Interfaith Service Bureau : News & Calendar

The California Union of Concerned Scientists says that with business as usual, by the year 2090, greenhouse emissions will be responsible for an average temperature increase of 18 degrees F., creating Death Valley conditions in the Sacramento Valley . San Francisco will have a summer like Tijuana , Mexico , has today. Heat related deaths in Los Angeles will total between 4,700 - 6,333.

Since 1990 the World Council of Churches has been working to stop global warming. This organization, along with others, has been remarkably effective around the rest of the world. There are two nations which have not ratified the Kyoto Agreement: Australia and the United States . But Australia has committed itself to meet the guidelines, while the U.S. has not.

I asked a concerned scientist why he thought that the research was not connecting with the decision makers in the United States , and why the American people as a whole were not as aware as Europeans of what lies ahead. His thesis was that very powerful lobbies in America managed to argue that the economic effects of trying to reduce greenhouse emissions would be too expensive. Conversely, in Europe , lobbyists did not block the data, allowing better informed government leaders and citizens.

Recently, Joe Lieberman talked to evangelical Christians about stewardship of the earth, quoting from Genesis that we were “to till and tend the garden”. They agreed. Recently, when I met the leadership of the Latter Day Saints they asked me what I thought was today’s leading theological problem. I said global warming, and that it would affect all other problems. I called it a problem of poor stewardship. One leader immediately asked, “What can we do to help?” If LDS comes on board, I predict that it will make a huge difference. Working together at the Interfaith Service Bureau, I have come to deeply respect the social concern and outreach of this denomination.

I am a member of a coalition of religious groups called Interfaith Power and Light that seeks to respond to global warming through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy sources. We are supporting the idea of an annual conference/festival on California warming to connect the research base to the populace and government leaders. Many of us believe the best way to make that connection is to hold it in Sacramento - the capital of the 5^th largest economy in the world.

Written by Dr. David Thompson, Vice-President of the Interfaith Service Bureau and the Senior Pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church

Our loving God of us all, we are haunted by an ideal life because we all have within us the beginning and the possibility of it. We have come here today to pray for the hearts and minds of our County Supervisors. We have come to pray for the preservation of legislation that 15% of all new development have units for people at the lower ranges of the income spectrum.

We pray for our supervisors that if it is not their intent, that it will become their intent to advocate with developers for the poorest of the poor.

O God with just a basic apartment in the downtown going for high prices, our working poor are so hard pressed to make ends meet pay check to pay check. They often don't have health care, yet they sicken as others do. They need to eat, to be clothed and to have a life, as others do. And so they need advocates. They need to be a part of the process of decision making that affects them so deeply. They need an affordable place to live. And we in Sacramento and the County need our Supervisors to represent us and the core values of America, with demonstrations of fairness, inclusion and clear visions with a priority for the poor.

Today we presume our Supervisors basic willingness to do the right thing for justice. We give them the presumption of our trust. May we and they, at the end of our lives, be able to approach You with straight eyes, knowing that we have done justice, done the deeds of mercy and walked humbly with our God.

With this legislation as a level playing field, may the developers enjoy a reasonable profit and be proud of themselves for doing the right thing by the poor. May they showcase the affordable units with pride of achievement. May the County and City of Sacramento be models for affordable housing in this great nation. May we in this amazing city have done with small thoughts...

These things we pray in the name of justice and fairness for all. Hear our prayer.

Amen