Where is the church?

Professor Jonathan Boston believes he has a responsibility to speak truth to power, but he also has some hard words for his fellow Christians. Many Christians, he says, are displaying ‘an appalling witness to the gospel’ when it comes to caring for God’s creation, and we need a complete transformation to step up and save what God has made.

From his position as a Professor of Public Policy at Victoria University, this seemly mild-mannered academic has become one of New Zealand’s leading advocates for the poor and addressing poverty in New Zealand. However, since 2005 he has also been speaking out strongly on climate change.

Jonathan’s interest in caring for the environment began as a teenager at school in Christchurch in the early 1970s. A friend a year behind him at school was a boy called Rod Donald (later co-leader of the Green Party) and together through school and after they were involved in a range of environmental groups contributing on everything from minimising waste and recycling newspaper to planning cycle-ways in Christchurch. All that paused when Jonathan went off to Oxford University to do his PhD, and it wasn’t until 2005 that he took the issue up again—driven by two major events.

During that year, Jonathan began to read more again on environmental issues. Looking at the scientific data, he says it was clear that any fair, reasonable reading of the evidence showed ‘indisputable evidence’ the planet was warming and the climate was changing. And that the most reasonable explanation for that warming was an increase in greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere due to human activity.

‘There is no other reasonable, plausible, convincing explanation for that increase in greenhouse gas concentrations, and there is no other reasonable, plausible, convincing explanation for the kind of warming of the planet that we’re witnessing other than that it is largely due to the burning of fossil fuels and the cutting down of forests.’

What struck him most, though, was the realisation that if humans didn’t act to mitigate climate change the effects would be ‘serious and irreversible’, and that not many people seemed to realise this or be doing anything about it.

Passionate about climate change

When Jonathan was asked to make a presentation on key issues for the general election that year, he says he found himself getting passionate. ‘I took the opportunity to make a very strong plea that people should give more attention to climate change. It hit me that maybe I needed to do more about this issue.’

Jonathan had also made plans to reconnect with his high school friend Rod Donald. However, a few days before they were due to have lunch, Donald suddenly and unexpectedly died. With the loss of a Kiwi champion of the cause to protect the planet, Jonathan says he felt convicted to try and fill some of the gap left by his friend on climate change.

He was asked by the British High Commission to organise a climate conference in early 2006 that ended up attracting the British Prime Minister and some of the world’s leading climate scientists. In the 10 years since, Jonathan has been writing and speaking about what governments needed to do to anyone who would listen—and those who wouldn’t—from politicians to members of the public and church groups.

Over that decade, globally, there has been some progress. Perhaps most important is the Paris Agreement. Agreed last year between almost all countries in the world, this is a significant breakthrough, despite some flaws, Jonathan says.

However, there are still huge challenges, requiring countries to do more. And New Zealand—despite the clean green image we’d like to portray—is lagging behind.

Kiwis ignoring the problem

In the past seven years, the government has done as little as possible and has rolled back most actions that would reduce emissions, Jonathan says, adding that some farmers ‘have got away with blue murder’.
However, ordinary Kiwis are also part of that problem —we’ve ‘failed to be more assertive in demanding a higher standard of environmental care’, we’ve done a lot of damage to our rivers, native plants and animals, and many aren’t bothered in their personal lives, he says.

‘Large numbers of New Zealanders just couldn’t care a damn about where they drop their rubbish. Here in Wellington, my wife regularly goes into a local park to pick up rubbish after Saturday sports and comes back with bags full.’

Jonathan talks about a recent holiday in Central Otago where he witnessed a large amount of rubbish—everything from plastic bags to car tires—lining the roadside, and cows grazing unfenced next to one of the country’s most pristine rivers.

‘We’re simply stuck with a situation where too few people regard creation care as a serious issue.’

New Zealanders need what Pope Francis in his treatise on climate change last year called an ‘ecological reformation’, Jonathan says.

‘We need a radical and fundamental, comprehensive environmental awakening. One that is transformative of our minds and our hearts, and which means that we wouldn’t drop rubbish and we wouldn’t tolerate a situation in which we generate millions of plastic bags every month and where we’re polluting waterways, lakes and estuaries willy-nilly.’ 

