While the rest of us were recovering from not just the midterms but the post-midterm analysis of this or that, the COP31 conference was beginning in Turkey. This annual Conference of the Parties is an outgrowth of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It’s a bit frightening that we’ve had this annual conference for 31 years and we’re still fighting the same battles.
The United States of course, did not send any delegates for the second year in a row. It’s not because the White House believes that climate is a creation of God, but because as UN General Secretary Antonio Gutierrez said, although dinosaurs may not have a lobby, fossil fuels sure do. And with a vengeance.
Our blind approach to what is an impending disaster is not based on science, but on the power of money, lots of it, pouring into the White House and its allies. Rather than caving into the desires of the fossil fuel lobby in seismic testing and drilling in what are truly environmentally sensitive areas, we should be investing in alternatives. It not only makes environmental sense, but economic sense as well.
Prayer for the Day
You who created the morning star that shines in the east,
Bring to us a new appreciation of your creation, O God;
You who created the peach colored skies as the sun rises,
Make us understand the power the sun can make in or lives.
Do more than rouse us, O Lord, so we protect your creation,
Not destroy it with the ever consuming desire for wealth.
In the name of the One who tells us of the power of greed,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
And those who profit most from fossil fuels must help foot the bill for the damage they have caused. In the last quarter alone, the nine largest oil companies pocketed $95 billion in profits. Meanwhile, the Loss and Damage Fund has received around $600 million. That is what these companies made in about 14 hours. It’s time for governments to tax these windfall profits – and use them to help vulnerable countries recover.
Antonio Gutierrez, UN General Secretary at COP31
A billion dollars’-worth of solar farms will provide roughly 10 times as much electricity over their lifetimes as the same amount of money spent on liquefied natural gas.
Justin Mikulka, research fellow, New Consensus, nonpartisan think tank
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; God’s greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall laud your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts