News release from Presbyterian Hunger Program and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation

Birmingham, AL, during the 217^th General Assembly


While overture debates can get hot, it is even hotter outside. As we fan ourselves, find shade, or retreat into air conditioning, global warming uncomfortably impacts people worldwide, says Christi Boyd, PC(USA) mission coworker in Cameroon. Boyd grew up in the Netherlands, where at the time her father was a leading figure in wind energy experimentation. As she works with communities negatively impacted by the Chad-Cameroon Oil and Pipeline Project, she knows that our choice of fuel in the United States matters around the world.

At this GA, as in most of our hometowns, we are powered by the burning of fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The effects of global warming—hotter temperatures, more frequent and intense floods and droughts, and the increase of disease-carrying pests—impact our global brothers and sisters in Christ.

"The current pressures on imported oil ultimately affect the poorest communities I work with," says Boyd. "Our Cameroonian brothers and sisters in Christ are impacted by the world’s thirst for oil. Developing renewable sources of energy is important everywhere, but especially in the U.S. where we consume so much."

Boyd rejoices in the fact that this General Assembly is also powered by the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs). The Presbyterian Hunger, Peacemaking and Environmental Justice programs and Presbyterians for Restoring Creation partnered with NativeEnergy for this GA to purchase enough RECs to "offset" the 168 tons of carbon dioxide being produced by the Convention Center and our hotels this week. This investment in renewable energy will help to build a wind farm on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and the Dovan family dairy farm’s methane project in Pennsylvania.

Developing renewable sources of energy is important everywhere. In countries like Cameroon, where gas prices are more than 30% higher than in the States, the population sighs with each increase in fuel prices. In urban areas, most people rely on taxis to get to jobs and schools, while the rural farmers pay more to get their produce from their fields to markets. For many the cost of living is becoming unbearable.

Potential new renewable energy sources in the form of vegetable oils may for them be a way out since rural farmers can grow and process the raw materials themselves. Boyd says, "Investing in local projects—be they wind farms, methane projects, or possible new sources such as palm oil—is a beacon of hope for our and future generations."