Being a good global neighbour

The reference to Pope Francis is telling. For Jonathan, his Christian faith compels him to speak out and act in combating the destruction of the environment. It is irresponsible to destroy our only home and the one that God made for us, he says, and it doesn’t fit with his faith.

Instead, we need to reconsider what it means to be a good neighbour, and to grasp a concept of being neighbours to people who we don’t know but that our actions affect both globally and for future generations, he says.
‘As a Christian, I do believe we have significant responsibilities for our neighbours and all the wonderful, amazing creatures we’re blessed with on this planet, and if we don’t take those responsibilities seriously the consequences will be dire. Once you destroy whole eco systems it’s very, very, very hard to recreate them! And once we begin the process of melting the major ice sheets on the planet—as we are—it’s going to be very, very, very hard to reverse. And the consequence of that in terms of sea level rise will be felt across the planet and will affect hundreds of millions, potentially billions, of people.’

Through the Bible, God shows a clear concern for the world and how we treat it—and calls us to care for it, Jonathan says.

‘God has given rise to an amazing cosmos, and this cosmos is not ours; it’s God’s. Our responsibility is to be good stewards of what we have been gifted on a temporary basis. It is not our right to destroy what God has made. We should be caring for it and nurturing it and doing our very best to conserve, preserve and restore—not to damage, degrade, despoil and destroy.’

God cares about the planet

Jesus coming into the world as a human suggests that God takes this world very seriously, Jonathan says. As does the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus told Christians to pray that God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, suggesting God cares about this planet, which God chose as the location to begin building his kingdom.

‘The Lord’s Prayer, in my view, is quite fundamental in terms of suggesting what we do in this world matters, and our contribution—our calling as co-creators with Christ—is to seek to build God’s kingdom in all its wonder and vitality and beauty here.

‘Our calling is to take this world, our lives, our children’s and grandchildren’s lives, and that of many, many generations to come very seriously.’

Church apathy and failure

However, Jonathan says he’s ‘greatly discouraged’ and ‘disheartened’ by the failure of all churches across denominations, and their leaders, to take environmental issues more seriously.

‘In my view, the church has been asleep in the light on environmental issues and I think that’s a tragedy. I think it’s an appalling witness to the gospel, and we need a radical shift in mindsets and actions.’

Every inch the professor, as well as the activist, Jonathan is a considered man who chooses his words carefully and precisely, but when it come to the church a deep frustration and sadness comes through. Especially when he sees the full potential of what the church could still achieve in this area.

‘I’m not very optimistic about that radical shift occurring. I think far too many Christians are just far too comfortable, far too apathetic and blasé, and I think that’s tragic. If the Christian community across the various denominations were to wake up to their stewardship responsibilities and to mobilise, individually and collectively, to protect God’s good creation, I believe that would be transformative.

‘There are enough Christians still in New Zealand to make a significant difference. But I’m sorry to say I have no great optimism that this will happen. My sense is that the Holy Spirit has been knocking on many doors and found only a few that are prepared to open.’ 

Ultimately, Jonathan says, it comes down to taking some personal responsibility—for himself to keep trying to improve the way he lives, and to keep challenging others.

‘My view here is that each of us needs to act responsibly as stewards for the resources God has entrusted us with.’

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by Robin Raymond (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 15 October 2016, pp 6-9
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.

So … what can I do?

Jonathan points out what each person can do will be different depending on our circumstances. But there’s always something we can do and many areas where we can start.

Transport: This is the biggest area for New Zealanders—a quarter of an average Kiwi household’s emissions are in transport. Drive less, fly less, get a more fuel efficient car (a hybrid or electric), and offset your carbon emissions when you fly.

Power: Eighty per cent of New Zealand’s electricity is from renewable energy, but cutting your power bill will still help. Get Eco bulbs, energy efficient appliances and heaters, and—most importantly—insulate your home.

Reduce, reuse, recycle: The basics really do make a difference. The hard one for many of us is eat less meat! Half of New Zealand’s emissions come from agriculture, much of this from meat farming, processing and transport. The quickest start to reducing your impact is with a meat-free meal or two each week.

Investments: Move from fossil fuel companies to renewable energy companies.

Speak up: Encourage your friends, harass your MP and nag your boss. This issue needs bold, visionary leadership and effort from all of us!