Selfishness, greed, apathy

In Christopher's sermon he quoted Gus Speth, a climate scientist who said as long ago as 2016 that the causes of problems with the environment were selfishness, greed, and apathy, and that those problems could not be solved by technology. In the COP26 climate conference many countries are reluctant to take steps that might impact their economies, and the very rich in these countries appeared to be reluctant to sacrifice increases in their own wealth for the welfare of the planet. The apathy of those who are not very rich may well grow from a fear that they will suffer.

In the eco-church committee meeting this week we discussed encouraging people to pledge to take at least one action that would improve the environment. Small things matter. We could pledge to eat less meat during the week, or only to eat meat that is environmentally sound (cattle fed in pastures not feedlots, or free range chicken). We could pledge only to buy new clothing from environmentally sound sources, and only to buy new things that we really need. We can pledge to reduce our use of automobiles, or to fly less. The number of possible small steps we can take is very large.

We should also increase our awareness of how political decisions affect our environment too,  XiaoZhi Lim wrote in the Guardian on 7 November 2021 (LINK) about the environmental damage caused by free parking places. "Shoup and others have found that underpriced street parking keeps people driving in cities, even in those that have good alternative transport options. More people driving means more city traffic – increasing congestion and pumping out pollution." Charges for on-street parking in some neighbourhoods in Berlin have increased. 

Other measures are possible too. Paris recently reduced its speed limit to 30 km/h for environmental reasons and to increase safety for pedestrians and bicycles. Berlin has a petition to ban cars within the S-Bahn ring (with appropriate exceptions for people with mobility problems and emergency vehicles).  Leander Jones wrote in the Guardian on 6 October 2021 (LINK):

"A 2014 report commissioned by Berlin’s regional parliament found that 58% of traffic space was devoted to cars, even though only a third of journeys on Berlin streets (and only 17% within the S-Bahn ring) were made by car. Only 3% was set aside for bicycles, which accounted for 15% of journeys (18% within the ring).  Parked cars took up 17 sq km. In total, almost 20 times more space was dedicated to cars than to bicycles in one of Europe’s most renowned cycle-friendly cities. Three-quarters of road deaths are pedestrians or cyclists." 

It is important not to let apathy persuade us small steps do not matter. There is much we can do as individuals and as members of the congregation to preserve God's creation.