Pirate's Cove

It’s the key word, you know, and utterly incompatible with the Cult of Climastrology

The key word missing from the climate movement

My son recently celebrated his third birthday. That day I was in awe of the sheer miracle of him — his busy body, his yammering mouth, his effervescent joy. It reminded me of our first days with him, which were marked by sleep deprivation, frayed nerves, overwhelming anxiety and joy — so much joy.

Sounds great. But, this is the climate cult, so, doom

And those memories have me thinking about climate change. As a father, Christian pastor and full-time climate organizer, climate change is rarely far from my mind. But now that President Joe Biden has made it the centerpiece of his legacy-defining American Jobs Plan — with its investment in clean energy, its overhaul of our outdated energy grid, its commitment to clean transportation, and its promise of millions of family-sustaining jobs — it’s bound to be top of mind for many Americans for some time to come.

Huh what? Thinking about the bday party makes the writer, Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, think about ‘climate change’? Should probably resign as a Christian pastor, as he’s not giving his heart to Jesus, and, instead, being a full time member of the climate cult.

Still, that gives me pause.

After all, the phrase “climate change” elicits a laundry list of emotions for most of us: anger, dread, guilt and grief, among them. A growing body of research is revealing the toll climate grief is taking on our collective mental health, and insomnia and other mental health concerns related to climate-induced anxiety have been documented across 25 countries. Absent from most of our climate-related emotional inventory is delight, contentedness or joy.

We need to change that.

When coming face to face with the gravity of climate change, darker emotions are natural. What else is there to feel but anxious about living through the planet’s sixth mass extinction? What else can I feel but dread as homes are lapped by rising tides, livelihoods are crumbled to ash and carried away on Santa Ana winds, and children are poisoned by noxious air and toxic water?

But, that is what the cult is about: doomsaying. All they do is tell us scary prognostications and turn normal events into fables of doom. There’s nary anything that is positive for them.

What else can I feel but shame as the land God has commanded me to hold in trust for my children and grandchildren is desecrated? What else is there to feel but guilt at my own ignorance and complicity, and rage at the behemoth vested interests who have worked so hard to thwart my efforts at every turn? (snip)

For sustained, long-term action — the kind needed to face down the threat of climate change — we need more than anger. Every one of us needs a sense of agency. We need a community of belonging. We need hope that our actions can make a difference. We need joy.

This pastor has chosen to sublimate his Christian beliefs to the climate cult, and should know that it has nothing to do with joy.

But joy can be a hard sell. In the climate movement, cynicism and a simmering rage are often worn as a badge of honor. They are coping mechanisms against the daily trauma of watching the beautiful, wondrous world die a little more each day — self-medication from, as author and naturalist Aldo Leopold put it, “liv(ing) alone in a world of wounds.” I’m certainly guilty as charged. Joy can feel extravagant, like the purview of the privileged and the ignorant alone.

You know what would give me joy? If these climate cultists would stop attempting to force everyone else to have their lives changed and controlled by Government. If they’d mind their own business. If they care so much, they can practice what they preach, and leave the rest of us alone. I’m pretty sure the Bible and the teaching’s of Jesus do not say that people should be forced to be Christians: the climate cult does require that Others be forced to give up their money and freedom to Government.