From Dr Isabel Carter
Sir, - I was particularly encouraged by the news that two-thirds
of the respondents to your "Question of the Week" agreed that the
Church should indeed disinvest from fossil fuels. Last week's
challenging letter from the Revd Michael Roberts, however, calls
for some clarification on Operation Noah's campaign asking the
Churchto make this step.
Fossil fuels are one of God's many blessings. Their rich sources
of energy drove the Industrial Revolution and led to so many of the
technologies our Western world takes for granted. They also yield
many other products, such as plastics, pharmaceuticals,
antiseptics, and fertilisers, on which we depend. But, and it is a
huge "but", our excessive consumption of fossil fuels is leading to
potentially humanity's biggest crisis: a changing climate that
threatens all our futures.
With Christmas in mind, chocolate is also a wonderful gift. But
few of us over-indulge so much that we risk damaging our long-term
health.
At present, we are still dependent on the fossil-fuel industry
to continue driving our vehicles and heating our homes. Weaning us
away from our dependence on fossil fuels will take time and
creativity: although the need is urgent, we know it won't happen
overnight.
When Operation Noah calls for disinvestment from fossil fuels,
we are not saying "Stop using all fossil fuels immediately," but,
rather, "Stop spending vast sums on future exploration of ever more
inaccessible reserves - crazy, in our view, when the world already
holds five times as many oil reserves as we can safely burn for our
own future well-being. We have increasingly viable and varied
alternatives, as renewable and sustainable energy sources continue
to develop.
Poor and subsistence communities around the world are already
paying the price of the Western world's enjoyment of fossil-fuel
energy, with changing weather patterns, more frequent droughts and
flooding, and the inundation of once fertile low-lying land with
sea water.
The choices humankind makes in the next decade or two about its
over-use of fossil fuels are immensely serious. That is why we are
asking the Church to provide the moral and ethical leadership that
our global community is seriously lacking.
ISABEL CARTER
Chair of Operation Noah
62 Ludlow Road
Church Stretton
Shropshire SY6 6AD