It’s Getting Hot In Here

The tradition of giving up something very important, very difficult to live without, during the Lenten season has been a part of the Christian faith for centuries. While this has had many interpretations through the centuries, this year, a few Bishops recognized something equally hard as food for many people to live without. No, not chocolate. Nor coffee. Carbon.

This year, the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, and the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, were asked members of his parish and Christians world wide to go on a Carbon Fast for Lent. For most parishioners, this boils down to a carbon diet, but Bishops Jones and Chartres were really asking for deep changes – changes that would allow for reflection “on God’s earth and its poorest people” and how both would be affected by climate change. Church groups and secular groups of individuals around the US, UK and around the world are joining in for the carbon fast. Today’s the halfway point, so a chance to reflect on reflecting…

Tearfund, a Christian relief and development agency, is providing daily emails, PowerPoints, and even sermon notes, so that churches all over the world can be a part of the Carbon Fast. And what do they mean by a Carbon Fast, after all? Tear Fund has provided an action for every day of Lent, beginning with taking out a lightbulb in a prominent (but safe!) place in the house and leaving it out for the next forty days. The others include calling a hotline to stop junkmail, having an embrace-the-silence Sunday (no TV, no ring tones, no radio, no cars), calling the electricity provider and switching to a green power option, de-icing the refrigerator to increase efficiency, and praying for and reflecting on both local and global aspects of climate change.

Most of the recommendations apply to all of us to do be done as soon as possible – changes that make an impact far beyond these forty days: checking tire pressure in cars to increase efficiency, composting, switching off lights, unplugging mobile phone chargers, and using cloth rather than plastic bags. For the last day of Lent – they recommend replacing the old bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb… unless you’ve realized you can live without it!

The Church of England has already committed itself to reducing carbon emissions by 60% by 2050 through its Shrinking the Footprint initiative. Last year, the Vatican hosted a climate conference of their own, with Pope Benedict urging for greater respect of creation, while “focusing on the needs of sustainable development.” So maybe Pope Benedict wasn’t calling for 80 % below 1990 levels by 2050, but it’s a first step…

Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, has been outspoken in asking parishioners to reduce their emissions, saying that Christians have a moral imperative to save the planet and reduce the climate inequity that those who are affected are not the ones polluting. Chartres went one step further than the Carbon Fast guidelines in 2006 – he gave up flying in a plane for a year, and said that “making selfish choices such as flying on holiday or buying a large car” were a “symptom of sin”. Call him a preacher, but he’s not afraid to say what he thinks.

While this isn’t the first time that IGHIH has covered religious responses to climate change, I am still pretty excited to see a new angle. I heard about the carbon fast because a chocolate-loving friend felt that giving up carbon would be easier than giving up chocolate for Lent. If only it were that easy! If only we could all give up carbon immediately and entirely whenever we wanted! So even if the Bishops’ are requesting a carbon diet rather than a carbon fast, it’s a great first step during a time of reflection, to think a bit more about the carbon implications of every action – turning on a computer, eating any meal, getting to work – one way or another, planting a tree, taking a moment to think.