October 19, 2018
The recently released report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) highlights the deleterious effects of global climate change. The consequences of maintaining the status quo of carbon emissions and the resulting rate of global temperature change are dire and include major shifts in patterns of weather, fire, and hydrology; large-scale impacts on biodiversity; and disruption to human systems, including agriculture and food supplies, migration, national security, and economies. According to the IPCC, “there is no documented historical precedent” for the worldwide changes required to avoid these dramatic consequences.
Two days after this report was released, Elder Steven E. Snow, historian and recorder for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, affirmed our moral imperative: “[We will] be held accountable for how we treat one another, the community in which we live, and the land that surrounds us, even the earth itself. That stewardship has never been more urgent. Our generation, more than any other, has the ability to irretrievably change the land.”
We assert that caring for the environment is a spiritual responsibility and a commandment (see Numbers 35:33-34, Doctrine and Covenants 104:13-17). In the case of global climate change, the danger is not only to the earth itself, but to human beings, communities, and ways of living. We believe, as our Church teaches, that “we are inextricably connected to this earth. Our carelessness curses it; our righteousness blesses it. Its health affects our health.”
We urge governments, institutions, and businesses to boldly mobilize in pursuit of creative and radical strategies that will effectively curb climate change and dramatically reduce carbon emissions. We implore leaders to set aside politics in pursuit of policies that will aggressively and immediately address this worldwide threat. We proclaim, with leaders of our Church, that “We should live for future generations, not just for our own. This means learning about the earth and having a responsible relationship with it; we can become informed, engaged, and attuned to sound science.”
As women of faith, we take seriously the important obligation to safeguard the earth and her resources for our children and generations that follow. But individual efforts are insufficient; instead, institutional reforms are required to ensure lasting impact. Our ethic of environmental stewardship is informed by the words of our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, who proclaimed: “We should care for the earth, be wise stewards over it, and preserve it for future generations.”
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Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG) is a nonpartisan grassroots group dedicated to the ideals of decency, honor, accountability, transparency, and justice in governing. MWEG is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Photo by Boris Baldinger on Unsplash.
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