PHEVs and Global Warming / Evangelicals on Global Warming
Feb 8, 2006 (From the CalCars-News archive)

Big news from evangelicals in a couple of paragraphs.

But first, following up on
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/calcars-news/message/281
We've received the following quotable endorsement
from James Hansen, director of the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard
Institute for Space Studies and one of the
world's leading experts on global warming

"The plug-in hybrid approach, as being pursued by
CalCars, seems to be our best bet for controlling
vehicle CO2 emissions in the near-term. Vehicle
emissions are the greatest challenge that we must
overcome to stabilize climate."

In an interesting twist, here's about 20% of an
interesting twist to the story of the recent events at NASA:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/politics/08nasa.html
The New York Times
February 8, 2006
A Young Bush Appointee Resigns His Post at NASA
By ANDREW C. REVKIN

George C. Deutsch, the young presidential
appointee at NASA who told public affairs workers
to limit reporters' access to a top climate
scientist and told a Web designer to add the word
"theory" at every mention of the Big Bang,
resigned yesterday, agency officials said. Mr.
Deutsch's resignation came on the same day that
officials at Texas A&M University confirmed that
he did not graduate from there, as his résumé on
file at the agency asserted.... Mr. Deutsch, 24,
was offered a job as a writer and editor in
NASA's public affairs office in Washington last
year after working on President Bush's
re-election campaign and inaugural committee,
according to his résumé. No one has disputed those parts of the document.

Yesterday, Dr. Hansen said that the questions
about Mr. Deutsch's credentials were important,
but were a distraction from the broader issue of
political control of scientific information.
"He's only a bit player," Dr. Hansen said of Mr.
Deutsch. " The problem is much broader and much
deeper and it goes across agencies. That's what
I'm really concerned about." ... "On climate, the
public has been misinformed and not informed," he
said. "The foundation of a democracy is an
informed public, which obviously means an
honestly informed public. That's the big issue here."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/08/national/08warm.html
The New York Times
February 8, 2006
Evangelical Leaders Join Global Warming Initiative
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

Despite opposition from some of their colleagues,
86 evangelical Christian leaders have decided to
back a major initiative to fight global warming,
saying "millions of people could die in this
century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors."

Among signers of the statement, which will be
released in Washington on Wednesday, are the
presidents of 39 evangelical colleges, leaders of
aid groups and churches, like the Salvation Army,
and pastors of megachurches, including Rick
Warren, author of the best seller "The Purpose-Driven Life."

"For most of us, until recently this has not been
treated as a pressing issue or major priority,"
the statement said. "Indeed, many of us have
required considerable convincing before becoming
persuaded that climate change is a real problem
and that it ought to matter to us as Christians.
But now we have seen and heard enough."

The statement calls for federal legislation that
would require reductions in carbon dioxide
emissions through "cost-effective, market-based
mechanisms" — a phrase lifted from a Senate
resolution last year and one that could appeal to
evangelicals, who tend to be pro-business. The
statement, to be announced in Washington, is only
the first stage of an "Evangelical Climate
Initiative" including television and radio spots
in states with influential legislators,
informational campaigns in churches, and
educational events at Christian colleges.

"We have not paid as much attention to climate
change as we should, and that's why I'm willing
to step up," said Duane Litfin, president of
Wheaton College, an influential evangelical
institution in Illinois. "The evangelical
community is quite capable of having some blind
spots, and my take is this has fallen into that category."

Some of the nation's most high-profile
evangelical leaders, however, have tried to
derail such action. Twenty-two of them signed a
letter in January declaring, "Global warming is
not a consensus issue." Among the signers were
Charles W. Colson, the founder of Prison
Fellowship Ministries; James C. Dobson, founder
of Focus on the Family; and Richard Land,
president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty
Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Their letter was addressed to the National
Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella group of
churches and ministries, which last year had
started to move in the direction of taking a
stand on global warming. The letter from the 22
leaders asked the National Association of
Evangelicals not to issue any statement on global
warming or to allow its officers or staff members to take a position.

E. Calvin Beisner, associate professor of
historical theology at Knox Theological Seminary
in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., helped organize the
opposition into a group called the Interfaith
Stewardship Alliance. He said Tuesday that "the
science is not settled" on whether global warming
was actually a problem or even that human beings
were causing it. And he said that the solutions
advocated by global warming opponents would only
cause the cost of energy to rise, with the burden
falling most heavily on the poor.

In response to the critics, the president of the
National Association of Evangelicals, the Rev.
Ted Haggard, did not join the 86 leaders in the
statement on global warming, even though he had
been in the forefront of the issue a year ago.
Neither did the Rev. Richard Cizik, the National
Association's Washington lobbyist, even though he
helped persuade other leaders to sign the global warming initiative.

On Tuesday, Mr. Haggard, the pastor of New Life
Church in Colorado Springs, said in a telephone
interview that he did not sign because it would
be interpreted as an endorsement by the entire
National Association of Evangelicals. But he said
that speaking just for himself, "There is no
doubt about it in my mind that climate change is
happening, and there is no doubt about it that it
would be wise for us to stop doing the foolish
things we're doing that could potentially be
causing this. In my mind there is no downside to being cautious."

Of those who did sign, said the Rev. Jim Ball,
executive director of the Evangelical
Environmental Network: "It's a very centrist
evangelical list, and that was intentional. When
people look at the names, they're going to say,
this is a real solid group here. These leaders
are not flighty, going after the latest cause.
And they know they're probably going to take a little flak."

The list includes prominent black leaders like
Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. of the West Angeles
Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, the Rev.
Floyd Flake of the Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral
in New York City, and Bishop Wellington Boone of
the Father's House and Wellington Boone
Ministries in Norcross, Ga.; as well as Hispanic
leaders like the Rev. Jesse Miranda, president of AMEN in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The evangelical leaders are meeting Wednesday
with senators or their staff members concerned
with legislation on energy and the environment.
Their letter commends senators who last year
passed a resolution by Senators Pete V. Domenici,
a Republican, and Jeff Bingaman, a Democrat, both
of New Mexico, which called for regulatory
measures like a cap and trade program, a system
in which industries would buy or trade permits to emit greenhouse gases.

In their statement, the evangelicals praised
companies like BP, Shell, General Electric,
Cinergy, Duke Energy and DuPont that it said
"have moved ahead of the pace of government
action through innovative measures" to reduce emissions.

The television spot links images of drought,
starvation and Hurricane Katrina to global
warming. In it, the Rev. Joel Hunter, pastor of a
megachurch in Longwood, Fla., says: "As
Christians, our faith in Jesus Christ compels us
to love our neighbors and to be stewards of God's
creation. The good news is that with God's help,
we can stop global warming, for our kids, our world and for the Lord."

The advertisements are to be shown in Arkansas,
Florida, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina,
South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.

The Evangelical Climate Initiative, at a cost of
several hundred thousand dollars, is being
supported by individuals and foundations,
including the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Hewlett
Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation.

The initiative is one indication of a growing
urgency about climate change among religious
groups, said Paul Gorman, executive director of
the National Religious Partnership for the
Environment, a clearinghouse in Amherst, Mass.,
for environmental initiatives by religious groups.

Interfaith climate campaigns in 15 states are
pressing for regional standards to reduce
greenhouse gases, Mr. Gorman said. Jewish, Roman
Catholic and Eastern Orthodox leaders also have campaigns under way.

The Evangelical Climate Initiative: http://www.christiansandclimate.org/
The skeptics: http://www.interfaithstewardship.org/