Guest blog: Keep the faith and fight the good fight on climate

By Rev. Nelson Bock, Executive Director of Colorado Interfaith Power and Light. -- Luis

We knew it was going to happen: the opponents of change are pulling out all the stops in their efforts to derail significant health care reform in this country. I work for Colorado Interfaith Power and Light, and while our issue is climate change, I also care deeply about health care reform; not only that, but I think the health care debate is a preview of things to come in the debate around climate change and clean energy jobs legislation. To some people, the ends apparently justify the means, to heck with civil discourse or respecting others.

Earlier this month, former Colorado State Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon wrote in his This Matters blog, “Do any of you feel that it is ever justified to shout down others in a town meeting?...How did we get to this point? Someone answer this for me.”

I think the current thuggish tactics of some people reflects their fear that they have lost the argument about which direction we should move as a society, and so they must resort to trying to intimidate the rest of us into not standing up for what we think is right. Unfortunately, some people on our side tend to react to those tactics out of fear and loathing as well, and reciprocate in kind. We have to resist this impulse, take the high road, and move ahead "with malice toward none, with charity toward all", difficult as that may be. Partly for that reason, so far I’ve chosen not to attend any of the local health care events that have been held by members of Congress. That doesn’t mean my decision was the right one, any more than were the decisions of those who decided to heed the call. I just didn’t think doing so would enhance my ability to keep contributing positively to the conversation.

I was hoping that I would be able to blog about the state of the debate on climate and clean energy jobs during the August congressional recess. But for now, it’s all about health care reform; we can’t even get a word in edgewise. When the conversation gets back around to climate change and energy policy, however, we can expect the deniers to trot out the same kinds of fear-inducing tactics and rhetoric. I was interviewed recently on KGNU by Joel Edelstein, who asked, “Who can possibly be against promoting clean energy and clean energy jobs? Isn’t that a bit like Mom and apple pie?” The answer: those who have an economic stake in the current carbon-based energy economy, and will continue to profit from it as long as they can keep us “hooked” on it. Like those who profit from our broken health care system, they will apparently do anything to protect their profits, whether the cost is the health of our children or the health of our planet.

Get ready for a fight. But don’t concede the higher ground; keep the faith and fight the good fight. “What does it profit a person to gain the whole world, and to forfeit one’s soul in the process?” This will not be the last fight, either; we’re going to need our souls (spiritual resources) for future battles.

If anything can be called sacred, it’s the earth and its environment in which we live in an intricate web of interdependent relationships. Honoring and preserving that web is a spiritual matter, and one in which all people, as spiritual beings, can participate, whether they consider themselves “religious” or not. We are all in this together. So we celebrate our partnership with all the other members of the 1Sky campaign who are working together to prevent climate change. It just may be that, through this effort in solidarity with all of creation, we can find a new unity as a human family that will allow us to live in a better balance with the earth and with each other for millennia to come.
Or maybe not. But right now, I don’t feel like I have a choice but to make that effort. I’m grateful for everyone who feels and does likewise.