November News & Views
Nov. 16, 2023
IN THIS ISSUE
Top Stories
— Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe
— Meditation on “What We Love, We Protect”
Organizing News
Third Act Central
News from Our Partners & Friends
Did You Know?
Resources
Upcoming Events
TOP STORIES
Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe
By Mary Jane Cherry
Third Acts of Faith Editor
Imagine having a conversation with the world’s foremost climate science communicator about how to talk about climate change with deniers and doomers, politicians and the majority of Americans who are worried about the future. We had that conversation last week when Dr. Katharine Hayhoe joined us for Third Act Faith’s General Meeting of members.
Chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and lead author on three U.S. National Climate Assessments, Dr. Hayhoe brings to this work her faith as an evangelical Christian. In the course of the Nov. 7 meeting, the atmospheric scientist revealed that climate work is a “calling” as she urged us to move people to act, not by changing their minds but by moving their hearts.
The conversation began with Dr. Hayhoe instructing us in the use of an interactive polling tool that mapped our individual locations and shared our one-word responses to her queries about who we are and why we care about climate change. (She also used the tool to collect and share our questions so we could “upvote” our favorites.) In the process, we watched her apply in real time her three-step approach — “bond, connect, inspire”— which she said is good for talking about climate change or any other divisive topic.
First lesson: Before talking about climate change with others, go on a “fishing expedition.” Ask questions and listen and ask more questions until you find common ground, she instructed. She said she has found that “everyone is already the perfect person” for climate work, whether they are a grandmother (always “number one” in the poll), birder, naturalist, gardener or knitter. Our job is to help them discern why they care about the climate and then help them “connect the dots” between who they are, what they love, how climate change is affecting that, and what they can do to make a difference. She stressed that “it’s more important to activate people than to get them to agree with you on the science.”
The interview with TAF co-facilitator Jane Ellen Nickell and the Q & A that followed covered everything from the role of faith communities in climate work to dealing with climate anxiety, neglectful news media and recalcitrant politicians — many of the issues addressed in her book, “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.”
The conversation was rich with stories, insights and occasional statistics. “As Bill McKibben [Third Act’s founder] says, the most important thing an individual can do is not be such an individual — and I take that to heart,” she said. “I quote Bill probably once a day on that. What that means is that by focusing not so much on our ‘carbon footprint,’ but rather our ‘climate shadow’ (how we engage people around us) we can multiply our impact.”
Following is a sampling of the questions asked (some paraphrased and condensed) and Dr. Hayhoe's responses (some excerpted). We encourage you to view the meeting video or read the transcript of our conversation with Dr. Hayhoe.
What is the role of people of faith and their communities in the climate movement?
“You have to acknowledge that people have used religion as an excuse for some very irreligious behavior. And today, in the United States, politicians are using Christianity — not any religion but specifically Christianity — in a way that is, in many cases, diametrically opposed, 180 degrees, to what the Bible actually says,” she said.
She noted that people have questioned why we should care since the “world’s gonna end anyway.” The apostle Paul, she said, had an answer for that in his letter to the Thessalonians. “‘You don’t know what’s gonna happen in the future,’” she continued, paraphrasing Paul. “‘You don’t know when the end is coming, so get a job. Care for the widows and orphans. You’ve got things to do today.’” We’re called to be recognized by our love for others, she told us. “We’re not called to be sitting back in the easy chair of life, waiting for the end. We’re called to be loving towards others and express that love towards others...
“If Christians in the United States took the Bible seriously, if they actually believed what the Bible says, they would be out at the front of the line demanding climate action. And I tell you who is there already. That is the Pope.” His recent Apostolic Exhortation, she said, was a “barnburner... Reading it, I felt like my phone was gonna burst into flames.” He does not “mince words!” she said. He calls out those who say they are religious but endorse “unjust, inequitable systems that perpetuate poverty and suffering... Today that is exactly what climate change is,” she told us.
Where do you find religious communities “walking the walk”?
