Witness for the Earth

In this book religious leaders and their institutions call for strong national action on global climate change. This call comes from the majority of America's religions including Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopalian, Evangelical, Quakers and Bahai. Dr. James Hansen, Director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, provides scientific insights showing that climate change is real. The evidence is mounting all around us. The carbon dioxide in the air is increasing. This causes the air temperature to rise, and also increases the acidity of the ocean. Mountain glaciers are retreating. The sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking. Sea levels are rising, and water supplies are threatened. The impacts on humans and other species are already alarming. The challenge we face is a moral test.The statements from religious leaders are important because our world is rapidly changing. Human population has doubled in just the past thirty years. Technologies are changing with bewildering speed. Humans are the most powerful biological and geological force on the planet. If current trends continue, the impacts of our fossil fuel addicted economy will last for millennia. If we remain on our present course, we will condemn our children and those children that follow to a much poorer existence than that with which we have been blessed. This book provides the moral basis for avoiding this catastrophe. It provides a prescription for choosing life so that we and our children may live.