testimony against proposed propane Terminal
TESTIMONY
Marilyn Sewell
Portland Sustainability CommissioN
January 13, 2015
Marilyn Sewell
Portland Sustainability CommissioN
January 13, 2015
Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Marilyn Sewell, and I am the Minister Emerita at the First Unitarian Church here in Portland. I would like to add a moral perspective to the issue at hand.
I have long been concerned about climate change, reading and learning about the issue. The wisest and most informed people I know are pessimistic about our ability to address the issue in a timely manner. I am frightened that we will not be able to do enough, soon enough, to counter global warming—not because it is an impossible task, but because of the lack of political will. History makes demands of each generation, and climate change is the salient issue of our generation. It falls to all of us who understand the critical nature of the issue to do what we can to preserve our earth.
You on this Commission have a special charge just now—you have been asked to amend the zone regulations allowing Pembina to transport hazardous propane at the Port of Portland, propane which will have a measurable effect on CO2 emission, both locally and globally. As is always the case, poor people and indigenous people will be the first to suffer, but none of us will escape, for we are all part of one earth. We will all be called to account by our children and grandchildren, who will say to us, what did you do to stop this devastation of our earth?
We have an opportunity in Oregon to continue to lead on this issue, as we have done previously on environmental issues. We have led, and others have followed, in our land use regulation, in our bottle bill, etc. I urge you to say no to the zone change requested, so that Portland and Oregon may continue our leadership in this, our most crucial environmental issue.
To learn more about the proposed propane terminal, click here.
Climate Change and the Church
By Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell, Minister Emerita, First Unitarian Church
As published in the Huffington Post
The house is on fire – this is what climate scientists have been telling us for over 20 years. We don't want to hear them. Some people say the droughts and fires and storms are nothing unusual – weather has always been unpredictable, and warming has occurred in other eras. Other people say that technology will save us – engineers and scientists will fix the problem. Still others say that they are more concerned about matters closer to home – like getting a job or an education or health insurance, or all three.
When I talk with educated and politically active individuals about of global warming, they mostly go silent. They are giving up hope. I asked a poet friend of mine if she thinks we will be able to change our ways in time. She shook her head sadly and said, "Humans are a very flawed species."
We live in a democracy, a system which ultimately will respond to pressure from the people. But humans are hard-wired to respond most passionately to problems that affect them currently, not those that affect future generations. How much pain do we have to experience before we are willing to push our representatives in Congress to act?
Here in Oregon the farmers in Klamath County don't have water for their crops. The land has suffered from the Western drought which continues to threaten the nation's food supply. Surface temperatures have run 10 to 20° higher than the long-term average, and crops require much more water than in the past, draining the groundwater and pushing up energy costs. Last year more than half the counties in our country were designated national drought disaster areas.
The increase we have seen in droughts and fires and floods and storms is not an anomaly – it is the new normal. The damage already done cannot be turned back at this point. The ominous changes in our environment will be in place for at least 1000 years, say the climate scientists. We must adapt.
No one will escape harm, for we are interdependent – we all need food and water and protection from the elements. However, those of us who live in the most verdant areas and those of us who have financial resources will not receive the brunt of the changes, at least initially. The suffering will be most acute among poor people living in low-lying island nations and on eroding coastlines. Food shortages and infectious diseases will rise in underdeveloped nations, and waves of refugees will leave, trying to survive. Conflict will break out over scarce resources. Economies will be threatened, causing states to fail.
The crisis of global warming is the great granddaddy of all cultural crises. I care about gay marriage. Gun control looms large in my thinking. But such concerns shrivel in importance when I consider the fact that our planet may soon no longer sustain life as we know it.
Composting food scraps or driving a Prius doesn't really make any practical difference at this point in time. The solution, if we are to find one, will be policy change at the national level. We have to act now, and change must be mandated. Most activists think that a carbon tax would be the most effective response. If the United States leads, other nations may very well follow.