“In a nutshell, everywhere,” she said. Noting she is a “public school person” who never attended a private college, she confessed she was surprised to discover the amount of climate work being done at private Christian universities in the U.S. She cited examples of institutions with sustainability programs and faith-based teaching that she said would put to shame “a lot of our more liberal public universities that are well known for climate research … in terms of how they’re actually reaching people’s hearts and genuinely engaging students on action.”
How do you engage with people who recognize climate change is a problem but have an entrenched mindset, stuck in inaccurate, outdated information? (The example given was a man who believes that cutting the population is the solution.)
“Almost all the time, climate denial is just a symptom of solution aversion ... A lot of people aren’t honest — they go with all these plausible reasons — ‘It’s just a natural cycle’ or ‘Climate scientists are making it up.’ But that’s just window dressing to the real problem, which is ‘I don’t wanna fix it because that would affect my quality of life.’ ... To such a person, I would say, ‘Well, you might have thought those things 20 or 30 years ago [when] it was more expensive to do things the right way. But did you know... Let me share with you some of the things that have happened recently.’
“‘Did you know?’ is a great way to start conversations because it invokes our curiosity. ‘Did you know that solar energy is the cheapest form of electricity humans have ever had, even in developing countries? Did you know that the International Energy Agency found that the vast majority of new energy being added to the grid these days is renewable energy because it’s cheaper, and that even places like Texas are adding it?’ ...
“It’s not an oppositional discussion. It’s like, ‘Yeah, you know, a while back, that was certainly the case. But today things are different. Let me tell you about some of the things I’m super excited about. Isn’t this cool?’”
What can this generation do in its third act to really make a difference?
“Oh, so much! I really believe that the most powerful force each of us has is our voice, and young people are really finding their voices today in a way that when I was their age we didn’t. But we have always known, as far back as we can go in human history, that we often tend to hit our stride and really find our unique, powerful voice when we reach the third stage of life. The gloves are off. Say it like it is... That really is a tremendous force — to just be able to be really candid, really honest, loving. I’m not talking about being offensive... We’re doing this out of love for the people, the places, the things that we love and we care for, but just really calling it what it is.”
What’s your advice for dealing with climate grief/despair? Things look so bleak.
That question and another variation, “What gives you hope,” she said, are the reasons she wrote “Saving Us.” They are the number-one questions she is asked.
She had three pieces of advice: First, be aware that we are not alone: “70 percent of people in the United States are worried; 85 percent of young people are worried. And 40 percent of Republicans in Texas recognize climate change as a threat.” Second, know that eco-anxiety is “a rational response to what’s happening... It means you understand the problem.” Third, “onboard” a “positive feedback cycle of action and hope,” by which she means that, when feeling despair, turn to those things we love and do those things that “fuel our determination to fight for a better future out of love, and to bring other people to that fight with us.
“I’m convinced together we can do it, but we can’t do it if we stay stuck in paralyzing anxiety... It isn’t enough to be running away from the Apocalypse. We have to have a concrete vision of how much better the world could be if we tackle climate change.”
How do I help my congregation acknowledge that our Christian faith requires us to do everything we can to slow/stop this runaway climate train?
“Acknowledge that they should be part of climate action. We have to start with what they already think. So, if a specific group of Christians really prioritizes caring for the poor, start with the fact that climate change is disproportionately affecting the poor. If they care specifically about, say, being good stewards of their money and their resources, I’m going to talk about being good stewards of the amazing gift that God has given us: this planet. You have to start where people are. You can’t start with why you think they should care — you have to figure out what reason they already have to care. And that applies outside of faith communities as well as inside.”
About Katharine Hayhoe
A Canadian, Dr. Hayhoe is a professor of public policy and public law in the Department of Political Science at Texas Tech University. In addition to being the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and lead author on three U. S. National Climate Assessments, she also has an impressive record of translating climate science for those of us who are not scientists, as Jane Ellen noted in introducing her. She is the author of “Saving US: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” (2021). Her TED Talk, “The Most Important Thing You Can Do to Fight Climate Change: Talk About It,” now has more than 4 million views. She hosts the PBS Digital series “Global Weirding: Climate, Politics, and Religion,” currently in its fifth season. She is a United Nations Champion of the Environment, the World Evangelical Alliance’s Climate Ambassador, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. Subscribe to her newsletter Talking Climate on Substack.
