by Aida Haddad
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I was on my knees sifting through beetroots as their leaves glistened with early morning dew and their emergent fruit waited to be picked. Beads of sweat were forming on my back, and hot, angry tears streamed down my face. It was unseasonably warm for October; I was incredibly sad in the wake of my grandfather’s death. I had been at the farm a few months now, spending my morning harvest time praying for the improvement of my grandfather’s health and my afternoons driving home to memories of our time together in Lebanon that past summer. I wondered if they were the last moments I would ever have with him - I had just started getting to know him as Dr. Fuad Haddad, neurosurgeon & humanitarian. “God, do you know what this will do to my grandma? And why are you taking away my hero?”

As I placed the beets in my basket and walked them to the store, I knew this anger was only the beginning of my grieving; I had read on this topic in practical theology courses during my time at seminary, and I had preached on the apostles’ reactions to Jesus’ death. The grieving process ran the gamut of emotions from denial to anger to depression to acceptance. Only after Jesus’ resurrection did they express hope. But Jeddo (“grandpa” in Arabic) was not coming back.

Before Jeddo died, I twice faced the choice to become a medical doctor: the choice to take up a legacy passed from Jeddo to my father, and from my father to me. During my undergraduate career, I had worked towards medical school, but junior year I became frustrated, believing medicine to be monolithic and not seeing my place within it. I instead pursued environmental advocacy and pastoral ministry, leading me to seminary. There, I befriended third-career seminarians; and, as they shared their stories, I noticed variations of a similar theme. These future pastors had spent multiple careers prior to seminary believing the pastorate excluded them from this vocation. They eventually realized their understanding of the pastorate had been too narrow, and I was confronted with the similar question of whether my earlier view of medicine was incomplete. I wondered: what if I needed to reassess my role in medicine like these seminarians did with their role in the pastorate? The answer to this question found me during my final year of seminary, beginning on that warm October morning.

After I dropped off the basket of beets in the store, I returned to the garden, angry that this morning was the beginning of a lifetime of mornings without Jeddo. That anger galvanized me to honor him through my grieving, and unbeknownst to me at the time, I would strive to continue honoring him through future work in the medical field. As morning dews became frosts, I continued to say goodbye to my jeddo, watching my beautiful beetroots wither as winter beckoned their rest. The following spring, when we prepared seed blocks in the greenhouse, I allowed some sentiment of new life to revive me through the cracks of my broken heart. Jeddo was never coming back as I knew him, but I could feel him in my increasing motivation to live into our family’s legacy in the medical field.

With this new momentum, I renewed my pursuit of medicine with my graduate thesis, in which I investigated the topics of addiction, autonomy, and the history of racialized U.S. drug legislation. By exploring the physiological, philosophical, and political roots of addiction, I dismantled my preconceived idea of what a medical career might look like. I realized I could be a healthcare provider as well as an advocate and counselor. And with this thesis in my toolbox, I graduated from seminary and finished my premedical coursework, eventually shadowing doctors in rural North Carolina and urban Ecuador. Both clinics continued to build my newfound understanding of my potential as a doctor. In rural North Carolina, I met migrant workers and poor whites, many uninsured, suffering from layered chronic conditions rooted in socioeconomic oppression. In urban Ecuador, I conversed with teen patients on their second or third pregnancies due to inaccessible healthcare fostered by a culture of machismo. These shadowing experiences were the final focusing events that have brought me here.

I began with a scientific mind for medicine in college, and during seminary I focused on reconciling aspects of Christian thought with my own moral philosophy. This wrestling strengthened my propensity towards social engagement in the clinical setting. In moving from grieving Jeddo’s death to remembering his life, I feel called to carry this type of engagement and its accompanying tensions into my own medical career as Jeddo did in war-torn Lebanon.

The Presbyterian academy taught me to investigate oppression and poor health outcomes in the US and abroad, but my grandfather’s life and death required me to create the foundation of Christian hope on which I stand: there is a season for everything - dew and frost, life and death, listening and implementing. With this, I will be the doctor who can readily transition from evidence-based medicine to bedside care and back, treating the whole patient, considering her social position, and ultimately becoming part of systemic change in medicine.

As a Christian environmentalist, joining the Fossil Free PCUSA witness to fossil fuel divestment is directly tied to this dream. I walk for our Biblical responsibility to engage science in mitigating climate change and I walk for my future patients who have been further marginalized in its wake. And as I walk, I’ll be praying with my feet.

