The Essence of Faith?

If you have a discussion about climate change among folks that believe there might be a problem (you know, like scientists or people that trust scientists) the conversation almost always turns to a variation of the tragedy of the commons. What's the point of the U.S. enacting policies to slow emissions if every cut we could possibly make would be more than offset by China, India, or some other country that had the bad fortune to develop AFTER we started to understand the impacts of burning fossil fuels?

At a personal level, the problem is the same. I know plenty of people (for instance, me) who intellectually understand that meat is an ecological and moral disaster -- turning grain into meat is biologically inefficient and it raises the price of grain for people who need rice, corn, and wheat to survive. But most of us go on our merry way eating Big Macs and ballpark brats or organic buffalo and wild salmon. The simple fact is that if I stop eating meat entirely or if I consume beef three times a day, it won't tip the scales in determining whether there are food riots in Haiti.

In discussing this with Elaine, she pointed out that doing the right thing, even if it won't matter and nobody notices, is at the heart of Christian faith (and ethical living in general). As is so often the case, she's right. If we lived our lives as if God (or our grandmother) were watching us, encouraging us to be our best, to think about the consequences of our actions, and to act out our convictions, we still might not save the planet, but we would nourish our souls.

Selfishness and distraction prevent us from recognizing opportunities to do the right thing, much less actually following through, but I have to believe that unseen kindness and personal sacrifice matter. I have to believe that.