“FOR A LONG TIME, people were scared to talk about climate change in its stark reality because they thought people weren’t ready to hear that story. But after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its 2018 report laying out the situation we’re in with the climate, Extinction Rebellion started a movement to tell the truth and act as if that truth is real.
I’ve witnessed a lot of protests that have been quite angry in nature, and I think there is a part for righteous anger in the Christian protest narrative. But I also think that can be unhelpful if it’s just let loose. It’s important that we’re able to realize the core emotions that underlie the anger we feel—feelings of sadness, a kind of desperation, anxiety, and sorrow.
Extinction Rebellion is very good at creating spaces for people to connect with those underlying emotions and collectively grieve—not only to grieve what is happening but our part in that as well. We are all part of this system that is creating a lot of suffering and despair.
As a Christian, I think about how much God loves creation and made it so intricately interwoven: each person, each animal, each ecosystem. God made the climate so that it could support our life. Just think about how quickly we have squandered that. That’s why I get emotional; it’s mourning for what we’ve already lost, but also for the future—what science is saying we’re headed for if we don’t come away from business-as-usual.”
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