Aida Haddad is an Indiana native, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, and will pursue an M.D. this fall. She is participating in the PCUSA Walk for a Fossil Free World.

,by Laurie Fisher

This blog post is in response to author Steven Webb  of ACSWP, along with MRTI staff, in Unbound, May 29, 2018.

I do appreciate MRTI’s efforts in corporate engagement on a variety of issues.  We are a church, a community of faith which believes our investments should reflect our values.
 
Missing in this article, however, was any sense of remorse that as a community of faith we are profiting from fossil fuels that are harming the earth; missing any sense of remorse that right now the poor, the marginalized, millions around the world are suffering tremendously from the reality of climate change. 
 
MRTI joined Climate Action 100+ to engage as shareholders.  But companies such as ExxonMobil really are not interested in changing their business plans.  In its 10-K report to the SEC released earlier this year, EM continues to project increase in demand for its products.  ExxonMobil is not alone, either, in paying to fund disinformation campaigns, and contributing to lawmakers who will do their bidding. Though they say they support the Paris Accords, the company is still lobbying for policies that would lead to a 3 to 4 degree Celsius warming.
 
Also concerning in MRTI’s approach is the talk of “5 years”.  We don’t have 5 years.  It is true that it takes time to “turn this big ship around”.  That is why action is required now.  The PCUSA can divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy, and MRTI can keep shares worth $200K with each company and continue to urge ExxonMobil and others to change their business plans.  Contrary to what MRTI states, now is the time to divest.  The fossil fuel industry is facing increasing threats from potentially costly litigation from climate change impacts and international policies that could limit carbon emissions. 
 
Most importantly, by divesting, we as the PCUSA will take the moral stand that we no longer will profit from the destruction of lives and of creation.  We are a community of faith, first and foremost.

We the undersigned stand in unity with Fossil Free PC(USA) in calling on the denomination to divest fully from fossil fuel industries within our Presbyterian holdings.

Scripture calls on humanity to care for God’s creation. We are commanded to “keep,” that is, to protect and preserve, God’s garden (Gen 2:15). We are called to bear God’s image by exercising “dominion” in ways that are salutary and sustaining rather than exploitative and destructive (Gen 1:26-28; cf. Ezek 34:4). But we continue to fail. Through shortsightedness and greed, we are eroding the soil, decimating the forests, polluting oceans and rivers, destroying mountains, and pushing many of God’s creatures to extinction. Ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising as we continue to pursue an economy based on extraction and ever-growing consumption. One tragic result is the increased suffering and death of our most vulnerable neighbors around the globe, those who are the least responsible for this planetary-wide crisis. The cry of the earth accompanies the cries of the poor. By continuing our extraction and burning of fossil fuels, we are failing to fulfill the second greatest commandment (Matt 22:39; Lev 19:18) as much as we are failing to love God by honoring and caring for God’s creation.

As pastors and theologians of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we lift our voices on behalf of a ravaged and depleted earth. It is time to cry out, “Enough!” We can no longer inherit wealth at the hands of the fossil fuel industry while losing our inheritance in creation. We can no longer profit at the expense of the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land we cultivate and share with God’s wild creatures (Gen 1:29-30). Instead, we call on the church to follow God’s lead in “making all things new” (Rev 21:5). We call on the church to remove its investments from an industry that continues to destroy rather than preserve and renew that which gives us life. We consider divestment to be both a faithful response to God’s call and an effective response to signal the church’s stance on behalf of creation’s healing.

We, therefore, concur with Hudson River Presbytery’s overture on the Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation to seek immediate divestment of our portfolios from fossil fuel industries. We also urge, in turn, that these funds be moved into a renewable-energy portfolio.

