Creation Challenge

Let no one deny that The Wave was a triumph of organised chaos. The Archbishop spoke eloquently and lucidly of the Great Commission as a call to take Good News to the whole of Creation. 3 ½ thousand assorted enthusiastic Christians exited Methodist Central Hall without mishap. The weather stayed dry until 3.30 pm! (don’t take it to heart, Noah). The police were affable. Even the minor counter-demonstration at Trafalgar Square was a damp squib.

Only Greenpeace managed to marshal its supporters really efficiently (the bobbing waves behind a street-wide banner were magnificent), but the eclectic mix of 40,000 (or was it 50,000?) placards, posters, banners and blue costumes spoke of a unity of purpose. If the eager tail of the march (including yours truly) missed the ‘waving’ and only reached ‘Big Ben’ after 3 hours (at 15.55 hrs to be precise), so what? It just proved our cheerful resilience in the cause. Well done, everyone.

Undoubtedly Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, when embattled at Copenhagen, will take comfort from this powerful send-off of support for a fair and far-reaching climate deal. Rightly so, for this band of brothers and sisters (and their fellow demonstrators in Glasgow and many other places) represented millions of deeply concerned citizens.

And yet, and yet. The gap between the science and the politics is (it seems to me) growing and the Government (even with Ed way ahead of many others) is still relying heavily on voluntary action (and some relatively gentle incentives). Yes, the placards were there if you looked: 10% cuts in 2010, stabilisation at 350 ppm carbon dioxide (about 10% less than now), lots of demands for massive help for developing countries (and from Christians about the very poor, who have yet to start significant development); the Coalition is calling for not 20%, not 30% but 40% EU cuts from 1990 figures by 2020. But what came across (inevitably, because it is the case despite the sterling efforts of the Coalition) was a lack of focus that could let world leaders ‘off the hook’ at Copenhagen.

No one expects a fully worked out treaty in the next few days. I think the criterion of success is this: will enough progress have been made so that the developed nations could be carbon neutral by 2030 and the whole world by 2050 – with the poor still able to work their way out of poverty. With world population growing and oil production about to peak (and then fall), that will be little short of miraculous – but the only alternative that gives a good chance of avoiding severe climate consequences is geoengineering, with all the risks and doubtful morality that entails. We won’t hang up our marching boots just yet! Charles Jolly