Thanks to Third Act Central staff for help with media and technology resources. Because of them, we were able to accommodate a larger-than-usual number of attendees. More than 500 registered, with about half joining us for the webinar, which was also Election Night. The meeting was recorded and all registrants were sent a link to the video. A special shoutout goes to Central staffer Veronique Graham, who ensured the webinar went off without a glitch.
Also noteworthy
General Meeting opened with a welcome and brief presentation by co-facilitator Betsy Bennett on Third Act, the Faith working group and our three national campaigns to “advance fossil-free banking, “democratize energy” and “uplift democracy and voting.” A meditation, led by TAF member Trisha Tull (see below), followed.
The meeting closed, as usual, with an action item from Betsy: “Think about the one thing that you want to share with someone else after this evening’s conversation. Then talk about the climate crisis with at least one other person this week, someone that you don’t usually discuss climate issues with, and keep the conversation going in your circle of family and neighbors.”
‘What We Love, We Protect’
By Trisha Tull
For the meeting’s meditation, Trisha, a Third Act Faith member, drew upon her long experience as a climate activist and advocate for renewable energy in her home state of Indiana.
One evening at the public library in Evansville, Indiana, I attended a large gathering for a program about building backyard bird habitats, complete with hundreds of photos of warblers and other songbirds, all taken in the presenter’s own yard. She emphasized the need for local and migratory birds to find water, food and shelter at a time of growing sparseness.
The next morning, hundreds of Hoosiers gathered at the Indianapolis statehouse 172 miles away to speak against a bill in the Senate Utilities Committee, written by the state’s for-profit utilities, that would all but destroy Indiana’s small but growing customer-owned renewable energy efforts. With standing-room-only and overflow into the hallways, dozens testified against the bill, citing the importance of the solar panels their families and congregations had invested in, the urgency of building renewable energy, and the lack of credibility of the claims the utilities were making against it. School superintendents from across the state testified to the savings for education that would be lost if the several million dollars they were saving by generating power were sacrificed to the utilities’ pockets. People of all faiths testified to their responsibility to protect creation by reducing Indiana’s carbon pollution.
What a contrast—one meeting in a public library relishing aesthetically, the other in the halls of governmental power fighting politically. The common thread was defending what we love.
What we love, we protect: grandchildren that we hope will enjoy the quality of life we have known; lone patches of old-growth forest reminding us of time and dignity; synagogues, mosques, churches and temples conserving resources by reducing power; sandhill cranes calling as they migrate overhead; and human communities that seek better health and common purpose.
Columnist David Roberts once said that “everybody needs a climate thing.” His brilliant article on this theme concludes with these words about the things we love:
“Climate is everything, which means everyone touches only a tiny piece of it. Let people care about their birds or their pipelines or their mountains or their tech startups or their research clusters or their permaculture farms. Everybody needs a Climate Thing, a close-by proxy through which they can express their climate concern in a way that has local effects and tangible rewards. It is these proxies, these rich anchors in our lived experience of nature and culture, that inspire us.”
When we live in gratitude for this world, our common home, we let go of our self-preoccupation and discontent; we set aside greed; we focus more on all that freely comes to us every day. We tell our stories in a different way. And the things we become consciously grateful for, we cherish more dearly and protect more fiercely.
Climate change is not just a technological or scientific or political problem. It is those. But it is also a spiritual one: Modern humans are beginning to relearn our place on Earth, learning to live within the Earth’s limits. This home of ours is not indestructible, but under favorable conditions it is resilient. In the daily efforts that gratitude inspires, we find our resilience as well.
ORGANIZING NEWS
One-on-one and small group meetings planned
By Jane Ellen Nickell
TAF Co-facilitator
Third Act and Third Act Faith continue to add new members every day, and we are thrilled to have you join our actions to address threats to the climate and democracy. The Coordinating Committee would love to have a chance to get to know you better, to find out what your skills and interests are, and to learn how you would like to be involved in our work.
