Climate Scientist Says Bringing Hope Is Best Task for Faith-Based Activists

by

A United Methodist Insight Exclusive | Sept. 12, 2022

While the world watches with increasing fear as extreme weather events signal climate change's dire effects, one of the planet's most prominent climate scientists says the best task for faith-based activists is to bring hope that climate problems can be solved.

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, Texas Tech University professor and climate adviser to the Nature Conservancy, urged dozens of faith-based activists to start talking with their communities about local solutions to climate change during her Sept. 11 keynote speech for the Green Team Summit sponsored by Faith in Place. Dr. Hayhoe's talk was based on her new book, "Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World."

Faith in Place is the Midwest affiliate of the national environmental organization Interfaith Power & Light. Through recent mergers with other grassroots climate organizations, Faith in Place now serves Indiana, Wisconsin, and its native Illinois.

Dr. Hayhoe began her keynote by asking webinar participants to submit via online polling a single word to describe their feelings about climate change. Reactions tended mostly to be negative words from "concerned" to "terrified." The climate scientist noted that such reactions were "normal" and "rational" because most news about climate change focuses on its dangerous effects, from melting polar ice to extreme drought and flooding around the world.

"We've never seen this much carbon going into the atmosphere as we have now, even though we've known about carbon's effects since the 1850s," Dr. Hayhoe said, citing its effects on food, water, air, species, and human infrastructure. "Climate change is loading the dice against us.

"It's not just about 'saving the planet' anymore," she continued. "It's about saving us."

Dr. Hayhoe noted that marginalized communities who've contributed least to climate-altering carbon emissions – such as flooded Pakistan and drought-stricken Somalia – are now suffering the most from climate change. She cited the U.S. military's assessment that Earth's deteriorating environment is a "threat multiplier" to all the world's other problems.

"The question we should be asking ourselves is, 'how do I want to respond?'" she said.

'We freeze or give up'

Unfortunately, most people don't want to talk about climate change's effects because the threat is so overwhelming, she said.

"We think that if people just knew the facts, they'd respond, but that's not how it works," said Dr. Hayhoe, citing research by British neuroscientist Tali Sharot. "Fear and anxiety cause us to withdraw. We freeze or give up rather than take action."

The better approach for faith-based activists to take now, said Dr. Hayhoe, is to learn how to talk about the crisis in ways that will help people see how climate change directly affects them and their communities, and what they can do locally to find solutions.

For example, polls show that 86 percent of young people and 83 percent of mothers are deeply concerned about climate change, but only 8 percent of them are activated to seek solutions, the climate scientist said. Instead of merely citing climate change dangers, Dr. Hayhoe advocates finding common ground with people's local concerns and then seeking what can be done to solve those problems.

"Talking about [climate dangers to] polar bears in Iowa isn't going to move people much, but talking about how climate change will affect the corn harvest will, because that's what matters to them today," Dr. Hayhoe said.

In other words, she said, find out what concerns people, and then start talking about finding solutions, she urged. Even though personal actions might not seem to be effective in the face of massive climate change, her research has shown that they do indeed matter, especially when shared with others, Dr. Hayhoe stressed.

'Use your voice'

"Use your voice to encourage change," she said several times during her speech.

Local climate solutions from churches and faith communities have included community gardens to provide fresh food; "greening" urban neighborhoods with trees and other vegetation to restore polluted air and provide a canopy from extreme heat; restoring wetlands; and investing in companies that use sustainable practices. (For example, Wespath Benefits and Investments, the United Methodist pension and insurance agency that manages between $25 billion and $30 billion in church pension funds, makes "sustainable investing" a priority).

Dr. Hayhoe quoted Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 19, whose work has mobilized thousands of young people around the world to engage with their governments about climate change: "The one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere."

Bond, connect, inspire

As she neared the end of her 45-minute talk, Dr. Hayhoe acknowledged that increasing climate action is difficult in the United States, because the country is more politically divided than at any time since the Civil War in the 19th century. She counseled again that faith-based activists must look for common concerns with their families, neighbors, and communities, rather than emphasizing divisions.

She offered a three-point method for increasing climate activism:

  • Bond – Find common ground around local climate change effects.
  • Connect – share feelings and concerns through conversations.
  • Inspire – look for ways to solve climate problems together.

She said her technique adds up to the same theme expressed in Galatians 5:6 -- "the only thing that counts is faith working through love" (NRSVUE*).

In a question-and-answer session following her talk, Dr. Hayhoe responded that she's concerned that most recent government policies are failing to look at resilience, rather than crisis response, as a major tool for climate solutions. She said her research has shown that every dollar spent creating climate resilience saves $16 to $17 in disaster relief. Webinar co-host Christina Krost noted that for United Methodists, adding resilience to climate solutions would mean that the United Methodist Committee on Relief could stop "chasing disasters."

"Do your research," said the climate scientist. "Always begin locally. These are big concerns, but if we don't fix climate change, we won't have anything left to fix."

The Green Team Summit continues online through Sept. 14. Interested participants can register for free to attend the remaining sessions.

Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011. This article is part of Insight's participation in Covering Climate Now, an international collaboration among some 500 news outlets to enhance climate change reporting. Full disclosure: United Methodist Insight is a co-sponsor of the Green Team Summit.

*NRSVUE, New Revised Standard Version Updated is the digital version of the NRSV. Copyright 2022 by the Christian Education Committee of the National Council of Churches USA. Used by permission.