Signed,
Rev. Dr. Laurie Garrett-Cobbina, San Francisco Theological Seminary*
Wendy Farley, San Francisco Theological Seminary
William Brown, Columbia Theological Seminary
Anna Case-Winters, McCormick Seminary
Dawn DeVries, Union Presbyterian Seminary (faculty)
John Carroll, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Margaret Aymer, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Leanna K. Fuller, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Christine Roy Yoder, Columbia Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Christine J. Hong, Columbia Theological Seminary
William Yoo, Columbia Seminary
Martha Moore-Keish, Columbia Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Tim Hartman, Columbia Theological Seminary
Jacob D Myers, Columbia Theological Seminary
E. Elizabeth Johnson, Columbia Theological Seminary
Anna Carter Florence, Columbia Theological Seminary
C. Clifton Black, Princeton Theological Seminary
Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo, Tampa Presbytery, GreenFaith
Matilde Moros, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University
Rev. Dr. Jennifer R. Ayres, Candler School of Theology, Emory University
Mark Smith, Princeton Theological Seminary
Rva. Migdaleder Mazuera, PCUSA - Milwaukee Presbytery
E. Carson Brisson, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Rev. Dr. Rodney S. Sadler,Jr., Union Presbyterian Seminary
Paul Galbreath, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Samuel E. Balentine, Union Presbyterian Seminary
John Bowlin, Princeton Theological Seminary
Patricia K. Tull, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
Helen Blier, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Reverend Dr. Joanne Lindstrom, McCormick Theological Seminary
Hunter Farrell, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Ken Sawyer, McCormick Theological Seminary
Robert C. Dykstra, Princeton Theological Seminary

*institution included for identification purposes only.

1. The science is clear. Climate change is happening faster than originally scientists predicted, with consequences which are increasingly catastrophic for our planet and all people..
 
2. The need to act is urgent to keep global warming under 2 degrees centigrade. The longer we wait the harder it will be to roll back emissions..
 
3. As a first stepThe PCUSA is leader in climate change education, denominational policies and worship resources. As a next step, the  PCUSA should take the moral and prophetic step to Divest Now.
 
4. We are blessed that commissioners at GA will consider various responses to climate change.  Multiple overtures advocate for other climate change actions. Together they are a powerful response. We support all of these recommendations: 

• A carbon fee and dividend;
• Cutting carbon emissions by living carbon neutral lives, as past GA’s have recommended;
• AND CATEGORICAL DIVESTMENT - The PC(USA) has already categorically divested from the weapons, tobacco, gambling, and alcohol industries.

 
The act of the church divesting is critical to living out our faith, because all the good actions and writings of our denomination to respond to climate change are for naught if we continue to fund the industry that is harming God’s creation. 

It rained and poured for 40 days and nights on Noah. The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert. Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the wilderness. When the number forty appears in scripture, someone is usually being tested.
 
When facing climate change and issues of environmental conservation and justice work, there are two tests going on. The first is taking care of the earth, which we have collectively not gotten a passing grade on for some time now. The second test is what we’re going to do about it.
 
As of this week, this week of Earth Day, Earth Day, we joyfully and gratefully announce that 40 presbyteries have voted to support Overture 08-01 on Directing the Board of Pensions and PCUSA Foundation to Divest from Fossil Fuel and Actively Invest in Securities that Focus on Renewable Energy. See the list of forty presbyteries.
 
Forty. Several are part of the Synod of the Northeast, which has already decided to divest from fossil fuels as a council. Quite a few of the concurring presbyteries are in coastal regions, facing new threats of potential offshore drilling. Some are in the middle of the United States, with pipelines passing through with great risk, connecting their regions to bigger port cities. A number of these presbyteries are actually in historic fossil fuel extraction regions, too.
 
No matter where these presbyteries are, we are all complicit in harming the planet. However, we can also hopefully look to the future and do all we can to serve and preserve the earth. This Earth Day, people are celebrating canvas bags, reusable straws, walking and biking, high efficiency appliances, hybrid vehicles, composting, eating local, and recycling among other ways of reducing the human impact on the planet. We are grateful to these forty presbyteries that have voted in favor of adding divestment—and reinvestment in renewable energies—to the many ways we are already trying to care for creation!

by Robin Blakeman

Although held in early spring for the past two years, I would describe this event as a “gathering time”.

This is a Biblical Beatitude reference, in the sense that everyone who has attended for the past two years had, at some point in time, the seed of Creation Care values planted within them. This may have happened from faith based teachings, or could have happened when an ancestor took the time to teach the value of the natural world’s gifts, or from childhood experiences that instilled these kind of values. All attendees seemed to have a story of this kind of heritage which lead them to the gathering of this conference – held in the beautiful surroundings of Pipestem State Park. People came, despite lingering winter weather predictions, from almost all states in the Appalachian region, plus some outlying areas. Approximately 90 attended the conference, from all over West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and further away places like the DC area. There was a spiritual energy in the room which could preclude a revival; at least, I hope so.