Beginning this month, we’ll reach out to all new members with an invitation to have a one-on-one conversation with a member of our Coordinating Committee. As our Membership Committee gets off the ground, we hope to offer that opportunity to anyone who has joined recently. Meanwhile, if you would like to talk with us about getting more involved, or if you would like to serve on the Membership Committee to help engage new members, please email us at thirdactfaith@gmail.com.
In addition, anyone is welcome to join our periodic small group Zoom gatherings that are hosted by Coordinating Committee members. We have used several different names for these events, but we need your help in finding just the right one. Please complete this short poll to let us know which name you like OR to suggest another one!
Sign up for the next small group
Whatever we end up calling it, the next small group meeting is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 4, beginning at 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST). Adriane “Ace” Leveen and Mary Jane Cherry will host the gathering. Register here.
TA Mainers’ have “all eyes” on L.L. Bean and Costco
“Many of us at Third Act Maine really like L.L. Bean and are excited that Maine’s first Costco is opening in Scarborough soon,” begins the top story in the working group’s Nov. 2 newsletter. As the story notes, both espouse environmentally friendly values, but L.L. Bean’s healthy living motto, “Be an Outsider,” and Costco’s “Do the Right Thing” are “at odds” with their financial partnership with Citibank, one of the top four banks that have loaned the fossil fuel industry a trillion dollars.
So the Maine Third Actors have been picketing the popular retailers for two months. The story, “All Eyes on Citi—at L.L. Bean and Costco,” offers action information and inspiration for all of us. It outlines three types of actions being undertaken by the TA Mainers, utilizing postcards, “stand-ins” and petitions urging the popular retailers to end their relationship with Citibank. Check out their story and then share it — with your faith communities and with other Third Actors if you are fortunate enough to belong to a community-based working group.
THIRD ACT CENTRAL NEWS
No Time to Waste Fund
Third Act relies upon us, the members, to run the operations of our working groups and undertake the action campaigns driving our work, or as Faith members might put it, our “calling” to support the Third Act mission to help preserve the planet and safeguard democracy. The good news is that our volunteer base is growing by leaps and bounds, with tens of thousands joining Third Act.
That’s also the rub. The Central staff needs to expand to help “activate” the new members and connect them with our working groups and partners. We can help with that by donating to Third Act’s “No Time To Waste’ Fund,” which was established, according to the TA blog, to help build our community and “deepen our power.”
Central has set a goal to raise $500,000 by Dec. 31. For more information and to donate, check out the Third Act fundraising website, which reports that the fund will enable Central to “ramp up our organizing work to support 60,000+ Third Actors plus allies coast to coast — from staffing and training, to events and digital support. With your investment, we can build a mighty force of volunteers in all 50 states.
As national campaign organizer B Fulkerson said in a post on the Third Act website blog, “Building a strong organizing program based on the members’ connections with each other and with Third Act’s strategies is essential to our success.”
NEWS FROM PARTNERS & FRIENDS
Deep Green Faith offers webinar on ‘Small Group Contemplative Practice’
Join Payton Hoegh, program director of the Center for Spirituality in Nature, for a Zoom seminar to explore “how mindful small-group engagement in and with the natural world regrounds faith, rekindles hope, and renews commitment to ecological faith.” The webinar will offer practical tools and resources for community practice of spirituality in nature, with particular focus on its application for congregational “Green Teams” and Creation Care committees.
Hoegh holds a master of divinity degree from the Claremont School of Theology. The webinar is sponsored by Deep Green Faith.
Register (free) for this Nov. 30 Zoom webinar (7:30 p.m. EST; 4:30 p.m. PST). (Make a donation to Deep Green Faith).
DID YOU KNOW?
Here’s where we began: Marching across Vermont
“In August, 2006, Bill McKibben decided that it was past time to stop writing about global warming and start doing something about it.”
