Divestment Supporters
Judy Smith, Cynthia Taylor and Sherie Koob of the Baltimore-Washington Conference show support for Fossil Free UMC, a grassroots caucus supporting divestment of fossil fuel company stocks owned by United Methodist institutions. (Photo by Mike Koob.)
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
– Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)
Special to United Methodist Insight
During this election season, those of us who continue to work toward fossil fuel divestment in the United Methodist Church are also urging people to vote in the upcoming election. Polls show that election results will be close. Some have called it the most consequential US election ever.
Those of us at Fossil Free UMC call on people to vote their conscience, with eyes wide open both to what is at stake with the election and to the limitations of what our votes can accomplish. Participatory democracy does not mean just voting every two or four years. It also means educating ourselves, recognizing the larger forces that constrain our choices, and addressing the “powers” that influence public policy and human affairs in an ongoing way.
People base their choices about which candidate and which party to support on various issues of concern. In this election, a key issue is climate change. Articles on our Fossil Free UMC website point out what is at stake with climate change and the need to phase out fossil fuels to prevent the worst effects. Science clearly tells us that this is the critical decade if we are to limit warming to 1.5°C or even 2°C, and that either of these limits can only be achieved by “rapid, deep and in most cases immediate greenhouse gas emission reductions.” Regardless of what issues you prioritize as a voter, be aware that climate change is a “threat multiplier” that will impact all aspects of our lives.
There are extreme differences between the two candidates, including on issues of energy and climate. In this upcoming presidential election, the Democratic Party platform calls the climate crisis “an existential threat to future generations who deserve better,” emphasizes policies supporting conservation and environmental justice, and proposes growing the economy while combating climate change. The Republican Party platform is silent on climate and proposes becoming “Energy Dominant” by cutting regulations and streamlining permits for new fossil fuel projects. If adopted, Project 2025, written by former Trump officials, would jeopardize climate action, human well-being, social programs, and democracy itself. Each of us needs to compare and vote accordingly.
But climate itself is not a partisan issue. It can’t be blamed on Republicans or Democrats. More than half of all CO2 emissions now in the atmosphere have been released during the past 30 years, that is, more human-caused emissions have been released since the signing of the Framework Convention on Climate Change in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 than were released before. Since that time the United States has reduced fossil fuel emissions slightly within our borders, but we have also become the world’s leading natural (methane) gas exporter. Our true contribution to the atmospheric burden of global emissions is hidden by the fact that US fossil fuel exports don’t count as US emissions, but as emissions of importing nations after they are burned.
This is a systemic problem. That’s why signs at climate demonstrations often include the slogan of the global climate justice movement: “System Change Not Climate Change.” For more about the forces that perpetuate this crisis, see my article, The Limitations of the Dominant Paradigm for Climate Rescue. Here is an excerpt:
When Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world,” he is contrasting it with the kingdom of Herod or the Empire of Caesar. Walter Wink makes the case that when Jesus says “world” here, he does not mean God’s creation, but the “system,” that is, the human-constructed value-systems and structures in which we live—the “domination system.” Marcus Borg calls this “the normalcy of civilization.” Some people call it the “real world.” In other words, Jesus is pointing out two opposing paradigms: the world as it is now and the world as God intends for it to be. These conflicting paradigms are still at work today.
Voting will not save us, but it is one way to reduce harm as much as possible within the dominant paradigm. Then, following the election, we must continue the struggle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” as we seek to live a new and emerging and life-giving paradigm into being. One way is by joining our efforts through Fossil Free UMC.
Vote your conscience and consider the climate when you cast your vote.
Join us in calling for the United Methodist Church to screen out fossil fuels from our investment portfolios on the grounds that they are driving climate change and the desecration of creation. To participate, find out about the New York and Pacific Northwest Annual Conferences and the Northwest UM Foundation, which have already divested. Follow the conversations taking place in the California-Nevada Annual Conference about responsible ways to divest from fossil fuels, and urge your annual conference to do so as well. If you receive a pension from Wespath (our Board of Pensions), as I do, divest from fossil fuels and from Palestine conflict funds by moving your money into their Social Values Choice funds, and urge Wespath to make these funds truly fossil free.
For regardless of how concerned we are about the outcome of this election or the trajectory of the future, “our struggle is not against flesh and blood,” certainly not against our brothers and sisters in the pews beside us who are Republican or Democrat, certainly not our neighbors or people who see things differently than we do or even against people we think might be deluded. There are unseen forces (spiritual forces) that would drive us apart. But in the Spirit of Christ, we are given the grace to accept all people within our circle of concern and to acknowledge that each of us and all parts of creation are within God’s circle of care and concern.
See Cobb and Friends presentation by Sharon Delgado on Fossil Fuel Divestment as Climate Change Strategy, October 15, 10 am to 12 pm PST
The Rev. Sharon Delgado
Clergy, author, and climate activist Sharon Delgado, in the California-Nevada Annual Conference, is on the Coordinating Committee of the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement and is the Convener of Fossil Free UMC. She is author of The Cross in the Midst of Creation, Love in a Time of Climate Change, and Shaking the Gates of Hell.