GLOBAL CHANGES & THE NEED FOR MORAL LEADERSHIP, 1/13/08 

            The recent conference on Global Change and Local Challenge sponsored by our three colleges has been a wakeup call—one that has brought home to many of us the deep changes that are called for in our way of life in order to make a moral response to the new conditions we face. 

            As now-retired WSU professor William Catton put it in his seminal book, Overshoot, “today mankind is locked into stealing ravenously from the future.”  Catton speaks of competition with our descendants, in which our contemporary satisfaction is achieved at the expense of our children and grandchildren, and our current lifestyle is “dependent upon massive deprivation for posterity.” 

            What Catton and increasingly others are talking about is that we have been living far beyond our means in terms of energy and natural resources, drawing down the savings accounts of fossil fuels deposited millions of years ago, as well as borrowing from the capacity and well-being of future generations as we overwhelm natural systems and load large amounts of toxic waste on them.

            Not only is the availability of these stored fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) peaking, but burning them is clearly contributing to the global climate change that is already affecting us in the state of Washington and throughout the world. 

            As our numbers continually grow, industrialized humans have been taking over increasing portions of the earth’s total life-sustaining capacity from other creatures, and from less technologically advanced people.  We have used this capacity and the spending of our geologic reserves to develop a variety of hungry technologies that now require vast amounts of energy themselves. 

            To understand our predicament and how to relate it to our religious traditions, we need to face the fact that we have damaged the carrying capacity of our oceans, the purity of our air and water, our global climate patterns, and other vital resources needed both by humans and other species.   We have created critical problems for future generations, and have built a lifestyle for ourselves that can’t be sustained due to the lack of sufficient renewable energy supplies to feed both our technological appendages or ourselves at current levels.

            It’s now clear, say Catton and others, such as Richard Heinberg in his book Powerdown, that inevitable contraction of the global economy and human population is ahead.  The only question is whether this will happen humanely, through mutual planning and cooperation, or through famine, destructive resource wars, and other catastrophe. 

            The challenge we face as religious people who view humans as a family and as stewards of the earth, is a challenge both of leadership and of personal example.  Will we actually be able to curb our materialistic appetites, and to cooperate humanely in reducing our expenditures to sustainable levels?

            What is clearly called for is a return to a life more focused on spirituality and simplicity, rather than on materialism and the energy-demanding devices which currently surround us.  We need to transition from an Age of Excess, where increased production, manufactured demand, planned obscolescence, and throw-aways are key, to an Age of Modesty, where conservation of resources, durability, and reparability are the norm.

            Our churches and religious communities have a critical role to play in terms of the moral leadership needed for this transition.  Reading the works of William Catton and Richard Heinberg is a good place to start.

            If we work together, we have the capacity to create a new community of caring and respect for creation and for all creatures, present and future.

Daniel Clark, a retired attorney, is Clerk of Ministry and Oversight and a founding member of Walla Walla Friends (Quaker) Meeting.  

8 January 2008

BUDGET FOR PEACE, NOT WAR

Many of us are frustrated that our government spends so much money fighting wars but next to nothing on efforts to build peace. According to numbers from the White House Office of Management and Budget, in the 2008 fiscal year our country will spend $486 billion on military spending (94 percent) and $29 billion on diplomacy and development (a mere 6 percent).

How can Congress continue to fund the Iraq War when a minority of Americans actually support the war effort? It seems that some congresspeople want to support peaceful programs, but the short election cycle makes politicians think only in the short term. Tight budget priorities don’t help, either. Plus, many congresspeople don’t realize that there are actually successful programs that promote peace, such as Peace Brigades International. Finally, the average voters don’t understand the congressional budget cycle so they aren’t effectively advocating for peace. 

The budget process is starting NOW. Now is the time to contact your congresspeople, particularly Senator Patty Murray, regarding your budget priorities. Educate her about successful peace-building programs, such as the Christian Peacemaker Teams. Remind Senator Cantwell and Rep. McMorris-Rodgers of what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in November 2007: “ What is clear to me is that there is a need for a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security – diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action and economic reconstruction and development.” 

Peace-loving voters need to speak up early in the process, before the budget resolution is finalized in May and the funding caps are established. At the end of the process there is too little time and everyone is too hassled to give voters’ priorities the attention they need.  

Act now! Make it your New Year’s Resolution to get involved early in the budget process. Don’t wait until spring, when the general outline for next year’s budget will basically be set in concrete. Also, as the presidential campaign heats up, ask the candidates to commit to increasing funds for development assistance and diplomacy. 

War and violence are like a disease; they are best eradicated with prevention, but prevention, be it in the form of immunizations, development or diplomacy, requires money. Become part of the budget process NOW and help build a healthy, peaceful world. 

Annie Capestany

Annie Capestany is Clerk of the Walla Walla Friends Meeting, as has been employed as a journalist.