Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Environment Committee of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, we strongly encourage sermons, homilies, and messages on and around Earth Day: Sunday, April 22, this year.
As people of faith, we believe we are created by God to both enjoy and to protect this good, earth and the abundant life dwelling with us on earth.
We assert that all people, societies and nations must participate in the call to be stewards and students of creation and the balance of nature supporting all life on earth.
This is more critical now than ever because all efforts so far to live sustainably fall farther behind solutions needed every year. Consider some of the daunting challenges:
In just forty years, human population has grown from 4 billion to 7.4 billion.
Thousands of species go extinct every year as a result of humanity’s impact on the world. We are expanding into virtually all habitats for living space, food production, highways, bridges, railroads, forestry, mining, fossil fuel development, and waste disposal.
NASA reports that carbon dioxide (CO2) levels that warm the atmosphere remained stable below 300 parts per million over the past 400,000 years. But, since the industrial revolution, CO2 levels have risen steadily and have now exceeded 400 parts per million. The result of burning coal, oil, and natural gas, CO2 levels are still rising. (SOURCE: NASA Global Climate Change Vital Signs of the Planet) https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/24/
The numbers of cars & trucks on earth has reached 1.2 billion
and is expected to double by 2050. How will they be powered? By gasoline? Hydrogen? Electricity?
It cannot be the will of God that humanity should so degrade earth’s environment through unconscious habits and lifestyles that we can change.
May we all answer God’s call to be stewards of creation, to preserve, conserve and sustain environmental health for ourselves and all generations to come.
The Rev. Jim Stovall, Chair
OCC Committee on the Environment
