It\’s Getting Hot In Here

For the Catholic community, the environmental concern behind global warming began at Genesis, not Earth Day.

At least that is how John Carr, Secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, framed his testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. He, along with various religious leaders, stressed the moral responsibility to the poor, but the leaders’ reasoning could not have been more different.

At one end were the Catholic, Jewish and Christian Evangelical communities worried about the impact of uncontrolled global warming on the poor – one aspect of “creation care.” On the other end were the Southern Baptist and historical Evangelican representatives who, along with a witness from the Institute on Religion and Democracy, expressed concern that global warming legislation would do more harm to the poor.

It was a sad game of tug-of-war over the interests of the poor, a disparity in which Inhofe merrily basked once Boxer left her Chair for another engagement.

The highlight of the hearing was listening to Rabbi David Saperstein describe the campaign, “How Many Jews Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb?” The campaign tagged itself to Chanukah, a.k.a. the Festival of Lights, and educated people on the importance of replacing their incandescent bulbs with energy efficient, compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Saving energy and lowering utility bills – that really is in the interest of affordable and environmentally-sound living.

This material was created for ClimateProgress. org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.