Prelims

Half Title Page

Science, Faith and the Climate Crisis

Series Page

Praise for Science, Faith and the Climate Crisis

‘In our supposedly secular age, when humans are transforming the world's physical geography like never before, we need alternative thinking about the nature of the problems that confront us. Religious and secular thinking must make space for a dialogue of equals, so that we can identify ways forward on Earth that are feasible, are desirable and possess legitimacy. This book of thoughtful essays represents, and might in turn help to build, such a dialogue.’

Professor Noel Castree, University of Manchester, UK

‘A timely and important contribution to “why” and “how” science and faith need to collaborate to combat the climate crisis.’

Willy Telavi, Former Prime Minister of Tuvalu

Title Page

Science, Faith and the Climate Crisis

Edited by

Sally Myers

Woolf Institute, UK

Sarah Hemstock

Bishop Grosseteste University, UK

Edward Hanna

University of Lincoln, UK

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2020

Copyright © 2020 Emerald Publishing Limited

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ISBN: 978-1-83982-987-1 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83982-984-0 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83982-986-4 (Epub)

List of Figures

About the Authors

The Rt Rev Dr Marc Handley Andrus is the eighth bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. He was installed as bishop in 2006 – a position of oversight for a diocese comprised of 24,000 communicants serving the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Prior to his election as Bishop of California, Andrus served as Bishop Suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama. Bishop Andrus represents the Most Rev. Michael Bruce Curry, the Presiding Bishop for the Episcopal Church, at the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (2015 to present), and is a member of the Leaders Circle for the We’re Still In network.

Sheila Moore Andrus, PhD, Episcopal Diocese of California Sustainability Team, USA, is an environmental scientist, science manager and educator with a focus on global health, climate change and sustainable development. She has led entomological research for the USDA Forest Service, and global health research and capacity building at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Sparkman Center for Global Health. Her consulting includes work with the University of California San Francisco’s Global Health Program. She participated in the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change, 2015–2018, and leads rollout for the Episcopal Church's web-based tool (sustainislandhome.org) to address climate change.

Dr Mark Charlesworth is an Associate Tutor at Bishop Grosseteste University, UK, and his research focuses on policy for rapid climate change including the theological implications.

Dr Michael Colechin is Founder of Cultivate, a company he set up to support organisations and individuals who are seeking to deliver innovative, low carbon, energy solutions. He brings a creative and dynamic approach to exploring the challenges we face in reducing our impact on the environment and preventing catastrophic climate change. His work is rooted in his experience of working as an engineer researching and developing solutions to these issues with industry, academia and government. He delivers workshops that are designed to be provocative and thought-provoking, exploring how we can all be part of the solution.

Dr Emily Colgan is Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Trinity Theological College in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her research focuses on the relationship between the Bible and contemporary social imaginaries, asking about the degree to which the ideologies contained within biblical texts continue to inform communities in the present. Emily is particularly interested in ecological representations in the Bible, as well as depictions of gender and violence.

Dr Patrina Dumaru lectures at the University of the South Pacific, Fiji, and provides technical advice to Pacific Island governments on national resilient development planning and monitoring and evaluation processes. She has 20 years of applied research and consultancy experience in the Pacific region covering coastal management, mobility, water and sanitation, environmental impact assessment and gender issues.

Fetalai Gagaeolo is a Disaster Management Officer with the Government of Samoa. She has participated in the UNFCC COP meetings supporting Pacific region delegations.

Dr Richard J. Hall is a Research Associate in the School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, UK. He previously worked as a Research Associate at the University of Lincoln, UK. His interests are in North Atlantic jet stream variability, seasonal forecasting for North Western Europe and the impact of the changing Arctic upon the mid-latitudes. His recent work focuses on stratospheric variability and impacts on extreme weather.

Prof. Edward Hanna is Professor in Climate Science and Meteorology in the School of Geography, University of Lincoln, UK. He is an international authority on Greenland climate change and mass balance of its ice sheet, contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2013 Fifth Assessment Report, and has co-authored many Arctic Report Cards of the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. He is the World Climate Research Programme Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) representative on the ISMASS (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research/International Arctic Science Committee/CliC Expert Group on Ice Sheet Mass Balance and Sea Level) Steering Committee. Prof. Hanna received the International Journal of Climatology Editor's Award from the Royal Meteorological Society in 2018, and in 2020 he was a co-recipient of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology's Denny Medal. He co-led the 2019 ‘Moana: Water of Life: Navigating Climate Change for Planetary Health’ conference in Lincoln.

