An influential group of bishops have called on Anglican churches to remove their investments from the fossil fuel companies that are driving climate change.
In a declaration and set of requests aimed at focusing the church’s attention on the “unprecedented climate crisis”, the 17 bishops and archbishops said investments in fossil fuel companies were incompatible with a just and sustainable future.
“We call for a review of our churches’ investment practices with a view to supporting environmental sustainability and justice by divesting from industries involved primarily in the extraction or distribution of fossil fuels,” they said.
I find the inadvertent pairing of these posts about the “climate crisis” and the one about Scientology amusing. Where, pray, do these bishops think they and the poor about whom they care so much are going to get electricity and heat, if not from fossil fuels? Drastic reductions in the use of those fuels, if governments are foolish enough to try to force their implementation, are going to make life much more brutish and short.
“Where, pray, do these bishops think ……..”
I think you have just given them wayyyyyyyy tooooooo much credit. Thinking is not involved here. It’s all feelings, it’s all striving to be relevant, to have a purpose, to “be in the fight”……..
This is what the Church ends up doing when it loses all passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because they no longer believe the Gospel, they have to find a focus for their passion so as to not reveal their irrelevancy within the institution they are serving.
I would dearly like to see all of the natural gas, coal and oil producers simply stop shipping their products in compliance with the “no fossil fuels” mentality. It wouldn’t take long for fossil fuel generating plants to shut down, leaving only the highly-touted wind, solar, hydro and nuclear to power the electric grids. Since solar is a “daytime only” producer (and highly variable even during daytime hours) and wind generators typically produce less than 20% of their rated output because of changing wind conditions, there would be massive blackouts throughout the world *very* quickly.
Realistically speaking, the only technology currently available which can be used in any location (hydro is a very site-specific resource) other than fossil fuels is nuclear. I myself advocate nuclear highly – it has been used safely by the vast majority of generating plants for over 50 years, with the major exceptions being Chernobyl (a bad design and completely inadequate management) and Fukushima (mistakenly locating plants in hazardous areas). And yes, I speak as one who is affected – I’ve lived within 30 miles of a nuclear reactor for years (well within the fallout range). I’ve never given the slightest thought to worrying about it.