As filmmaker Jon Cannon tells it, Bill's book, The End of Nature, had just been published, so Bill and a friend, both Vermonters, decided to walk up to Burlington, planning to “sit on the steps of the federal building and get arrested.
“But when they got to Burlington they found out the police would just let them sit there forever and not haul them off to jail. They had to come up with a different plan.”
So they assembled a group of Middlebury College students and activists from around Vermont and began planning a five-day march.
“Those of you interested in the history of the climate movement might enjoy this movie documenting the march,” Bill writes in his blog. The march was “the precursor to 350.org” — and of course, Third Act, too.
Cannon's film, “Marching for Action on Climate Change: 5 Days Across Vermont with Bill McKibben and Friends,” tells the story of the march: hundreds of people winding down Vermont back roads and highways to the capital, listening to Bill, organizers and faith leaders — the Rev. Fred Small and Bernie Sanders among them — speaking about global warming and our need to commit to action.
“The one part of the global warming movement that's been missing is the movement,” Bill tells the crowd. “We’ve known about global warming for 20 years, and scientists know what the problem is and what to do…. The part we’ve failed to do is to summon the political will. It’s got to happen soon.” This was 2006. “This has been the most hopeful day in the last 20 years,” Bill tells the crowd assembled in Burlington as the march winds down.
The 55-minute video shows us where our history began, and how it felt. (Watch the 2:38-minute trailer.)
And if you enjoy Cannon's video, Bill adds, "donate a few dollars to him."
RESOURCES
Sustainability resources for the holidays
Thanksgiving’s almost here, and Christmas is right behind it. Here are some tips to help us enjoy a more sustainable holiday season. (Thanks to the United Methodist Church's Creation Justice Movement for these Creation Justice Tips.)
Adopt a “sustainability mindset”: Reusable dinnerware, cloth napkins, less meat/more plant-based foods, a plan to use leftovers, a kitchen set up to maximize compostables and minimize trash, even washable rags for cleanup instead of wasting trees with paper towels. Earth will be thankful you did.
If it’s your practice to take a hostess gift to a party or special dinner, choose Earth-friendly gifts that keep giving: a shampoo bar, a package of wooden clothespins for closing snack bags (instead of plastic “chip clips”), jams or other preserves from local farmers, a roll of bamboo toilet paper from Who Gives a Crap. Sustainable presents say thank you and spark good conversation.
During the holiday season, you may have extra food on hand. When people buy more than they can use, the result is food waste, which contributes to methane gas if not composted. Try these strategies: Put perishable food in a fridge drawer designated as “Eat Me First.” Freeze food before it needs to be trashed. Make great soups or smoothies. Share within your family and community.
Just after we have said thanks for all we have, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the blitz of holiday media tell us to buy more! Be thoughtful about how much you really need. Then check out Green America’s Directory of Sustainable Gifts, Holidays, and Special Events before you shop.
Before you race off to online or local clothing stores for warmer clothing or party attire, listen to Joshua Becker on how to re-think and minimize your clothing needs.
If you do need to shop, go with a friend or family member who has also watched Joshua’s 4-minute video. And don’t forget “used clothing” shops like Goodwill, which offer barely-used items, and even designer duds! You’ll be recycling clothing — helping the Earth — as well as saving lots of money.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Nov. 27: Welcome to Third Act: Let’s Get Started (Zoom), 7:30 p.m. EST (4:30 p.m. PST). Register here.
Dec. 4: Third Act Faith Meet and Greet (Zoom), 2 p.m. EST (11 a.m. PST). Register here.
Dec. 18: Welcome to Third Act: Let’s Get Started (Zoom), 7:30 p.m. EST (4:30 p.m. PST). Register here.
Send Us Your Photos and Stories
Third Acts of Faith is published the third week of each month. Please send us your news (up to 300 words) and photos by the 7th day of each month, and help keep our members updated on what you and your faith communities are doing to safeguard our democracy and beloved Earth. Send the submission to thirdactfaith@gmail.com
Correct Bill McKibben’s name.... misspelled in Here’s where we began piece! First line