Dr Peni Hausia Havea is a Tongan Scholar and a training Pastor from the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific.

Dr Sarah Hemstock is a Programme Leader for Geography at Bishop Grosseteste University, UK and an Adjunct Fellow of the University of the South Pacific. She believes education is the best tool to achieve resilient development and has a consuming enthusiasm for her subject. For the UNFCCC, she has been a national party member and Pacific Community representative to the Paris Committee on Capacity Building. She has served on various task forces for EU and UN climate change (mitigation, adaptation and migration) and disaster reduction initiatives. She has also developed Pacific regional tertiary educational policy for resilient development; adopted by 26 countries and territories. In 2010 she was made a Government of Tuvalu Honorary Ambassador – Officer for Environmental Science.

Siu Fanga Jione has expertise in Participatory Geographic Information System (PGIS) and applications of GIS in vulnerability assessment and DRM. She has experience in training and capacity building at community and national levels, utilising participatory tools, methods and approaches.

Dr Andrew P. Kythreotis is a Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Geography in the School of Geography, University of Lincoln, UK, and a Senior Researcher at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia, UK. His research and teaching revolves around the broad themes of climate change and the environment and how its policy, politics and governance is constructed around socio-spatial ontologies. Subject specialisms include Climate Change Policy, Politics and Governance; Political and Social Geography; Political Ecology of the State; Environmental Knowledge Construction; Scale Debate in Human Geography; Evidenced-based Policy and Open Science. He has advised national governments on climate change adaptation issues, has recently co-founded the Lincoln Climate Commission and was an external reviewer for DEFRA's UK Climate Change Risk Assessment the 2017 and upcoming 2022 Evidence Reports.

John Lewin, in addition to his current visiting professorship at Lincoln, is Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography at Aberystwyth University, UK, where he also served as Dean of Science, Vice Principal and Pro-Vice-Chancellor. His main research interests are in the geomorphology, sedimentation and use histories of rivers and floodplains. A current interest lies also in student learning needs at university, particularly in light of the developing environmental changes arising from global heating.

Professor Mark G. Macklin is the Foundational Head of the School of Geography at the University of Lincoln, UK. Prof. Macklin also oversees the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, a pioneering research centre which focuses on solving the most pressing global environmental and societal problems emerging from the world's largest rivers. His research interests include river channel and floodplain responses to climate change, long-term human–river environment interactions, alluvial archaeology, flood risk assessment, metal mining pollution and its impact on ecosystem and human health and the hydrological controls of malaria. In 2018, Prof. Macklin received the Murchison Award of the Royal Geographical Society for his pioneering research in fluvial geomorphology and its environmental applications.

Lynnaia Main serves as the Episcopal Church Representative to the United Nations. Along with other representatives, she nurtures partnerships between The Episcopal Church and UN entities, member states and civil society organisations. Since 2015, she has collaborated with Episcopal Church leaders to enhance the Church's climate and environmental action and advocacy within the UN system. This has included accompanying Episcopal delegations to annual UN Climate Change Conferences since COP21 in Paris and shepherding the Church's application for and admission in 2017 as an observer organisation to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Her work and ministry on the Church's behalf cover a range of UN issues and moments touching upon water, environment, climate and sustainable development. Prior to joining the Church, Ms Main was a university lecturer in international relations and political science. The research presented here draws from these backgrounds.

Dr Theresa G. Mercer is a Senior Lecturer in Biogeography and Planetary Health at the School of Geography, University of Lincoln, UK. She has held several academic postings at Cranfield University, UK, Cardiff University, UK, Keele University, UK, the University of Queensland, Australia, and the University of Hull, UK. She is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist with broad interests in environmental management and Education for Sustainable development (ESD).

Rev Dr Sally Myers is a priest in the Church of England and an academic. She has worked with a number of HE institutions in the strategic development of teaching and research programmes. Her own research and professional interests are concerned with how individuals and communities represent their faith to themselves and others, how this impacts attitudes and behaviour, and particularly, how this changes over time in response to learning and crisis to form ‘wisdom’. She draws upon narrative and cognitive psychology to understand the mechanisms of change involved in ‘changing minds’ and the effectiveness of educational interventions. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Woolf Institute, Cambridge. At the time of the 2019 conference, she was Principal of the Lincoln School of Theology.

