How many wake-up calls do we need? On Feb. 28, 2003, in your article
"Whole world dealing with wild weather," you reported that "Global
warming is being blamed for weather patterns that created extreme
conditions," and that the vice president of the World Water Council
stated that, "The forecast is that it's going to continue to get
worse unless we start to take actions to mitigate global warming."
On March 14, 2003, you reported in an article, "Report sees more
pollution, ticks in warmer Adirondacks," that an Adirondack Park
Agency report predicts an increase in temperature of from 6 to 10
degrees Fahrenheit in the next hundred years in the area, and this
would mean many problems, including more insect infestations, forest
fires, and flash flooding.
These are not isolated examples. In 2000, the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group composed of the world's
leading climate scientists, predicted that the world's average
temperature in the next hundred years would increase by from 2.5 to
10.4 degrees Fahrenheit. When we consider that the world's average
temperature increased by only 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past
hundred years, and that has caused melting of glaciers and polar
icecaps, bleaching of choral reefs, and record temperatures.
In 1992, 1,700 of the world's leading 104 Nobel laureates, signed a
"World Scientists Warning to Humanity," which indicated that current
practices are unsustainable, and that major changes must soon occur
if we are to avoid "irretrievable damage" to our imperiled planet.
In view of these facts, isn't it time to make the saving of the
global environment a major organizing principle for society today?
Isn't it time for our religious institutions to make tikkun olam
(the Hebrew phrase for the repair and healing of the world) a
central focus for religious life today?
