If I Don't Think Climate Change Is An Emergency, Am I A Climate Denier?

Season 2, Episode 202,   Sep 12, 2019, 09:20 AM

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Feeling the side effects of chemo-therapy, Shayna has to miss today’s show, so Chris flies solo in a show that asks the essential question: If you don’t think that climate change is an emergency, does that make you a climate denier? 

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Here are timecodes to help you navigate through today’s show:

00:55     Chris resets the premise of What In God’s Name. In the way that there exists a slow food movement, we are part of the slow news movement. Also, we polish the lenses of theology and philosophy to offer a useful and mostly neglected perspective.

03:12     We encourage you to offer your thoughts on our Facebook page (@whatingods), responding to the question: If you don’t think that climate change is an emergency, are you a climate denier? This question arises as 350.org and other groups prepare for the September 20-27 Climate Strike.

05:20     Can calling climate change an “emergency” actually inhibit action rather than motivate action?

06:19     What constitutes an emergency? Is the example of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving movement analogous to what is needed to address climate change?

08:22     Does this age of anxiety make everything feel like an emergency? 

08:30     If declaring an emergency is not a spur to act, what could other motivations be? What if, in addition to applying the kinds of pressure that are needed in confronting entrenched fossil fuel economic power, we could also appeal to people’s loves?