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The desecration of sacred places

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Staff

Tim Toben

They stood in a cold rain outside the coal plant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Thirty-five students and community protesters, listening to NASA climate scientist James Hansen acknowledge that our consumption of fossil fuels is a case of “intergenerational injustice.” It was 22 years ago in 1988, before most of these students were born, when Hansen first testified before Congress that emissions from burning coal and oil were creating a greenhouse effect that was altering our climate and could lead to catastrophic consequences for all species.

Commenters responded to reports of the student protest on Raleigh’s newsobserver.com: “James Hansen is an eco terrorist. He should be ashamed of himself spreading this crap,” wrote one.

“It is funny to see all of these brainwashed greenies standing outside, bundled to the hilt, and getting a taste of ‘warming,’” wrote another.

Indeed, the winter cold snap affecting the East Coast, in particular our nation’s capital, seems to have taken the heat off Washington to enact comprehensive climate and energy legislation. Meanwhile, 95 percent of all glaciers around the world continue to melt.

I served on the president’s National Finance Committee from North Carolina. He has no more ardent supporter, but I was disappointed in his state of the union address, when he prefaced his remarks on climate change with, “I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change,” followed by a snicker when the naysayers applauded. He left the impression that there was still some doubt about the science. But this is 2010, not 1988, and there remains no doubt among the broad scientific community.

So why have we not acted in 22 years? Why is global warming ranked 21st amongst public priorities for 2010 by the Pew Research Center? As my career has turned towards energy policy, I wrestle with that question. Last night, I heard the answer on YouTube. The late author Thomas Berry said: “The reason that the destruction continues around the planet is because we have forgotten the sacred dimension of nature.” Could it be that simple?

From the summer of 1999 until the spring of 2001, the Taliban threatened to destroy the giant Buddhas of Bamyan in Central Afghanistan. The world was outraged. Ambassadors from the 54 member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries that officially recognized the Taliban government, joined the protest to spare these “sacred places.” In March, 2001, Mullah Mohammmad Omar ordered the statues destroyed. Anti-aircraft guns, artillery and dynamite reduced the sixth-century monuments to rubble. The U.S. used that act of “barbarism” to meld the Taliban to al-Qaeda and coalesce international forces against the Afghan regime.

What if the oceans were considered sacred places, rather than “resources”? What if the Arctic was considered a sacred place, rather than a resource? What if the Appalachian Mountains were considered a sacred place, rather than a resource? Would we not likewise react with outrage and gather the ambassadors of the nations together to find an alternative to their destruction? The Buddhas of Bamyan took 250 years to carve. Nature’s sacred places, which provide our species and all others with fresh air, fresh water and the basis for healthy food systems, took 4.5 billion years to create. Those ecosystems are also our places of inspiration and meditation, not to mention the homes to millions of species that preceded us on this planet. By increasing our appetite for coal and oil, we are destroying many of those sacred places in less time than it took to build the Buddhas of Bamyan.

The mathematician Brian Swimme writes that 30 years from now, the word “resource” will be the “r-word,” just as today we have the “n-word.” It is with the same disregard for the sacredness of the underlying beings that we commit what Hansen calls “intergenerational injustice.” It is time for Congress to act on comprehensive climate and energy legislation, not to satisfy the thousands of lobbyists that position themselves to profit, but to respond to those students standing outside the coal plant at UNC and the generation they represent. It is time to give them and their children hope that they may still inhabit a world of wonder and beauty and sacred spaces, like the one we inherited.

Tim Toben is chairman of the N.C. Energy Policy Council.

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