Members of the Friday afternoon keynote panel gave the following quietly revolutionary statements (paraphrased from my notes):

“We [Christians] have the tools to show others that we are bound up in Creation… Creation can do quite well without us. Yet, God yearns for our companionship. People of faith can frame the relationship with Earth as not dominion over, but partnership/relationship with… and this framing can lead to governments protecting people over profits” – Rev. Dr. Jennifer Copeland, North Carolina

“We need to get beyond the perceived divide between working class and the educated – or elite – class in Appalachia” – Ms. Jessica Lilly, West Virginia

“We are now exiles in Babylon; memories of our glory days, (e.g. memories of “Jerusalem” and/or fossil fuel boom times), prevent us from making our way out of the slavery, (e.g. dependence on an oppressive mono-economic system, based on fossil fuel extraction), we are trapped in.” – Pastor Harold “Jake” Jacobson, Pennsylvania

The hope of this gathering is that all who were present will return to their communities to plant more seeds, increasing connections (or harvest) in future years. The social justice minded folk who attended this conference have a lot to offer our Appalachian communities, most of which are dealing with economic transitions, drug abuse, poverty, and environmental justice issues. The Poor Peoples Campaign drew quite a bit of discussion and a leader of that campaign, Rev. Barber, spoke in Kentucky and West Virginia during the week after the conference.  Another discussion involved people who were highly concerned about the effects of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development (UOGD) in the Ohio River watershed. A working group to develop some means of community education and outreach to faith communities may soon be focusing on that topic, as our region seems to be ground zero for a new wave of fracking and petro-chemical infrastructure build up.

There were also discussions centered on responses to the opioid epidemic, sustainable climate solutions, and constructing a uniquely Appalachian theology.  As we gathered together in the context of 2018, we were also reminded of those who gathered before us, in similar rooms for foundational gatherings of the Coalition on Religion in Appalachia, (CORA), and the Appalachian Ministries Educational Resource Consortium (AMERC).
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This year’s State of Appalachia conference was a wonderful opportunity to network across state lines, with people in similar yet unique communities across the region. It is possible that future years will bring state specific gatherings of this type. It was a renewing and invigorating time for all; let’s hope that energy multiplies and spreads across our region like Dandelion seeds in the spring time.

by Sue Smith

“Among the resolutions was one calling on ExxonMobil to report how it would work toward a global target of keeping temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius or less.”
It’s that time again. A fossil fuel divestment overture is coming to the PCUSA General Assembly this summer, and MRTI is blowing smoke in our eyes with disinformation. The resolution is not about working toward a target, it is about an annual assessment of the long-term impacts of global climate change policies to ExxonMobil’s own business.
ExxonMobil’s assessment? Current reserves will be required to meet energy requirements and production will remain economically viable. The solution to reducing greenhouse gases will be met by expanding the supply of natural gas.
Continued production of oil will do nothing to lessen the impact of climate change; fracking for natural gas will continue to pollute the land and the water. Who gets impacted? Primarily communities of color, indigenous communities, and poor white communities.
Why should the church care? “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40). The Gospel of Jesus Christ says when we harm communities of color, indigenous communities, and poor white communities, we harm Jesus.
The letter from Exxon’s Chairman ends, “We will continue to build long-term value for our shareholders and stakeholders.” MRTI represents the church as shareholder. ExxonMobil is looking after its shareholders by harming those the church is called to care for. We have to ask ourselves, on this issue, do we want to be the church of the shareholder, or the church that stands with and walks alongside the least of these?
Let’s not let smoke get in our eyes.

