Letter to the editor: Love thy neighbor

By Terry Hansen
Hales Corners WI
(November 6, 2021)

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” — His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The Climate Vulnerable Forum is a partnership of countries from places like Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean that are highly threatened by climate impacts. These nations often lack the resources to successfully adapt and rebuild in response to climate hazards. The 48 members, representing 1.2 billion people, are collectively responsible for only 5 percent of global emissions.

In a recent Tweet, they make the plea that they’re running out of time and call on world leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, currently taking place in Glasgow, Scotland, to act with the urgency this crisis demands.

In her book released this fall, Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, Katharine Hayhoe explains that she chose her profession because she is a Christian who is deeply concerned about the effects of climate change on food and water security and world poverty. Dr. Hayhoe believes that we must care for those who are suffering.

I agree. Let’s heed the words of climate journalist and activist Bill McKibben, who, in a 2013 guest sermon at Riverside Church in New York City, asserted: “Our goal must be to make real the Gospel, with its injunction to love our neighbors. Not to drown them, not to sicken them, not to make it impossible for them to grow crops. But to love them.”

Terry Hansen
Hales Corners, Wis. 53130

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