This is the first book about global warming that has earned a space on my ‘frequent reference’ shelf.  As Thomas Carlyle observed: ‘If time is precious, no book that will not improve by repeated readings deserves to be read at all.’  Sir John Houghton, who wrote the foreword may agree: ‘Allow it not only to inform your mind, but to touch your conscience.’  Would that all Christians who do not yet see climate change (and the other dangerous problems of sustainability) as a priority for the Western churches would mull over Michael Northcott’s profound exposition of the prophecy of Jeremiah.

 

Do not, however, be misled by Sir John’s assertion that the book is very readable.  It may be so in the context of a professor of ethics writing about a crucial topic, but Northcott goes to the heart of the problem and patiently demonstrates, including many case studies of threatened communities, how industrialism has enslaved not only human beings but the very climate of our planet.  His book takes no prisoners and may provoke those who place their faith in ‘the market’, but I’ll nail my colours to the mast: the voice of prophecy is to be heard in the land.

 

The book ranges far, backed by meticulous notes and references.  There is a very comprehensive index and a useful glossary of abbreviations.  The key questions are how we got here and what we (individually, as communities, as a nation and as a race) should do now.  Certainly, as Einstein observed, ‘The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.’  Northcott convincingly argues that humanity cannot be delivered by carbon trading, geoengineering or the ‘invisible hand’ (that directs individual, supposedly autonomous, self-interested choices to achieve ‘the best of all possible worlds’).  Not while the environmental limits to growth are unacknowledged and unvalued.  Nor can poverty be eliminated by promoting (unsustainable) economic growth in developing countries.

 

The author is a Priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church, not a Climate Scientist, so forgivably the very occasional error creeps in.  The figures for atmospheric concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide are measured in parts per billion, not (thankfully!) parts per million (page 24).  More seriously, Newton is unfairly blamed for de-coupling time and space from the Creator (page 70) (Laplace boldly stated: ‘I have no need of that hypothesis’) and the consequent neoliberal quasi-science of individual behaviour and the Market.  I might argue for the scientific method, which has enabled the amelioration of so much human misery, but subject to ethical (rather than theological) imperatives, especially when applied to human behaviour.  Morality (page 78), however, depends on recognising that both we and the environment are creatures of God, who gives without dominating.

 

The reader may feel that the book is on surer ground when analysing how energy (notably oil) has powered empire (chapter 3) and how the USA break with the gold-standard (page 151) has led to accelerated destruction of ecosystems (chapter 4).  The story of oil extraction (the Old Testament parallels exploitation of the Cedars of Lebanon) is a litany of suffering.  The hope that more technology will result in a better society has continually been dashed – but locally managed, renewable power challenges free market ideology.  Northcott would tax carbon (rather than income and profits), eschewing superficially fairer rationing (associated with ethical problems of carbon trading), as the most effective way sharply to reduce emissions. 

 

Chapter 5 analyses approaches to global justice; advocating justice based on the sovereignty and eternal justice of God rather than of individual ‘liberal’ reasoning.  The key is to recognise inviolable rights to common environmental goods, including climate.  (I would want to point out that philosophical reasoning, as in ‘The Ethics of Climate Change’, does not subvert the worth of other creatures and leads to similar practical proposals for action.)  Chapter 6 explores links between the nature of God and powering sustainable churches, homes and communities.  Chapter 7 contrasts the virtues of walking and pilgrimage with the psychological and physical dangers of energy-dependent speed.  Chapter 8 explores the place of agriculture and its relationship with the Eucharist.  Such a bald summary cannot indicate the breadth and depth of analysis of the damaged human condition found in these chapters.

 

Michael Northcott is concerned that authors and politicians should not resort to the politics of fear, which could lead to denial, despair or at best coercion (page 280).  This raises questions in the reader’s mind.  Unlike terrorism, which owes most of its power to irrational fear, is it not rational to fear global climate change, with the potential to devastate billions of lives?  Did not Jeremiah castigate those who proclaimed cheap peace?  Why, after Rio and Rio Plus 10, does humanity still behave as if there were no limits to growth?  Is climate change ‘simply’ a moral challenge, like the abolition of slavery or fair trade, where by embracing right actions, Christians and other people of good will can engage politicians and businesses?  Does the professor appreciate how short may now be the time for effective international action?

 

The book has only one answer: those who know the truth must act rightly in the belief that it is God’s intention to redeem the earth.  ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  I guess that God has no plan B.

 

Charles Jolly