Connor Price is reading Geography at Bishop Grosseteste University, UK. He has a passion for researching climate change and the impacts it will have on societies, especially within the Pacific region.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the organisers of the 2019 Moana: Water of Life Conference: the Diocese of Lincoln and the University of Lincoln, UK, in particular the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, and also Bishop Grosseteste University, UK, and the Lincoln Faith and Environment Group for their significant contributions in making the event a meeting of minds and hearts. We also thank Sorina Hanna for help with figure redrafting.

Foreword

It becomes ever clearer that climate change is the greatest challenge that we and future generations face; a true horseman of the apocalypse. This book comes at a crucial time. Without swift, decisive action, the consequences of climate change will be devastating.

On a trip to Fiji last year, I was told by my hosts, ‘For you Europeans climate change is a problem for the future; for us, it is a problem of everyday survival’. The contributions of our Polynesian friends in this book illustrate how, for many, climate change is already climate crisis. And, Polynesia is just one example of the repercussions of climate change we are seeing worldwide. In Nigeria, desertification has caused conflict amongst tribes competing for dwindling resources. In Bangladesh, monsoons have killed thousands. There are many many more examples.

As a Christian, I believe in the words of Psalm 24, ‘The earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it’. We are the stewards of God's creation and it is our sacred duty to protect the natural world, which we have so generously been given. Responding to climate change is an essential part of this responsibility. But it is not only that. When we look at Jesus we see one who instinctively stood alongside the most vulnerable in society. It is absolutely clear that following Jesus today must include standing alongside those who are on the front line of this unfolding catastrophe.

The situation is difficult, but it is not hopeless. There is still a chance to act. With prayer and fruitful discussions, fresh inspiration for action that makes a lasting impact can be found.

I am constantly inspired and encouraged to hear of the passionate, creative and committed ways individuals and churches are living out their faith, working to address the causes of climate change and to reduce its effect. It is happening across our global Anglican Communion, and it will rightly be a central part of our conversations at the forthcoming Lambeth Conference.

However, although important action is already being taken at local, national and international levels, there is much more to be done, and it needs to be done far more urgently. We must continue to speak out and act. We also need to highlight the wealth of academic research on this subject and at the same time amplify the voices of those who are suffering and living with the daily impacts of climate change. I am delighted that this book is doing just that.

The book follows on from the international conference on climate change held in Lincoln in 2019. The conference was a collaboration between the University of Lincoln, UK, Bishop Grosseteste University, UK (an Anglican foundation), and the dioceses of Lincoln and Polynesia. I think that the partnership between religious institutions and science can make a profound difference in facing many of the world's problems, not least this one. The combination and collaboration of expertise, global reach and diverse experience is a real and powerful route to substantial change. This book illustrates how when different voices are listened to carefully, new perspectives, opportunities and solutions can begin to be found.

Justin Welby

Archbishop of Canterbury

Preface

Creation is God's gift to everyone. The climate is a global phenomenon. Whoever we are and wherever we live on this incredible planet of ours, we share a responsibility to protect the environment and to do so as people connected with one another across geographical and cultural boundaries. Living in isolation is no longer an option for any of us, and neither can we retreat into the bliss of ignorance. Scientists have been naming the issue and telling us what is happening to the environment for a long time. Responding to climate change and taking seriously our stewardship of God's creation is an essential part of our responsibility as human beings.

Some parts of the world are more exposed than others to the effects of climate change, and there is a particular threat to the low-lying islands of Oceania from rising sea levels. This book follows on from the 2019 Moana: Water of Life Conference, which brought together academics, educators and faith leaders from Aotearoa, New Zealand, and the Diocese of Polynesia, with whom the Diocese of Lincoln is linked, and the Episcopal Church of the United States. Both projects set out to be deliberately collaborative in nature and to provide an opportunity to hear first-hand from those who come from places and cultures different from our own. I hope and pray that in listening to each other we will be challenged in our thinking and encouraged in our actions and that together we will gain a deeper understanding of what God is calling the church to be and do as the Body of Christ at this time in human history.

The Rt Rev Dr David Court

Acting Bishop of Lincoln

Introduction

Earth's climate is changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilisation through human-induced global warming, resulting in damaging weather extremes across all borders, social and geographic. Our combined decisions on greenhouse gas (GHG) usage will determine the size of the carbon footprint inherited by future generations. Yet there remains significant reluctance to respond robustly to compelling scientific evidence on human-induced climate change. When the subject is mentioned, many people tend to retreat into everyday economic, social and political issues and cultural conflicts of interest. This is at least in part a way of avoiding difficult-to-hear information from others. One way to help unblock this impasse is to bring together diverse stakeholders for intentional conversation.

