The Day After Tomorrow

sermon for NIUU November 4, 2018

Short term predictions are difficult at best, but our collective good will can bring about hope and good results.

I want to begin today with a quote
   from the late, great American
      unintentional comedian, Yogi Berra:

"It's tough to make predictions,
             especially about the future."

Moving right along, 
  a movie from 2004
     had the same title as today's sermon:
            The Day After Tomorrow.

In that movie,
    one possible scenario
      resulting from climate change
         was considered carefully.

We will talk about that scenario a little bit,
   and we will consider
        how it has and has not taken place.

Another way the title of today's sermon is timely
    is obviously the midterm election
        which is supposed to conclude
             the day after tomorrow.

I'm saying it's supposed to conclude then
   because the election is consequential
      and because many of the races are close,
          some less than a single percentage point
                 in the polls.

In any case,
  when we speak of the day after tomorrow,
     we are looking at the future
        in the short term.

It can be easier to try to guess what will happen
    in the long term
        than in the short term.

If we look carefully at a lot of the current trend lines,
     the future appears to be somewhat bleak
          in the short term.

At the same time, as I've told you before,
           I'm an incurable optimist.

So I'm working to reconcile those two realities
    in my own life: optimism and bleak outlook.

Thinking about it first in terms of climate change,
    I do believe that there are some good possibilities
         still available to us.

After all, many of the horrible possibilities
    detailed in the movie, The Day After Tomorrow,
         have not taken place.

Our danger lies mostly
    in some of the things that have taken place.

The movie opened with a tremendous splintering
    of the Larsen B Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

It was not nearly as dramatic in the Hollywood sense
   but just such a splintering has taken place
       in several locations on the Larsen Ice Shelves
           quite recently.

Also, as we know, Spring Tides,
    the highest of the high tides,
        are beginning to flood island and coastal areas,
             even some great cities like Venice and Miami,
                   almost every time they occur.

Horrible, recent floods in Venice only serve
    to emphasize my point
        about the ways our Mother the Earth
              is being affected by us.

One of the central premises of the movie
     was the abrupt shift in the
          North Atlantic Current,
                the very source of our mild climate
                     in the Northern Hemisphere.

The shift is taking place,
     though again, not nearly as dramatically
           as it was portrayed in the movie.

Storms are becoming stronger
      and more threatening.

We keep hearing about hundred year
    and five hundred year
        weather events
             happening frequently.

At this point in time,
  it seems that all we really have left is mitigation.

That is,
   we can work together
       to compensate for some of the worst effects
           of global climate change.

Levees can be built or strengthened.

Seawalls can be treated likewise,
    although those can be costly.

We can avoid new construction
     in places where flooding has already happened
         and is likely to happen again soon.

We would all have to work together
    to make these things happen,
       and whether we will achieve the goal
           of true cooperation
              when agreement on the facts
                   is still so difficult
                      remains an open question.

How and whether we will care for our Mother,
     the Earth, upon whom we all depend for life itself,
          remains to be seen.

Not to care for her or about her
     is dangerous to the survival of our species,
            never more so than at this present time.

One of the important answers
   to the dangers facing us all
        and whether and how
            we can work together to mitigate the dangers

                appears to be

the elections that will take place
     the day after tomorrow.

There are many other issues that will be affected
    by those elections,
       and it is here that the rubber meets the road,
           so to speak,
               about our spirituality.

Remember that our spirituality is, first and foremost,
    our breathing,
        and we can all take a deep, calming breath
            about the elections.

We do not
     and we cannot
          know the outcome.

We do know the trend lines
    as well as our hopes
        and our fears.

Believe it or not,
    those hopes and fears are not the same
           for all of us.

Ideology is often based upon fear.

For example,
   fear of the consequences of climate change
       can lead us to an ideology
            that emphasizes the cooperation
                 which we will have to have
                      in order for many of us to survive
                          some of those very consequences.

It is a realistic fear.

There is also fear of rapid cultural change.

Many people who have been privileged
    are feeling their privileges slipping away
        as many other humans are aspiring
            to achieve a better life
                for themselves and their families.

In reality, not all privileges are a zero sum game.

It would conceiveably be possible to share resources
     in effective ways
           that would enable many more people
                 to achieve economic security.

The reality is that grinding poverty 
     is in decline all over the world.

What is lacking is the political will
     to expand the opportunities
         for a more fulfilling life.

In other words, a lot of people
    simply do not care what happens
        to others who are very different from
            or far away from themselves.

It will take a change of heart.

Such a change is possible,
    but the current political climate
        does not seem to be conducive to it.

Yet our spirituality depends
    on those changes of heart.

To be blunt about it,
     for any of us to keep breathing
         the refreshing air provided by our Mother Earth
             we will all have to begin to care more
                  for her
                      and for the other creatures
                            that share the life she provides.

It is a hypothesis of modern science,
    by no means universally accepted,
         that the Earth Herself
             is a living organism.

Living creatures interact with non-living matter
   to produce a system that lives and breathes
       in and of itself.

You can well imagine what I think of that hypothesis,
     known as the Gaia hypothesis,
          named for the ancient Goddess of Earth.

To explore the possibilities and meanings
    of the Gaia hypothesis
        would require us to try to define
             what is meant by the word "life" itself,
                   and that is far beyond
                       what we can consider together today.

Yet I do believe that the Earth lives and breathes,
    and no matter what happens to our species,
        she will be OK.

I find great comfort in that thought,
    and for me
        it is a deep and very important expression
             of the Earth based spirituality
                 we are considering.

The Day After Tomorrow
    is an important day
        in the life of our communities:
            our States, our Nation, and the planet herself.

Please vote if you have not already done so.

I can only repeat that I believe deeply
    that the results of any election
        can only be improved
            if more people will vote.

Amen

So mote it be

Blessed Be!

And Blessed Be Our Mother, the Earth!