To carbon tax or not to carbon tax, that is the question. Anyone tuning into parliament time this week would have heard all sorts of views on the issue. And all sorts of accusations being hurled across the floor. In any case, it looks like climate change is happening and we should do something about it. Is carbon tax the way to go? Well, a climatologist and/or economist may be more qualified than a theologian to decide if this is the right way to go but the Bible has a few things to say on the subject.
Firstly, God did command us to look after the world (Genesis 1:28, 2:15). Have we done a good enough job to be able to look at future generations in the eye and say, “We did our best.”? Is there anything we can do to reduce our carbon footprint? Could we turn the air conditioning down? Walk/cycle instead of drive? Buying local instead of imports? We’re not saying here that we should all forsake the luxuries of the modern world and live as hermits, but that we be mindful of what resources we could be squandering. For those who want to know more, the Rule of St Benedict (which has been around for about 1500 years) has some interesting things to say about frugality (and other things too).
Secondly, will the carbon tax push the poor further into the margins of society? Will this mean mum and dad will have to take up more jobs to pay off that mortgage resulting in kids effectively being raised by the values of the idiot box? Or no heating in winter because of the electricity bill (how positively Dickensian!)? Now we are not saying here that we shouldn’t be paying more to protect the environment, in fact we should all do what we can. But it should not be at the cost of the poor. As Christians, we should do our best to protect the planet, but it is just as important (if not more) to consider the needs of the widows, orphans, and the marginalized among us (Deuteronomy 24:17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, James 1:27).
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