UMNS photo by Ray Buchanan
Haiyan Destruction
A church stands amidst the ruins caused by Typhoon Haiyan in the village of Daanbantayan, northern Cebu, Philippines.
UMNS just published this story about things that Rev. Marcos Tamega Jr. learned from UMCOR's recent disaster response readiness training held in the Philippines in February. I think this is a great program of UMCOR, but I was struck by a fact cited in the article. It said, "A United Nations report has identified the Philippines as the country that is the third most at-risk for disaster because of climate change." This certainly gives a sense of urgency to disaster response readiness training in the Philippines. Disasters are likely to continue striking and with increasing ferocity and frequency.
Yet I was also led to wonder if UMCOR-organized disaster response funded largely by American United Methodist donors, such as that to Typhoon Haiyan, was another example of Westerners solving problems that they had helped cause. There are many examples throughout mission history, the history of Western development projects in Majority World countries, and general Western interactions with the Majority World of Westerners providing the Majority World with solutions to problems that were caused in the first place largely by Westerners.
It's a great set-up for Westerners. They can, through obliviousness or disregard, continue to cause problems in other countries and therefore not have to change how they do things, but also get the nice glow of feeling like they've helped the less fortunate, even though they are responsible for that misfortune. It's not such a great set-up for non-Westerners, who have to live with the initial problems and the disruption or demeaning that often comes with receiving Western help.
While Western countries are certainly not the only ones emitting greenhouse gases and other climate-change inducing chemicals (China is one of the biggest polluters in the world), Western countries in general, and the United States in particular, pollute at a rate that is far higher than their share of the world's population. Therefore, I don't think it is unfair to see climate change as a problem that is largely (if not entirely) caused by Westerners. An increase in the prevalence and frequency of disasters has been predicted as a consequence of climate change. Thus, Western disaster relief efforts in the Philippines (or Vanuatu or elsewhere) is to some extent a Western solution to a problem caused at least in part by Westerners.
I don't mean this piece as a criticism of UMCOR. I think UMCOR is a fantastic organization that deserves our support. Nor do I mean to suggest that Westerners should not help suffering people affected by storms or other disasters. We should. I do mean, however, to suggest that if our response to climate change-linked disasters is simply to provide more disaster relief, then we are merely treating symptoms, and we are at moral fault. Westerners must be willing to humbly change our ways to prevent harm to others, not just give generously once they have been harmed.
David W. Scott is assistant professor of religion at Ripon College, Ripon, Wis. He coordinates the collaborative blog UM & Global on behalf of United Methodist Professors of Mission.