Category: Pondering Peace

Hurricane Heartbreak during Election Season

The stories that emerged in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene were heartbreaking. The hurricane’s geographical spread was so large that probably most of us know people who were affected, putting a personal face on this weather tragedy.  We live in Kansas, but one of the young people who grew up in our church moved to Asheville, North Carolina not long ago.  Asheville is over 200 miles from the ocean and was understood by many to be a climate haven.  Yet floods basically washed away much of the town.  The mother of this young adult waited many anxious hours until her daughter found enough cell phone coverage to call and let her know she was okay.  Her second-floor apartment had survived, but they were without power, water, and groceries. Initially supplies had to be flown in by helicopter because all roads were impassable. With businesses flooded and destroyed, many were left without jobs.

Another dearly loved family of our church moved to Florida some time ago, started a small family business, and lived out their dream of being near the ocean and palm trees.  A few years later their parents left our church community to which they had belonged for over forty years to spend their last years with their daughter.  We recently heard that four feet of contaminated water submerged their entire home and all its belongings. Irreplaceable photos, family antiques and heirlooms, furniture, beds, clothes – everything went under the water that swept through their home, leaving a sticky mud. And then Hurricane Milton brought 19 more inches of rain to their coastal community.  So much lost and so much heartbreak.

But these families, having witnessed whole communities being washed away, may have considered themselves fortunate to be alive, as the death toll climbed. Others were not so lucky.  I read of one family who watched their elderly relative struggling to hang on for hours amidst the raging waters, crying for help until he finally disappeared.  Despite their efforts, they could not reach him, and the waters were too dangerous to enter. Even the emergency rescue workers could not get to him.  They are left with grief and the memory of his heartbreaking cries.

Right now, each of the many families affected continue to need immediate relief assistance so that they have housing, food, and the necessities of life.  They will need ongoing support as they attempt to rebuild their lives in the midst of communities that have also been largely destroyed.  As our hearts respond with compassion, we can support the many relief and faith-based organizations that are on the ground or contribute directly to those affected through GoFundMe opportunities. But in addition to this immediate assistance, we must consider what we need to do to reduce such devastation in the future.

Climate scientists indicate that the level of devastation that Hurricane Helene brought was due in part to the warming of our planet.  Oceans have absorbed over 90% of the additional heat caused by increased greenhouse gases. The surface waters of the Gulf of Mexico were much warmer than normal.   This warmth added energy and additional moisture to the storm system, and it rapidly grew from a category 1 to a category 4 hurricane, gaining wind speeds up to 140 miles an hour and dropping torrents of rain. This is one face of climate change, and such storms will increase in ferocity if we keep burning fossil fuels.

This past summer has had other somber warnings of what is to come, if we don’t seriously address climate change and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.  Phoenix, Arizona reported 100 degree temperatures for over 100 days in a row this summer, with sixty of those days reaching over 110 degrees.  2023 was the hottest year on record, but 2024 is likely to be even hotter.  I find it heartbreaking that we knowingly keep moving on an ever-destructive trajectory, when there is an alternative that would bring us a much better future.

We are also living through the intensity of an election season.  Polls indicate that many people consider the economy to be the top issue of concern. Actually, if you look at the numbers, the economy is doing okay.  While prices have a hard time ever going down in retail stores, the inflation rate now sits around 2.4%, which isn’t bad.  The stock market is humming along.  Unemployment is low at 4.1%.  However, all of these things will be dramatically impacted if climate change is not curtailed.  Consider what the economy and job situation is like in Asheville and other towns devastated by Hurricane Helene.  If you are concerned about the economy, you need to be concerned about climate change.

We are told by climate scientists that the 2020s are crucial years for setting the trajectory of our future.  In order to avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to lower our greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030, and then continue to half them for each of the succeeding decades.  Instead, carbon emissions have continued to rise.  Much is being done in developing clean energy and other climate solutions, but the progress is not enough.  The next 4-5 years are critical for bending the curve of emissions downward.

There is much that we can do individually to reduce our personal greenhouse gas emissions.  We can put solar on our rooftops, transition from gas burning to all electric appliances, and drive electric vehicles.  We can reduce our meat input toward a more plant-based diet, and reduce our emissions in other ways.  But all of this is not enough. We need clean energy infrastructure, policies, regulations, and laws at national, state, and local levels that will make it possible to more easily transition to a clean energy economy.  We need financing guaranteed by the government that will enable everyone to buy the clean energy machines they need, just like we can now access mortgage and car loans.  We need to stop subsidizing fossil fuel companies and refuse to give them any more leases to drill in public lands and waters.

We therefore must have leaders at all levels of government who take seriously climate change instead of denying it or scoffing at it. We need realistic, competent, and trustworthy leaders who seek public office in order to serve the common good of all.  We need leaders who care for the plight of those who are poor and most vulnerable – for they are the ones who are most hurt and unable to recover from the weather disasters of climate change.

In the very first pages of the Bible, we are told that humanity was given the special role of caring for all God has created on earth.  Since presidents and other national, state, and local leaders represent and act on behalf of those they lead, they especially carry a heavy responsibility to use the powers they have to care for God’s wondrous creation.

When in Genesis 1:28, God tells humanity to “fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish… birds… and all living things,” an initial surface reading may make it seem as if humans can dominate and do whatever they want with the earth.  And in fact, many people view the earth, its resources, and nonhuman inhabitants as given to humans to exploit and use for their own benefit.  What the Scriptural text actually means is that, having made humans in God’s own image, God is now sharing power and placing them in positions to carry out God’s dominion.  God is putting them in the role of being God’s own representatives on earth, those who help carry out God’s benevolent reign and care for all things.  The Hebrew word (rada) translated ‘have dominion’ is more appropriately understood as nurturing and care-giving, rather than as exploiting.  Similarly, the Hebrew word (kabas) translated ‘subdue’ refers to cultivating the earth to its full creational potential.

This fits with Genesis 2:15 where we read how God “took the earth creature and settled it in the garden of Eden to cultivate and care for the land” (The Inclusive Bible).  Or these words could also be translated to “serve it and preserve it” (NRSV).  If, according to the biblical narrative, this is the divine mandate to humanity as a whole, those who represent various segments of humanity as their leaders must use whatever powers they have to act in caring for the earth on humanity’s behalf.  And we who have the privilege of electing our leaders must make sure that we choose leaders who will do just that.

In this election season, I hope that many of us will make addressing climate change a top priority when voting for local, state, and national candidates. There are many important issues,  but climate action during the next four years is of crucial importance for the future of us all. As citizens, we have the privilege of expressing our compassion for those experiencing climate disasters through voting.  May we use this privilege wisely to choose leaders who will lead us well in these perilous times into a better future.  And with the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, may we make our vote “a kind of prayer for the kind of world we desire for ourselves and for our children.”

Rev. Ruth Rosell, Ph.D.
Director of the Buttry Center for Peace and Nonviolence
Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology Emerita
Central Seminary, Shawnee, KS

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.