In a recent news item in my church magazine, The Banner, I read about a newly elected member o f the House of Representatives who said when asked why he had run for office, “I’m not satisfied with the world my children are inheriting and am adamant about cleaning up the mess that has been created.”
Ah, I mused, a Christian politician who recognizes that we are called to care for the creation, to clean up the environmental mess that our wasteful, consumptive lifestyle has created. But I wanted to be sure so I did a little background check and to my dismay read that this Michigan Republican endorsed the party position on environmental issues. I know what this “party position” is because the news lately has been about the Republican budget cuts, especially the gutting of all issues connected to the care of the creation.
One of the first things the Republican controlled House of Representatives has done in 2011, ostensibly to cut back on President Obama’s budget, is to propose a budget of their own that, among other things, slashed nearly every bit of environmental funding they could find—funding to remove coal ash from the air and mercury from the water, funding to clean up the Chesapeake bay, funding to restore environments destroyed by mountaintop coal mining, funding for clean energy, and on and on. They even cut funding to supervise and regulate offshore drilling (imagine this after the BP debacle of this summer) but they never considered cutting the billions of dollars that go to subsidize our scandalously profitable oil companies.
One cannot help but ask “When did the Republicans become indifferent to the beauty and health of the nation’s land, water and waterways, or the respiratory health of children?” How can a party that speaks so frequently of patriotism and that calls itself pro-life be opposed to doing basic maintenance on America the Beautiful? Have the Tea Partiers spread such fear in the hearts of these legislators that virtually none of them dare to vote their conscience?
After all, as recently as the last presidential election the Republican candidate John McCain during the presidential campaign repeatedly said the following: “Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming, or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring. We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great.” (Quoted by Schultz, Sacramento Bee, Sept 12, 2010)
Even President Bush, after trying to subvert or manipulate the NASA findings on global warming during his time in office, eventually issued statements expressing concern over global warming.
During the recent mid-term election, George Schultz, former Secretary of State under Republican President Ronald Reagan led the fight against California’s Proposition 23 which sought to repeal the state’s clean energy laws. Here’s what Schultz had to say about it: “Proposition 23 seeks to derail our future through a process of indefinite postponement of our state’s clean energy and clean air standards.” These standards, says Schultz are “about preserving clean air for our kids and fostering good jobs for our workers. [They are] about a California that leads the world in the next great global industry and facing the next great global challenge. The effort to derail it would be a tragic mistake” (Sacramento Bee, Sept 12, 2010). The Schultz-led campaign defeated the oil company-led campaign to postpone the standards.
But today’s House Republicans, it seems, would repudiate McCain and Schultz and open the doors for even more abuse to our most basic natural systems and resources, the systems and resources upon which all of our lives depend: soil, air, water and forests.
I hope that the fresh young congressman from Michigan who talks about “the mess that has been created” takes the time to read the CRC’s Contemporary Testimony, Our World Belongs To God, along with whatever Tea Party manifestoes are being passed around the House.
Ah, I mused, a Christian politician who recognizes that we are called to care for the creation, to clean up the environmental mess that our wasteful, consumptive lifestyle has created. But I wanted to be sure so I did a little background check and to my dismay read that this Michigan Republican endorsed the party position on environmental issues. I know what this “party position” is because the news lately has been about the Republican budget cuts, especially the gutting of all issues connected to the care of the creation.
One of the first things the Republican controlled House of Representatives has done in 2011, ostensibly to cut back on President Obama’s budget, is to propose a budget of their own that, among other things, slashed nearly every bit of environmental funding they could find—funding to remove coal ash from the air and mercury from the water, funding to clean up the Chesapeake bay, funding to restore environments destroyed by mountaintop coal mining, funding for clean energy, and on and on. They even cut funding to supervise and regulate offshore drilling (imagine this after the BP debacle of this summer) but they never considered cutting the billions of dollars that go to subsidize our scandalously profitable oil companies.
One cannot help but ask “When did the Republicans become indifferent to the beauty and health of the nation’s land, water and waterways, or the respiratory health of children?” How can a party that speaks so frequently of patriotism and that calls itself pro-life be opposed to doing basic maintenance on America the Beautiful? Have the Tea Partiers spread such fear in the hearts of these legislators that virtually none of them dare to vote their conscience?
After all, as recently as the last presidential election the Republican candidate John McCain during the presidential campaign repeatedly said the following: “Instead of idly debating the precise extent of global warming, or the precise timeline of global warming, we need to deal with the central facts of rising temperatures, rising waters and all the endless troubles that global warming will bring. We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great.” (Quoted by Schultz, Sacramento Bee, Sept 12, 2010)
Even President Bush, after trying to subvert or manipulate the NASA findings on global warming during his time in office, eventually issued statements expressing concern over global warming.
During the recent mid-term election, George Schultz, former Secretary of State under Republican President Ronald Reagan led the fight against California’s Proposition 23 which sought to repeal the state’s clean energy laws. Here’s what Schultz had to say about it: “Proposition 23 seeks to derail our future through a process of indefinite postponement of our state’s clean energy and clean air standards.” These standards, says Schultz are “about preserving clean air for our kids and fostering good jobs for our workers. [They are] about a California that leads the world in the next great global industry and facing the next great global challenge. The effort to derail it would be a tragic mistake” (Sacramento Bee, Sept 12, 2010). The Schultz-led campaign defeated the oil company-led campaign to postpone the standards.
But today’s House Republicans, it seems, would repudiate McCain and Schultz and open the doors for even more abuse to our most basic natural systems and resources, the systems and resources upon which all of our lives depend: soil, air, water and forests.
I hope that the fresh young congressman from Michigan who talks about “the mess that has been created” takes the time to read the CRC’s Contemporary Testimony, Our World Belongs To God, along with whatever Tea Party manifestoes are being passed around the House.
Comments
Post a Comment