Ávarp umhverfis- og auðlindaráðherra á ráðstefnu Alkirkjuráðsins (World Council of Churches)
Life is a beautiful and mysterious path. The human being is a tiny grain in the large context of mother Earth. We are made of the same materials as all other life and we follow the same circle of life and death, as any other life form does.
Oxygen and carbon are two of the fundamental building materials of Earth; a human being is mostly made of oxygen and carbon – so are trees and all other living beings. We breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide – the plants take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This symbiosis is the core of the true beauty of life.
The human being has consciousness and cognitive thinking. That´s why it´s hard to understand why we seem to be the only species that is not at peace with Earth?
Without oxygen we live for only few minutes, without water we can live for few days, without food we can survive for month or two. Thanks to the soil and the Earth itself we have access to these fundamental resources. Thus, it´s logic to state that we should put all our effort in protecting the Earth´s ecosystems as it should be very clear for all of us that our wellbeing depends on their status.
How come we are not doing that?
We have disrupted the balance of the Earth´s circular systems by largely degrading its ecosystems, by releasing more carbon to the atmosphere than the ecosystem can take up, by polluting the air, the fresh water and the soil and by using the ocean as a dump for our leftovers.
As an outcome we are currently facing the largest challenge human kind has faced for a long period; namely global warming followed by drastic climate change.
The consequences of global warming are devastating; worldwide we already experiencing more extreme heat waves, increased sea level rise, droughts, lack of drinking water, increased number of catastrophic weather, increased melting of sea ice, melting of the artic and the world´s glaciers. Climate change is a global threat to all life and we must react fast on it.
The Paris agreement in 2015 was a huge achievement for all citizens of this world. It brought us new hope that the world could and indeed would react fast to hold global warming well below 2 degrees on pre-industrial averages with efforts to limit warming to 1.5 degrees.
The new president of the United States brought a little setback to this ambiguous plan when he decided to draw the USA out of the agreement. Fortunately, it didn´t mean that USA as such drew back from its previous statements. A huge number of local leaders stepped forward to show support to the Paris agreement and I must say I am proud of all the brave governors, mayors, business leaders and college presidents that have signaled their personal commitment to the goal of reducing emissions before 2030.
Dear guests,
Aldo Leopold, an American environmentalist, once said: “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching - even when doing the wrong thing is legal.”
For me, this is the core reasoning for environmental protection. The human being is just one of many species that depends on what planet Earth provides. It is our ethical responsibility to protect our planet and use its resources in a sustainable way.
The distance between ethics and faith is short. One must believe that his/her behavior matters in the larger context for the humanity and out of respect for life. That, due to our faith, we choose to do the right thing – always.
Dear guests,
I believe that the church should have a vital role in raising environmental awareness around the world. It has the spiritual capacity to share environmental knowledge with people all over the world and build up the ethical reasoning for why our future relies on environmental protection.
Thus, I am truly pleased to see the World Council of Churches as an active partner in the Arctic Circle assembly this year. I wish you all a pleasant stay here in Iceland and fruitful discussions in the coming days.
Thank you and god bless