The Beginning of a New Outlook?

Wow. I had to blow a lot of dust off my Groundling blog and call in a mechanic to get it up and running today. It has been months since I wrote an entry...that sounds like something I might say in the confessional. Even though eco-faith issues are my passion, sufficient time in an active ministry becomes an issue and I have reverted to including environmental comments in my Lion Lamb blog.

Yesterday's announcement by the Obama administration concerning reduction of carbon emissions created by burning coal was too significant to pass by though. And Groundling seemed to be the appropriate place to write about it. Obama appears to have grown impatient with the endless Republican stonewalling when it comes to environmental legislation. He has taken a "damn the torpedoes" approach and declared that emissions will be reduced by 30% by 2030.

Finally, finally, finally, the United States has taken a bold step in this regard, and the goal is attainable, if challenging. Of course the naysayers are already squawking, the way they have with other important environmental issues such as acid rain. Then, as now, opponents insisted changes would be an economic disaster. It wasn't, and it won't be. A New York Times editorial today offers this:

The greenhouse gas reductions required by the Obama administration’s proposed rule on power plants will not get the world to where it has to go to avert the worst consequences of climate change. But they are likely to be enormously beneficial: good for the nation’s health, good for technological innovation, good for President Obama’s credibility abroad, and, in time, good for the planet and future generations. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/03/opinion/nearing-a-climate-legacy.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

God bless America for demonstrating leadership in care for God's good Earth. Now, can we convince our Canadian government to do the same? Yesterday's claim by Prime Minister Harper that we are out ahead of the US is ridiculous. Oil sands development is the parallel to rapacious coal extraction and consumption and we have to come up with a better, more sustainable plan. Please notice that I did not say that development should cease and desist. But we have to do this better and realize that there are economic alternatives to resource extraction.

Perhaps the American initiative will encourage First Nations, environmental, and religious groups to keep pressing for change.

Will Obama succeed, or will this be one more disappointment? Can this happen in Canada? Will it require a change of government? Should our United Church continue to champion the cause of sustainable development?