"It's because I'm a religious person that I'm an environmentalist," said Gary Gardner in an interview with Grist's David Roberts. Gardner is director of research at the Worldwatch Institute, author of Inspiring Progress: Religions' Contributions to Sustainable Development (2006) and one of a growing number of conservative Christians supporting environmentalism and the need for action on climate change.
Gardner sees religious people as bringing a valuable perspective to environmentalism by addressing the need to consume less from the standpoint of basic values. He also sees the potential for the Christian community to make a big difference politically.
"Because religious people are motivated by something they believe passionately in, if you can help them see their tradition in a different light, you see tremendous changes in vision you don't typically see in the secular world. We're seeing that with evangelicals and climate change. This is a 180-degree turn we're seeing in the evangelical community, and it's possible because they believe so deeply in a created world and a creator who cares about that world. The framework has not changed. But they're interpreting the reality of the world today, within that framework, in a different way. It's the very power of religion, the very fundamental place it holds in people's lives, that gives it the power to help people to see things differently. When they do, they're able to make tremendous change."
This is one of several articles in a series that include interviews with Bill Moyers (PBS Special "Is God Green?"), Bill McKibben, J. Matthew Sleeth, Rabbi Michael Lerner and Rev. Richard Cizik. God and the Environment: A Grist special series, by David Roberts, October 5, 2006
Posted by dougsimpson at October 12, 2006 07:25 PM