So where is the parish church in all of this? Mostly silent, it seems. Churches continue to be concerned with individual sin as opposed to systemic sin, even in regard to climate change. Congregants may be admonished to recycle and change their light bulbs, but not to become politically active. The fact is we’re way beyond changing our light bulbs. We need to bring that unhappy, startling truth to the pulpits of our land.
If there's any issue we could come together on, it seems this would be the one, for our actions will determine the future of the earth and the fate of our children and that of our children's children. Churches are not allowed to support individual candidates, lest we lose our tax-exempt status. But we can and must address moral issues, and there is no greater moral issue facing us than climate change. There never has been, and there never will be.
We who call ourselves religious, of whatever faith, of whatever tradition, whether conservative or liberal, will be called to account by our God and by future generations. Our children will ask us what we were thinking when the world began to burn. How will we answer them?
More contributions by Rev. Sewell to The Huffington Post :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marilyn-sewell/
As published in the Huffington Post
The house is on fire – this is what climate scientists have been telling us for over 20 years. We don't want to hear them. Some people say the droughts and fires and storms are nothing unusual – weather has always been unpredictable, and warming has occurred in other eras. Other people say that technology will save us – engineers and scientists will fix the problem. Still others say that they are more concerned about matters closer to home – like getting a job or an education or health insurance, or all three.
When I talk with educated and politically active individuals about of global warming, they mostly go silent. They are giving up hope. I asked a poet friend of mine if she thinks we will be able to change our ways in time. She shook her head sadly and said, "Humans are a very flawed species."
We live in a democracy, a system which ultimately will respond to pressure from the people. But humans are hard-wired to respond most passionately to problems that affect them currently, not those that affect future generations. How much pain do we have to experience before we are willing to push our representatives in Congress to act?
Here in Oregon the farmers in Klamath County don't have water for their crops. The land has suffered from the Western drought which continues to threaten the nation's food supply. Surface temperatures have run 10 to 20° higher than the long-term average, and crops require much more water than in the past, draining the groundwater and pushing up energy costs. Last year more than half the counties in our country were designated national drought disaster areas.
The increase we have seen in droughts and fires and floods and storms is not an anomaly – it is the new normal. The damage already done cannot be turned back at this point. The ominous changes in our environment will be in place for at least 1000 years, say the climate scientists. We must adapt.
No one will escape harm, for we are interdependent – we all need food and water and protection from the elements. However, those of us who live in the most verdant areas and those of us who have financial resources will not receive the brunt of the changes, at least initially. The suffering will be most acute among poor people living in low-lying island nations and on eroding coastlines. Food shortages and infectious diseases will rise in underdeveloped nations, and waves of refugees will leave, trying to survive. Conflict will break out over scarce resources. Economies will be threatened, causing states to fail.
The crisis of global warming is the great granddaddy of all cultural crises. I care about gay marriage. Gun control looms large in my thinking. But such concerns shrivel in importance when I consider the fact that our planet may soon no longer sustain life as we know it.
Composting food scraps or driving a Prius doesn't really make any practical difference at this point in time. The solution, if we are to find one, will be policy change at the national level. We have to act now, and change must be mandated. Most activists think that a carbon tax would be the most effective response. If the United States leads, other nations may very well follow.
So where is the parish church in all of this? Mostly silent, it seems. Churches continue to be concerned with individual sin as opposed to systemic sin, even in regard to climate change. Congregants may be admonished to recycle and change their light bulbs, but not to become politically active. The fact is we’re way beyond changing our light bulbs. We need to bring that unhappy, startling truth to the pulpits of our land.
If there's any issue we could come together on, it seems this would be the one, for our actions will determine the future of the earth and the fate of our children and that of our children's children. Churches are not allowed to support individual candidates, lest we lose our tax-exempt status. But we can and must address moral issues, and there is no greater moral issue facing us than climate change. There never has been, and there never will be.
We who call ourselves religious, of whatever faith, of whatever tradition, whether conservative or liberal, will be called to account by our God and by future generations. Our children will ask us what we were thinking when the world began to burn. How will we answer them?
More contributions by Rev. Sewell to The Huffington Post :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marilyn-sewell/