What do a 78-year-old retiree, a union organizer, and a bunch of evangelical Christian students have in common? We are all marching on Washington to support Obama’s pledge to take action on climate!
Green God-People, Meet the Funny Atheists
I seem to have gotten myself into an awkward position. Three dear friends, all avowed atheists who don’t know each other, have said they’ll join me in D.C. for the climate rally on February 17th. I thought my retired activist neighbor, my liberal, rant-prone lawyer friend, and a professional union organizer would get along pretty well, all being somewhat cynical and funny as all get-out.
Then I started hearing from my friends in the Christian community, including a boat-load of young evangelicals who care passionately about protecting the planet. They are coming from all over the country to meet downtown for the rally and want me to join them.
You bet!
I think it’s supremely important that our politicians understand that not all Christians will be co-opted by the right-wing’s corporately funded anti-environmental campaigns. There are many – myself included – who take seriously their responsibility to be stewards of creation.
There are also several interfaith groups marching, and they want to meet up with the Christians. This is exciting news, because oftentimes the various religious groups prefer to remain separate, even when they agree on an issue.
It’s sounding like a movement!
Of course there are bus loads of environmentalists heading to D.C., too, but I can hang out with them any old time. This is a day for crossing boundaries.
Coming Together
So far, I’ve only ‘fessed up to one of my atheist buddies that we’ll be joining the God-people. To be fair, I didn’t know it when I invited them. She’s cool with it and is going to bring lots of green union stickers for the assembled. We’ll see how my other non-faith friends react – perhaps they are finding out about it as they read this blog post.
The broad representation at this rally shows that when it comes to protecting our home planet, we can all find common cause. We might agree about little else, but we will come together in a spirit of peace and cooperation on February 17th to say that :
It is past time to move forward on climate!
Peace Depends on Climate Action – NOW
I am a member of the Bloggers for Peace group, and I believe that nothing – NOTHING – is going to be a bigger threat to world peace than climate change. In the decades to come, wars over fresh water, food, and arable land will increase as the climate becomes more unstable. We will witness famines and floods of refugees the likes of which we can’t even imagine. I choose not to dwell on these likelihoods – there are children I love who will pay the price, and it makes me too sad.
But that doesn’t mean I’m going to put my head in the mud left behind by Katrina and Sandy and pretend it isn’t happening. That is nothing short of insane. I’m going to wave my sign and scream my head off and act as if this could be the end of the human race, because…well, please come to D.C. for the rally.
If you have questions about transportation, housing, etc, check the FAQ page here: action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=forwardonclimate_faq. Any specific questions not answered there, feel free to email forwardonclimate@gmail.com and somebody will get back to you ASAP.
A few related posts:
http://melanielynngriffin.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/extremism-in-defense-of-the-planet/
http://melanielynngriffin.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/every-day-disasters/
http://melanielynngriffin.wordpress.com/2012/09/14/hope-or-hostility-in-a-multi-faith-world/
Feb 12, 2013 @ 16:52:38
I think the system needs changing. Sierra Club, OTOH, is pro-system (note their record of endorsing establishment candidates, even ones with questionable environmental records). So I don’t trust them to run the rally as it needs to be.
Feb 12, 2013 @ 19:03:50
I’ve always felt that it takes all kinds. Some groups work within the system, because after all, it is the system we have and we do need some people who know how to make change within it. Without those groups, the Cuyahoga River would still be catching fire – we would have no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act, no Endangered Species Act. Could those laws be stronger – always! Do we need people on “the outside” raising holy hell and pointing out the problems with the system? Of course! But I must say, the Sierra Club and 350.org know how to organize a rally – and it’s better than no rally. When it comes to climate, these are desperate times. We need everybody doing whatever they can. So I’m marching!
Feb 13, 2013 @ 21:48:20
I do notice the specific actions requested by the Rally are relatively minor, and one of the two is just a request to set standards with nothing about what the standards will be (so potentially they could be useless). Nothing about a carbon tax, stopping all aid to animal-based agriculture or anything else that would have a major impact. I personally don’t believe the Sierra Club would work for really meaningful climate change legislation unless it already had significant establishment support.
What tends to happen as nonprofits get large is they begin to resemble the corporate world. Instead of profits, their operational goal (implicit or explicit) is large amounts of money and an organizational style which is basically corporate culture (such as executives who earn well up in the 6 digits and sometimes 7). The money they seek is usually in the hands of those who would not favor really meaningful action on the cause the nonprofit supposedly is directed towards. So they become part of the system, and often become an obstacle to change because they harness the real believers in change and get them focused on minor work around the edges instead of true change – and campaigning for candidates who would never support real change. This applies to almost all major environmental nonprofits, as well as to nonprofits for other causes. I feel they’ve become part of the problem, and are no longer really part of the solution.
I’ve noticed this in other areas like peace, a particular concern of mine. One group that was started to work for peace now mainly funds pro-military candidates and even supported a vocally very hawkish candidate in a primary against a mildly dovish one presumably because the hawk was favored by the Democratic Party leadership. So I’ve become very sensitive to this problem, and feel all those who support real change need to refuse to support these severely compromised groups.
Feb 13, 2013 @ 22:18:45
Sometimes true, although I think in the Club’s case, they are one of the more ethical ones. They do support and lobby for a carbon tax (I testified before Senate Finance on that one) and have a program that works to close CAFO’s and coal plants. They’ve been very successful against coal plants the past few years and have been responsible for shutting down or stopping construction of many of them. They take very little corporate money and have a heavy screen that limits that kind of activity. In fact, the new executive director ended a misguided partnership that was intended to “green” Clorox, an oxymoron, to be sure.
I can understand where you’re coming from, but as I said, I think we have to make progress *now*, and the Club is the most effective group out there. Better some incremental progress and public education than nothing.
As far as the rally goes, I don’t know the inner workings of it, but with a big coalition like that, including the NAACP, my guess is that groups have had to limit the specific agenda to broaden the base of support.
Feb 07, 2013 @ 14:45:06
Definitely agree that peace is only possible if we take care of Gaia, Melanie. I love how you are creating a peaceful movement by mixing and mingling different friends under one cause. I won’t be able to join you in DC, but I will be there in spirit. {{{Hugs]}} Kozo
Feb 07, 2013 @ 22:23:27
Absolutely – look how many of our conflicts come from natural resource issues. Good Lord, the U.S is in oil wars all over the globe! Sigh. Glad you will be here in spirit.