In the middle of the great recession Pennsylvanians may not feel wealthy, but we are the 1 percent.
Each year, Pennsylvania pumps out 1 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide, helping to make the United States the largest historical producer of greenhouse gases. One percent may not seem like much, but Pennsylvanians use more carbon than 190 other countries.
One-quarter of the world’s population is so poor that they use no fossil fuels at all. They drive no cars, have no air conditioning and never fly in planes. Compared to them, we are carbon wealthy, yet they are the ones to suffer first from the effects of climate change.
Just like the other 1 percent, we see little reason to change our ways; it’s easy to ignore the drought in East Africa and changing weather patterns. Few in Congress are willing to disturb our complacency.
Moral leadership is rising, however, in the religious community. With members in both industrialized and poorer nations, major religious bodies like the Catholic Church are starting to speak for the poor.
Just last month, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga led a delegation to the international climate change negotiations in Durban, South Africa, on behalf of poor countries severely impacted by climate change.
“The whole world is vulnerable to climate change, but poor countries are affected more,” Rodriguez said. How can this be?
Consider the 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti, killing more than 300,000. A few months later, Chile was struck by a much stronger earthquake, resulting in fewer than 1,000 deaths. With better roads, hospitals and emergency response equipment, Chile could respond to a disaster that crippled its poorer neighbor.
Pennsylvanians can do nothing to prevent earthquakes in Haiti, but local congregations are trying to prevent the worst effects of climate change by reducing their use of fossil fuels and by helping poor countries become more resilient. Because we use so much energy in our cars, houses and factories, our efficient use of precious resources can have a significant effect on the world.
But individual efforts only go so far. That’s why dozens of faith leaders turned out to speak when the Environmental Protection Agency held a hearing in Philadelphia on limiting dangerous mercury from burning coal. As Rabbi Daniel Swartz, of Scranton, said, “from a moral standpoint, preventing mercury pollution is simply the right thing to do.” Those rules were finalized on Dec. 21, which Swartz called “the best holiday gift you can imagine.”
The role of religious leaders demonstrates that clean air is beyond politics. All people, tea partyers and Wall Street occupiers alike, have a duty to leave this world in a better state than when we found it.
Local organizations such as Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light (paipl.org) are supporting the Clean Air Promise campaign to keep the EPA working “to protect America’s children and families” from carbon and mercury pollution.
Whether religious or not, let’s follow these moral leaders and come together as Americans around the one thing that binds us: the air we all breathe.
Jonathan Brockopp, associate professor of history and religious studies at Penn State, directs the Rock Ethics Institute Initiative on Religion and Ethics. He can be reached at brockopp@psu.edu. The opinion of the columnist does not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the university.
