Existential threat: That description, that profound warning, conveys the depth of the challenges that face humanity as the pace of change to the climate quickens. And indeed it calls for audacity, courage, imagination, and a common will. The leading question this morning is how religious communities, together and individually, can act to strengthen that will, muster courage against adverse reactions, bring alive the visions of imagination, and overcome doubts and division with an audacity that derives from the spirit.
The theoretical, scientific warnings about climate change have generated debate and calls for action for many decades, but today fierce storms, deadly wildfires, drought, and scorching heat turn threats into reality. The grim prospects that lie ahead are conveyed with vivid images and arguments.Young people, especially, mobilize and demand action as they confront an uncertain future. But promises made are too often broken and commitments fall far short of practical action. We know well that far more is needed, and that action is urgent.
But how to act? The essential steps to face climate change demand actions that go beyond what an individual nation or institution can accomplish. Changing energy use calls for a collective will and a willingness to make fundamental changes in lifestyles and expections. Those who doubt or who are captured by the present contribute to a frustrating inertia that defies the bold action that the threats demand.
The roles that religious institutions and communities can play are large but also complex. There are fundamental ethical issues involved that call to theology and moral imagination. Building on communitiy awareness and will is essential. Still more parochial tendencies to fixate on the near and familiar, the human tendencies to selfishness and avoidance of difficulty, must be overcome. This calls for imagination to foresee what is to come and to envisage with a vivid force the impact on people and systems far away, seeing all as part of a common world, a shared welfare.
We have a remarkable and diverse panel here today that will explore these questions, highlighting the threats but also the audacious paths to which we are called by the Commuinty of Sant’Egidio.