, according to disclosures filed with the Washington State Secretary of State’s office, share a common fundraising firm, ClearWord Communications Group. ClearWord has helped raise millions of dollars not only for CFACT and Cornwall, but also for infamous polluter front groups like FreedomWorks, the Institute for Energy Research, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. [...]
And regarding the captain now steering the Alliance ship towards those hidden Icebergs off on the horizon:
The Cornwall Alliance is led by E. Calvin Beisner, who believes that since God granted humans “dominion” over the earth, humans have a right to exploit all natural resources.
The ‘Green Dragon’ Slayers:
How the Religious Right and the Corporate Right are Joining Forces to Fight Environmental Protection -- pfaw.org
So who were the 'prime movers' that were prompting the Cornwall Alliance to 'Just Say No to Climate Change'?
It's just the usual suspects -- the usual Climate Change Denial Front Groups -- who have found a new powerful ally for peddling their wares. One with the advantage of unquestioning allegiance, when it comes to parroting the corporate-party-line.
Just another day in Paradise ... Same Planet, Different Day.
As the temperatures and sea levels just continue to rise to the Oxford occasion. How quickly they forget ... what real stewardship really means.