To the Editor:
This past week, President Donald Trump announced that he was withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement.
In his adamant assertion that American sovereignty is more important than any concerns about climate change, the President not only stood in defiance to near-unanimous scientific agreement about human impacts on climate change and its disastrous effects, but also took a stance in opposition to consistent commitments of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on the environment.
We believe that we are called to be stewards of the earth. When we work to protect creation, we are answering God’s call. In the face of deepening ecological crises caused by the earth’s warming, our call to act as earth’s caretakers takes on more meaning. Our efforts will curtail the shrinking of sacred waters, the endangerment of living creatures of every kind, and the vulnerability of our brothers and sisters in developing countries.
Presbyterian General Assemblies (national gatherings of representatives from across the United States and beyond) have been speaking on issues of environmental protection and justice since the late 1960s. Their witness ranges broadly from drinking water safety and acid rain, to protecting endangered species, to cleaning up dirty power plants, to climate change and U.S. energy policy.
To read more about the Presbyterian Church’s policies on environmental issues, click here.
The Rev. Steven W. Plank, Stated Clerk/Communicator
Editor’s note: The Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse is the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) regional association of 38 worshiping communities in the central New York counties of Cayuga, Onondaga, Madison and Oswego.
Dear Rev. Plank,
I am in hopes that you do not speak for all Presbyterians, for I can only agree to disagree with you and your statements. I agree that we are placed on the earth by God to be good stewards of what He has provided. I do not believe this is anything but a normal cycle of the Earth in which God has made it to be. Show we challenge ourselves to do better. Yes! Should the American people shoulder all of the blame, cost, and responsibility? No!