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OUTLINE OF LINKS BETWEEN CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL ECONOMY AND SPIRITUALITY

DRAFT - to be modified after discussion

Gus Speth once explained,

"I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. ... I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy - and to deal with these, we need a spiritual and cultural transformation ..."

1. Summary of our position: The causes of credit crunch are the same as the causes of climate change emissions, and the roots of both are spiritual.

2. At least four types of people and their attitudes seem to be implicated in credit crunch:

Politicians - for making economic growth (as GDP growth) the main policy objective that overrides all else, and to which all else may be sacrificed.
Bankers and financiers - for using money-handling as a competitive sport, and for urging us to borrow more.
Us - since we 'demand' ever more ability to buy more for ourselves of goods and services.
Media people - for promulgating the message that we should aspire to more, and not seriously questioning it.

(In common parlance, we might call these attitudes: idolatry, pride, greed and selfishness.)

3. These four reinforce each other, so that the combination seems too powerful for any one section to resist on their own (even if they had the wish to do so - which is seldom evident). This is because these attitudes distort the way we view things (our 'Weltanschauung'); this is why many in each group failed to see the economic downturn coming.

4. These four seem also implicated in climate change, and for the same reasons. Beginning with us:

Us - Every good or service we purchase generates climate change emissions: in its production, storage, distribution or use.
Bankers and financiers - They make too much money available to us, making it all too easy to buy more and aspire to buy more (as well as via goods and services they purchase).
Politicians - They resist making serious policy changes to address climate change because of the overriding importance of economic growth.
Media - They under-represent the message of responsibility and over-represent the climate sceptics.

5. Also, we can trace how lack of responsibility in each sector towards climate change emissions (CCEs) is what has allowed the global economy to get out of hand:

Us - If we were genuinely concerned about CCEs or other environmental destruction, we would not demand ever more ability to buy more.
Bankers and financiers - If they were concerned about CCEs, they would not have maximized credit availability nor urged us to borrow more.
Politicians - If they were genuinely concerned about CCEs, economic growth would not override all other policy objectives.
Media - If they were genuinely concerned about CCEs, they would have stimulated good quality discourse about our responsibility rather than suppressing it.

6. The same attitudes apply to climate change and reinforce each other: selfishness, greed, pride, idolatry. They also distort the way each group sees things, so that all groups are unable to really believe the danger is coming. They too easily dismiss the concerned scientists as mere specialists or even as 'climate alarmists'. So each refuses to take responsibility seriously.

7. The mutually-reinforcing power of the combination, the distorted view of reality and the weakness of wish to resist this power and take responsibility are all spiritual issues. They demand a spiritual solution. It may be that only a spiritual revival (widespread activity of the Holy Spirit of God) has the power to resist this. Only the Spirit of God can change inner attitudes deep down, of selfishness, greed, pride, idolatry in harness, and thus change all sectors in harness.

The CCGE Group.

References

Speth JG (Gus). 2013. Shared planet: Religion and Nature, BBC Radio 4, 1st October 2013. Also in Common Cause Newsletter.

This page, "abxn.org/ccge/outline.html", is an expression of part of a project to understand the links between climate change, global economy and other matters including society's beliefs and aspirations. It is designed to stimulate thinking and discourse. Comments, queries welcome.

This page is written on behalf of the CCGE Group by Andrew Basden, but the views expressed herein are his and not necessarily those of the other members of the Group. Written on the Amiga with Protext in the style of classic HTML. Copyright (c) Andrew Basden 2008 - present, but you may use this material subject to certain conditions.

Created: 10 March 2009. Last updates: 14 March 2009, 15 March 2009, 26 March 2009, 29 March 2009. 7 Nov 2025 canon, bgc; .nav,.end; quote from Speth.