A Biblical Perspective On The Green new Deal

It’s Getting Hot In Here – Nelly sings it and scientists confirm it. The weather used to serve as the least confrontational foray into a conversation. Trying to make small talk with a stranger? Talk about the crazy weather we’ve been having, regardless of whether (pun intended) it has been crazy or not. However, in recent days, this is not the case.

NASA scientists announced that the average surface temperature of the Earth in 2018 was the 4th highest since they have been keeping records. In an interview with the NY Times, NASA’s Gavin A. Schmidt said, “We’re no longer talking about a situation where global warming is something in the future.” Serving as the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, he concluded succinctly: “It’s here. It’s now.” According to the data, the last five years have been the warmest five years in recorded history.

In response, two camps have emerged when thinking through climate change. The first calls for immediate action due to the significance of the problem. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has led this camp. She said the world will end in 12 years if we don’t address this issue immediately, thus proposing the Green New Deal as a response. Democratic Party presidential hopefuls such as Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Beto O’Rourke have already endorsed or expressed support for the Green New Deal.

The goal is to eliminate all U.S. carbon emissions due to the dire nature of climate change. It is a “massive transformation of our society.” The Green New Deal calls for building out “high-speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary.” Regarding vehicular pollution, the bill desires to replace every “combustion-engine vehicle” within 10 years. This includes trucks, airplanes, and the vast majority of cars. Concerning structures, Cortez wants to “retrofit every building in America” with “state of the art energy efficiency.” But perhaps the most interesting proposal concerns jobs. Every single American, those “unable or unwilling to work,” will be provided a job that includes a “family-sustaining wage, family and medical leave, vacations, and a pension.” 

While the former camp desires a massive transformation of society, the other camp wants to merely tap the brakes. This camp questions the significance of the problem and wants to consider the unintended consequences of overreacting in the present to a looming problem. They highlight the fact that though we pulled out of the Paris Agreement, we have reduced our carbon emissions by 0.5 percent – the most of all major countries.  Contrary to popular perception, this camp isn’t completely “climate change deniers,” as most just question the significance of the problem.

Problems require solutions and solutions often necessitate funds. Therefore, it is important to understand the significance of the problem. For the Green New Deal group, they suggest we need a new car -- preferably a Prius. For the latter group, we simply need an oil change. But to fund one thing is to remove partial or complete funding from another -- at least in theory. For example, would you redirect funding from the military to now employ 3 million former-truck drivers who have been laid off due to the Green New Deal? Would you redirect funds from an infrastructure project in order to fund a greenhouse gas reduction project in a developing country?

However, just as there is a need for discerning priority relative to climate change, there is a particular prioritized order for creation care as well. Robert Manahan developed an ethical framework that follows: whereas nature must obey humanity and humanity must obey God, in turn, God will be beneficent to humanity and humanity will be beneficent to nature.

In the biblical narrative, we read descriptive scenes in which the temperature changes (Job 38-39), but it also has prescriptive commands for those who are following the Spirit, which is like the wind (John 3:8). We inhabit a majestic Earth in which our God has graciously displayed his splendor (Psalm 8). Wendell Berry put it well: “The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable: God made the world because He wanted it made. He thinks the world is good, and He loves it. It is His world; He has never relinquished title to it. And He has never revoked the conditions, bearing on His gift to us of the use of it, that oblige us to take excellent care of it.”

God has created us in His likeness and admonished us to tend to and care for His creation (Genesis 2:15). This creation is under futility due to the fallen nature of our world, groaning for redemption (Romans 8:19-21). We should care for all of His creation, not limiting ourselves to the crown of creation — humanity (Leviticus 23:22, Psalm 8:3-6). Though we should bear our burden by caring for the planet, we cannot overburden the people on the planet.