What You Can Do to Moderate Climate Change?
Orthodox Guidances for home, church, on the road and outdoors
By the OFT
Below please find six different perspectives on lifestyle solutions and changes for Orthodox Christian parishes and families. These are important because without reflection on our theology and direction, a vision of the future is not easily discerned
(1) Effective Lifestyle Actions to Address Climate Change
(2) Beginning Ecological Practices for Orthodox Christians
(3) 101 Ways to Fight Climate Change
Even the smallest contributions can counter a global challenge By Patrick Sisson, Megan Barber, and Alissa Walker, April 22, 2020
(4) How to Act on Climate Change: A User’s Guide for 2021
What you can do about climate change
Step 1. Action: Get informed.
Knowledge is power – learn more about the science behind our climate challenge and the responsibility that all sectors hold in addressing the issue. Add your voice to the issues that are shaping the climate debate as well as emerging, evidence-based data that directly relates to changes in our climate.
(5) Fifty Different Ways to Make your life Greener
Expert Tips on How to be kinder to the planet.
(6) Right Behavior, Right Thinking and Right Vision
More important than a right ecological list is right human behavior toward each other. Respect for creation means respect for people and the life around us. As Orthodox Christians we begin with a vision of the world and a right regard for the full spectrum of the creation of God. We declare that “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) and at every liturgical service we pray, regarding Christ and the Holy Spirit, “Who art everywhere present and fills all things.”
Our vision therefore is the presence of God everywhere and in all things. Our service to God begins by discerning His presence in all things. This means all things have holy and intrinsic value. Because they have value and divine worth, they are worthy of respect and holy regard.
What we see and how we see should therefore shape our actions. In between vision and actions, we must bring our assumptions, attitudes and emotions into harmony with this vision and these weave together, like a braided pigtail, into an integrated wholeness of responses and attitudes to the world around us.
Here are a few qualities that emerge from our Christian vision and the need to integrate our whole being into a way of life that loves our neighbors as ourselves:
— Thankfulness – As we see the goodness of God in each other, so we also discern that goodness in the fabric of creation. This leads us into a reverence for all people and all things. “As you did it to the least of these my brethren, you do it unto me.”
— Respect is the key and cornerstone for healthy relationship. Respect means that we see in one another a whole person, made in the image of God and struggling to reach the likeness of God as demonstrated in Jesus Christ.
— Patience is forbearance or restraint in the face of differences or delay without becoming overwhelmed by annoyance or anger. It is the ability to calmly endure some unusual condition without letting it control or alter our own behavior. “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him (Lamentations 3:25).
— Forgiveness is God’s action through a person when there is a release of resentment or anger. The ability to forgive is a statement that the life of God in us is alive and able to overcome offenses. Forgiveness heals the mental health of those who are victims and those who perpetrate offenses.
— Consecration The human person, as a priest of creation, is to offer the world back to God. We are to regard ourselves as responsible before God for every creature and treat everything with love and care.
This is just a beginning list of qualities that bind us together and address climate change. Make your own list of all the attitudes and qualities that should characterize those of us who follow our Lord Jesus Christ and look to him for direction in life.