I’ve been meaning to post something about one of the newsletters from Mormon Land, a weekly news highlight of developments in and around the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the newsletter, it asks the question: What Church leaders should be addressing, but aren’t? The question was based on a post from the Zelophehad’s Daughters website. Of course, the issues that are getting the most attention relate to how the Church should be treating various groups of God’s children – and rightly so (for example, LGBTQ+). But if you were to create a word cloud of the terms found across the Bloggernaccle realm, General Conference addresses, or even Church magazines, I doubt many would include the words “climate crisis” or “ecological distaster,” two terms that are occurring right at the heart of headquarters of the faith.
I’m sure any reader of this blog is aware of my belief that there is a desperate need to bring awareness of climate change to Church membership – this includes its leadership. An enormous momentum would be gained on the fight against climate change if a few simple statements and actions by Church leadership were made. Of course, I’m sure readers are wondering what statements or actions leaders could make as it relates to fighting climate change. Here a few of my recommendations:
- Accept that climate change is anthropomorphic, and that the way many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (myself included) treat the climate is antithetical to living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Begin implementation of water-wise landscaping at Church-owned meeting houses and temples – worldwide
- Current building projects sites particularly in Utah are a prime opportunity to begin this.
- Simply employ stronger language in Church publications, magazines, and talks that the term stewardship of “earthly blessings” should be more than just conservation but should be interpreted as ensuring the survival and even the flourishing of the planet.
- The Church’s website has a decent page about the topic of conservation and environmentalism. Not only is not enough, but also the most recent quote attributed to the topic was from the year 2000.
How else could Church leaders better address climate change? Please share your ideas!
Wakenfield 