Religious groups aid fight against global warming

What would Jesus drive?

The question makes a clever bumper sticker, available from the Washington, D.C.-based Evangelical Environmental Network, a Christian group that bases its fight against global warming on the Bible. The network is one of several religious groups trying to slow climate change by getting its followers to reduce the amount they pollute.

Evangelical Christians, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Unitarians: All are committing time and effort to transforming their buildings and their congregants’ mindsets. Some were slow to jump on this bandwagon because they are wary of government studies and environmental activists. But with several recent studies emphasizing the urgent need to slow climate change, they say they are getting the message out to their followers through Web sites, e-mails, films and Sunday sermons.

Just this past month, a United Nations panel said it is more than 90 percent likely that global warming is fueled by carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, and that the air will continue to heat up. Many religious people say this warming is contrary to God’s plan because God commanded people to take care of the Earth, not destroy it.

Among many passages in the Bible, they cite Genesis 9:12: “God said, `This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations.’”

Altaf Ali, a Muslim from Pembroke Pines, said the Quran also emphasizes a mandate from God to tend the Earth. But it took a film last year by former Vice President Al Gore to get Ali to become an advocate for slowing climate change.

After he saw An Inconvenient Truth, which warns of the dangers of global warming, Ali redesigned his backyard so the National Wildlife Federation could certify it as an official wildlife habitat. Ali said he doesn’t use pesticides and attracts an assortment of bugs, birds and animals into his yard, which is filled with fruit trees and a compost heap made of food scraps and egg cartons.

“I felt motivated to do something,” said Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It’s important for Muslims to have a close connection with the creator. It’s our humble duty to play an active role.”

David Clark, president of Palm Beach Atlantic University, a Christian college in West Palm Beach, describes himself as a political conservative who believes God created the Earth. But he has become so convinced that the Earth is being destroyed, a year ago he joined 84 other Christian leaders in signing the Evangelical Climate Initiative, which called for federal legislation to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“I didn’t want to identify with a group that’s way out there,” said Clark, who has begun installing energy-efficient lighting and air-conditioning regulators throughout the campus. “I’m not a tree-hugger. But the evidence is overwhelming.”

It hasn’t always been clear-cut for evangelical Christians, and it still isn’t for many. In 2005, televangelist Pat Robertson accused the National Association of Evangelicals of conspiring with “left-wing environmentalists” because the group said global warming needed to be slowed. But Robertson said he became a “convert” on climate change after a heat wave in the summer of 2006. He told the audience on his 700 Club television show: “It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air.”

The Rev. Jim Ball of the Evangelical Environmental Network said many Christians come from a “libertarian-free market” perspective.

He said they are skeptical of government-sponsored programs.

“They are afraid solutions will harm the economy and harm the poor,” Ball said.

Some Catholic parishes have been working for years on their own to improve the environment. At Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church in Parkland, a Land Stewardship Committee has maintained the church’s 24 acres in their natural state for 13 years.

“When you come to church, you interact with the foxes, squirrels and osprey. It’s not just a parking lot,” said Paul Gore, land stewardship director. “This is compatible with liturgy. We recognize we have a responsibility to the land and our neighbors.”

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