The 2019 conference Moana: Water of Life: Navigating Climate Change for Planetary Health brought together physical and social scientists, educators, students, theologians and activists, including many who are already living with the effects of climate change in the Pacific Island Region (PIR) in face-to-face conversation. Following on from the conference, this edited volume brings together papers from some of the contributors to that conversation and examines the nature, challenges and potential fruits of future dialogue between these different stakeholders.

The conference was an example of Talanoa, a Fijian word, which is used across the Pacific to describe a process of round-table (or rather round-bowl) participatory, inclusive, ‘blame-free’, open and honest discussion. Deep receptive listening to, and reflective dialogue with, those with different perspectives is difficult and requires sustained concentration. This is further exacerbated when issues are emotive, urgent, and where there are conflicting priorities and no clear solution. The conference, and this book, set out to address this difficulty. The volume deliberately includes and takes seriously diverse perspectives to explore and elucidate complex understandings and attitudes, in this instance specifically towards water and the climate crisis. It includes chapters that are written by authors who are deeply grounded in the Christian faith and authors who do not profess a faith. It offers perspectives from very different kinds of research and academic writing in science, theology and education. Practical solutions are offered alongside spiritual reflections. Whilst all of the contributors are academics, no one discipline, methodology or epistemological foundation is taken as normative. What is privileged, however, is the voice of the young, and especially of the students involved in research projects focused on and based in the PIR.

As with the voices heard at the conference then, the chapters in this book are authentic to their authors. Beyond referencing, their contributions have not been edited to a proscribed template. Nor are they presented as a string of ideas neatly arranged and pre-digested for easy consumption, as this would suggest a cohesion that does not exist in the reality outside of the pages. Rather, in an attempt to recreate the delight and creativity of genuine dialogue the editors invited each author to write ‘in their own voice’. We believe that one of the most important ways of honouring another human being is to truly listen to what they have to say, for it is in the messiness of real encounter that real understanding might begin to emerge. The book comprises 12 chapters and invites the reader to ‘listen’ in turn to perspectives from students living and researching on the front line of the climate crisis as it unfolds in the PIR, climate scientists, climate educators, climate theologians and people offering practical solutions to the climate crisis. The final chapter then offers an overview and exploration of the contributions. It sets out the challenges involved in dialogue between stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and world views, drawing out common themes and assessing areas of divergence, and provides an interpretative overview of emerging patterns together with suggestions for taking the conversations forward.

The first two chapters are written by young researchers of deep faith from the PIR. In Chapter 1, Fetalai Gagaeolo explores the socio-cultural impacts of relocation due to climate change with reference to the people of Kiribati moving to Fiji. Local community perceptions and experiences reveal that relocation is considered the last ‘adaptation resort’, which will compromise their socio-cultural practices and values in the long term. Communities have spiritually come to terms with the climate crisis and just do not want to relocate.

In Chapter 2, Peni Hausia Havia considers the effect of climate change on PIR livelihoods, health, overall well-being and sustainability through the lens of a deep Christian faith in God. He argues that no current development model addresses the relationship between physical ‘climate change impacting factors’ and God. He outlines how his research led to the creation of a framework called ‘Moana: Nothing is impossible with God’ (Luke 18:27) for use by community leaders and policy-makers in tackling the PIR response to the climate crisis.

The next two chapters offer two complementary inputs by leading environmental scientists from the Lincoln Centre for Water and Planetary Health, University of Lincoln, UK. In Chapter 3, Mark Macklin and John Lewin set the scene with an overview of how rivers have played a defining role in the global development of human societies and culture. They explore how this will undoubtedly continue in the twenty-first century with a growing demand for water, increasing pollution of river channel and floodplain environments, and anthropogenic global warming-related changes in the frequency of floods and droughts. They consider how rivers initially shaped societies, and then how urbanisation, industrialisation and intensified agriculture have more recently transformed river systems, compromising planetary health and human ways of life. They highlight likely areas facing the greatest challenges and offer insight into how interdisciplinary catchment-based approaches, and new technologies such as those based on satellite imagery, are now beginning to address pressing societal and planetary problems in the unfolding climate crisis.

In Chapter 4, Edward Hanna and Richard Hall recount the overwhelming scientific evidence that human activity through enhanced GHG emissions is largely responsible for recent climate change and accompanying extreme weather. They discuss the scientific evidence for recent climate change, focusing on the very rapid environmental changes recently seen in the Arctic and Antarctic icy realms that affect global sea level rise and may also influence extreme weather events in densely populated Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude regions. They then consider further likely changes in climate during the rest of this century. In the final section, they briefly propose necessary actions and solutions by the global community including religious stakeholders, arguing that fully involving religious communities is essential in order to help decarbonise the economy.

