Wednesday
March 11, 2009

...the blessing of [the sacrament of communion] is fellowship and love, by which we are strengthened against death and all evil.  This fellowship is twofold:  on the one hand we partake of Christ and all saints; on the other hand we permit all Christians to be partakers of us, in whatever way they and we are able.  Thus by means of this sacrament, all self-seeking love is rooted out and gives place to that which seeks the common good of all; and through the change wrought by love there is one bread, one drink, one body, one community.
-Martin Luther, “The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ [Luther, “The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ”, Martin Luther’s Basic Theological Writings, ed. Timothy Lull, 260.]

We know that global warming threatens Arctic wildlife and native communities, the people of island nations and coastal communities—we know that it is changing life for all of us.  But global climate change weighs most heavily on those who live in poverty, who can least bear the burden, because they depend more directly on their surrounding physical environment to provide for their needs. 

A United Nations Human Development Report estimates that 600 million more people will suffer malnutrition and 1.8 billion more will live in a water scarce environment by 2080 because of climate change.  The warming of climates will also increase the spread of diseases like malaria, and impoverished communities will not be able to respond adequately when they can’t afford the medication for those infected.  Fighting global warming is a matter of justice, inseparable from our call to love our neighbors, to seek the common good of all with whom we share the feast of creation.

• Sets mandatory limits on emissions of greenhouse gases.
• Sets concrete goals for the production of power from clean, renewable sources
• Invests in clean technologies such as wind, solar and geothermal energy and in advances in energy efficiency, creating a new “green” energy industry and potentially thousands of new jobs
• Provides assistance to low and moderate income Americans to help them with rising energy costs
• Provides assistance to poor communities in the United States and around the globe that are struggling to adapt to a changing climate.