Goodness
By Ruth Jarman
True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness.
Albert Einstein
It is necessary only for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.
Edmund Burke
How can we live today, on a planet under threat, with all our goodness and righteousness? We do what we can to reduce our contribution to climate change by driving less, turning things off, recycling, maybe letting go of far-flung holidays and tumble-dryers, but did you know that even if we do all we possibly can, even if we had no car, used minimal power, bought only necessities, we could not live a "good" life in terms of our impact on the earth living in the UK today.
The average UK citizen is responsible for about 10 tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. To avert catastrophic climate change, and to allow a fair distribution of energy globally, this needs to drop to about 1 tonne. Sound impossible? Well, it is! It is impossible to live within the confines of this one planet when we are also within the confines of a fossil-fuel based society.
So, what do we do? Do we give up? Do we give up on living with all our soul?
I would suggest not, and instead that we do three things:
1. Live as low a carbon life as we can - we owe this to God, our children and our own integrity.
2. Acknowledge that "There is only One who is good", recognise that however hard we try we cannot live righteously on this limited planet and that we must accept God's limitless forgiveness.
3. Extend our goodness to our citizenship! Remember we live in a democracy and get political!
There is plenty of research out there showing that it is possible for us to live "good" lives; that it is possible to live within the confines of this planet. But only in a society that has broken its dependence on fossil fuels.
The government is waiting for us good people to call on them to urgently de- carbonise our economy.
For goodness sake, get political!
Visit the church's campaign on climate change's new web site at www.operationnoah.org and write to the government asking them lead a radical transformation in both our culture and economic systems in order to safeguard the whole of God's creation for future generations.
Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
Henry David Thoreau