The next two chapters offer two different approaches to climate change education. In Chapter 5, Sarah Hemstock, Siu Jione, Mark Charlesworth and Patrina Dumaru argue that in order to help society at large adapt to and survive the climate crisis, it is important to foster climate change education. They explore the international policy context which has led to ground-breaking research and Pacific educational initiatives (such as recognising climate change and disaster risk reduction as employment sectors, leading to the development of regional vocational qualifications, and regional accreditation of qualifications) before considering a Pacific Small Island Developing States (P-SIDS) case study.

In Chapter 6, Theresa Mercer and Andrew Kythreotis discuss how society can be more involved in climate research and policy by fostering a more socially equitable and just way of tackling future climate impacts through education. They outline how previous and contemporary social and political conditions relate to increased and fairer citizen engagement in climate action in the science-policy domain. They then explore how collaborative education approaches through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) might increase citizen engagement in climate action. Their chapter concludes by critically discussing future directions for research in ESD and climate change for a more inclusive and just form of climate governance.

The following two chapters are written by two very different theologians. In Chapter 7, Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, argues that the water crisis is in fact a spiritual crisis. He draws together personal experience and scripture, especially the story of the flood in Genesis and the account of Jesus walking on the water in Mark's Gospel, to reflect on the relationship between humanity and the rest of creation. He details some of the devastating consequences of our continued disregard of the earth's delicate ecosystem, including freshwater scarcity, plastic pollution, species loss and endangerment and climate refugees. He ends with a review of the role of faith bodies in addressing the water crisis, through theological interpretation and practical action.

Chapter 8 is written by biblical scholar Emily Colgan of Trinity Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand. She outlines the concept of an ecological interpretation of scripture. She argues that one way to cut through the all-too-human tendency to ignore or answer away the need for personal and corporate climate action is to connect directly with the religious beliefs held by people as a result of the interpretation of scripture. Her chapter offers a compelling way of thinking about coherence between scripture and religion and their relationship with the natural environment. She argues for a creation-centric reading of the Bible and in doing so suggests that the preservation of the natural world and reversal of climate change is a realistic and indeed urgent response to the authority of scripture.

The following three chapters offer three very different practical responses to the climate crisis. In Chapter 9, Mike Colechin explores the role that technology may have in addressing global warming. He argues that a range of solutions will be required, involving changes to social practices and the development of energy supply solutions that have a net zero impact on GHG emissions. He then explores a range of potential changes that individuals can make to their daily lives in support of the wider transformation needed within society as a whole.

In Chapter 10, Sheila Andrus observes that although the climate crisis is frightening for many people, it is often not clear what one person, or one community, can do to drive down GHG emissions. She introduces a practical solution in the form of an Internet accessible tool, sustainislandhome.org, that can help people and communities be part of climate solutions. Her chapter focuses on why sustainislandhome.org was developed, its design principles and how it works, and the lessons the Episcopal Church is learning from the rollout of this tool across Episcopal dioceses in the United States.

In Chapter 11, Lynnaia Main looks at the role played by faith-based organisations in discussions at the United Nations. She offers a brief history of faith in action at the UN, including a comprehensive overview of the history and structures involved. She then outlines success stories, future challenges and potential obstacles. Finally, she explores how people of faith can work more effectively with and within the United Nations to address climate change.

In Chapter 12, Sally Myers looks back over the first 11 chapters of the book and offers an analysis of the different voices and perspectives they contain. She briefly sets out the challenges involved in bringing together and deeply listening to those with diverse backgrounds, priorities and traditions. She then explores the main themes that have emerged from the chapters and conversations, offering an overview of areas of difference, but also of surprising fundamental agreement, not just on the ‘what’, but also the ‘how’ of what needs to happen next.

The conclusion draws together the dialogue between all those who participated in the conference. It makes suggestions as to how people of faith, and the Anglican Church in particular, might respond to the challenge of climate change in ‘thought, word and deed’. It then identifies areas for further investigation, dialogue, decision and action.

There were two significant contributions to the 2019 conference that have not yet been mentioned but are listed below:

The Diocese of Lincoln launched its Environmental Policy at the 2019 conference, which may be found at https://www.lincoln.anglican.org/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=277ea34d-9e7b-480a-8d75-5250dd47a121.

Project Pressure provided an exhibition visualising the climate crisis: https://www.project-pressure.org.