[Sosfbay-discuss] Spiritual Progressives

[alexcathy at aol.com]

Dear Green Friends,

How is this for great timing!?

You may have seen this in the MSM.

A group of leading evangelical Christian leaders, of all people, have 
come out strongly on the question of global warning.


"...Specifically, and mirroring a proposal by the Pew Foundation, the 
leaders called on Congress to pass laws to create a trading system that 
would spur companies to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, which 
scientists say is a major cause of global warming.

One such bill, The Climate Stewardship Act, first introduced in 2003 by 
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Connecticut Democrat Sen. 
Joseph Lieberman, would require that U.S. emissions return to their 
2000 levels by 2010..."


At the risk of sounding like a cynical Karl Rove-style political 
torpedo, this is clearly an opening for the Greens if only because we 
are not associated with all those Democrats they hate!  I mean, if, 
say, Ted Kennedy or Hillary Clinton was pushing this, I dare say the 
knee-jerk reaction of these guys would be to oppose it.  This is 
something that Greens could be pushing for in every "Red" district in 
the country.


Alex Walker


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Posted on America Online, Thursday, February 9, 2006.

EVANGELICALS URGE ACTION ON GLOBAL WARMING
By Alan Elsner, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Feb. 9) - A group of 85 evangelical Christian leaders on 
Wednesday backed legislation opposed by the White House to cut carbon 
dioxide emissions, kicking off a campaign to mobilize religious 
conservatives to combat global warming.

The group which included mega-church pastors, Christian college 
presidents, religious broadcasters and writers, also unveiled a 
full-page advertisement to run in Thursday's New York Times and a 
television ad it hopes to screen nationally.

"With God's help, we can stop global warming for our kids, our world 
and our Lord," the television spot declared.

The campaign by evangelicals coincided with a call on Wednesday by a 
leading U.S. think tank for the United States to take immediate steps 
to fight global warming, including working with other nations to reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions.

The Pew Center for Global Climate Change said in a report that America 
has waited too long to seriously tackle the climate change problem and 
spelled out 15 steps the United States could take to reduce emissions 
it spews as the world's biggest energy consumer and producer of 
greenhouse gases.

"This transition will not be easy, but it is crucial to begin now," the 
Pew Center said. "Further delay will only make the challenge before us 
more daunting and more costly."

The campaign by the evangelical leaders represented a possible split in 
President George W. Bush's political base, in which Christian 
evangelical voters are heavily represented.

However, the names of most of the president's most influential 
Christian political backers were notably absent from the list of 
signatories joining the campaign. Possibly the best-known signer was 
Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book, "The Purpose Driven Life."

TRADING SYSTEM

Specifically, and mirroring a proposal by the Pew Foundation, the 
leaders called on Congress to pass laws to create a trading system that 
would spur companies to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, which 
scientists say is a major cause of global warming.

One such bill, The Climate Stewardship Act, first introduced in 2003 by 
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and Connecticut Democrat Sen. 
Joseph Lieberman, would require that U.S. emissions return to their 
2000 levels by 2010.

The United States, with around 5 percent of the world's population, 
accounts for a quarter of its greenhouse gases and U.S. emissions rose 
by 2 percentage points in 2004 alone, according to government figures.

The McCain-Lieberman bill has failed to win passage twice in the 
Senate, although a majority there did adopt a non-binding resolution to 
cap emissions. The issue has not come up for a vote in the House of 
Representatives.

The Bush administration opposes imposing mandatory limits and backs 
voluntary efforts by companies. It has also refused to join the Kyoto 
Protocol, an international accord signed by the European Union, Japan 
and most other industrialized nations that sets hard targets for 
cutting emissions.

The Christian leaders said they were impelled by their faith to launch 
the campaign out of a growing realization that the threat of global 
warming was real and that the world's poor would suffer the most.

Paul de Vries, president of New York Divinity School, said: "However we 
treat the world, that's how we are treating Jesus because He is the 
cosmic glue."

The leaders said a poll they commissioned of 1,000 evangelical 
Protestants showed that two thirds were convinced global warming was 
taking place. Additionally, 63 percent said the United States must 
start to address the issue immediately and half said it must act even 
if there was a high economic cost.

The Pew Foundation also recommended boosting renewable fuel output and 
providing financial incentives to farmers to spur absorption of 
greenhouse gas emissions on farm lands.

U.S. government weather forecasters reported on Tuesday that the 
nation's January temperatures were the warmest on record, beating the 
average for the month by 8.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Two weeks ago NASA 
scientists confirmed that 2005 was the hottest year ever recorded 
worldwide.
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