by Robin Blakeman

There are some incredible ironies in local and national news lately. The timing of the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s report, “Engagement is Working,” was certainly one. This arrived in my inbox on the same day as all 55 West Virginia county school systems closed down – due to a West Virginiateachers’ strike, and also on the same day as the Ohio River began flooding some communities in WV and Ohio. These three events may not seem related to an outsider, but let me share my “insider” lens. The WV teachers’ strike was largely one facilitated by our braggadocious Coal Baron Governor, Jim Justice, who proclaimed in his State of the State address that WV was in great shape financially, thanks largely to our friends in the oil and gas  industries.
West Virginia teachers, therefore, chose to believe that our Governor and legislators could do better than a meager 2% raise, and they courageously engaged in a state-wide work stoppage. Among many outrageous and insulting things that have happened, one stands out as instructive here: a bill had been proposed in our state Senate which would fully fund public employee benefit packages, if severance taxes on oil and gas were raised a small amount. This bill made so much sense to teachers that many lobbied for it, but sadly the bill has been tabled in the West Virginia Senate. Why no discussion or vote? Oil and gas industry moguls Would. Not. Allow. It.
It is becoming increasingly clear to West Virginians who runs our government, and it’s not our elected leaders. It is industry leaders who pay large sums into campaign coffers; it is those who want to drill and mine every last gallon of oil, ton of coal and cubic meter of gas in our state. The gas industry is taking plays out of the coal industry’s playbook in this regard, and I do believe we are seeing this trend spread out on a national basis via our current EPA director and others. West Virginia is the nation’s resource colony, and we know how it goes…
So, from my perspective in West Virginia, I have to ask those on the MRTI Board: when are you going to get to the boardrooms of ALL the oil and gas companies who have invaded West Virginia and the surrounding region? When are you going to stop them from building more and more well pads, compressor stations and pipelines – all of which are rapidly turning our wild and wonderful mountains into polluted industrial zones – even our state and national forests. When are you going to deal yourself out of this gambling game you are playing with our children’s future? Methane emissions from the increased fracking in our region will prevent us from coming anywhere close to Paris Climate Goals. An “assessment” document of how to deal with those goals really doesn’t cut it.
If oil and gas corporate moguls have their way in our region, there will soon be a new cancer ally in the Ohio River Valleys – from something called the Appalachian Storage Hub. If this project comes to pass, there will be 5-6 cracker plants in the Upper and Lower Ohio River Valleys, multiple pipelines with a system of underground caverns storing highly volatile liquefied gas products – most of which will be used in plastics manufacturing. Can shareholder negotiation stop that? If so, please get on it soon, before the Ohio River - tap water source for 5 million people - is annihilated.
I’m writing these words as the mighty Ohio River floods Louisville, Cincinnati, and surrounding areas to dangerous levels. Thus, I’m pondering how long before we humans live up to our part of the Covenant agreement in Genesis 9 – that sacred Covenant God established with Noah and his descendants and with all of Creation?  I hope we live to see the day when PCUSA fully divests from Fossil Fuel entities, no longer sharing in the tainted profits, corruption and pollution associated with the Fossil Fuel industry. I hope, instead, that PCUSA will divert those funds into a burgeoning renewable energy industry. I hope we live through the flood to witness the Rainbow.
Rev. Robin Blakeman is a 8th generation West Virginia resident, Minister Member at Large, West Virginia Presbytery, WV Presbytery Stewardship of Creation Ministry Team Leader, WV Interfaith Power and Light Steering Committee Member, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition Project Coordinator

For a snapshot of FF environmental exploitation in Greene County, PA (features an interview with one of our allies on Appalachian Storage Hub opposition): https://www.refinery29.com/2018/02/187763/environmental-activism-pennsylvania-center-for-coalfield-justice
LTE in today's Huntington, WV Herald Dispatch regarding the legislative issues I wrote about: http://www.herald-dispatch.com/opinion/voice-of-the-people/article_92788d32-c8f5-5fab-b88b-8fa209e46227.html
Most recent news on WV Teacher's strike: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/education/wv-school-employee-strike-to-continue-across-state/article_d824f764-2c6f-51ac-bf00-68f1873ca2a6.html

By Colleen Earp

O Christ,
Lamb of God, Savior of the world,
We praise your good and holy name.
Our hope is in you, Lord.
O Christ,
Our resurrection and our life,
We give thanks for your mercy and grace.
Our hope is in you, Lord.
O Christ,
One who is, who was, who is to come,
Forgive us for the harm we have caused to God’s creation.
Our hope is in you, Lord.
O Christ,
Source of living waters and eternal life,
Strengthen us, that we might care for our neighbors downstream.
Our hope is in you, Lord.
O Christ,
Morning star and rising sun,
Help us to remember future generations when we remember you.
Our hope is in you, Lord.
O Christ,
Advocate and reconciler,
Inspire us to love our enemies and neighbors, and all the earth.
Our hope is in you.
Save us, O Lord, and grant us peace.
Amen.
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