Where would Jesus get his energy from?

Simon Bowens

27 September 2013

Earlier this week, Martin Wharton, the Bishop of Newcastle, spoke out against wind farms claiming this as his Christian duty.

He stated that:

"It is a basic Christian truth that we all have a duty and a responsibility to care for and exercise wise stewardship over God's creation, which has been entrusted to us."

He expressed his concerns that wind farms were damaging the landscape of parts of his diocese. This has always been a subjective point held by, according to opinion polls, a vocal minority of people.

I'm no expert on theology but I do have a massive amount of respect for the work of the Church and leaders of all faiths. My experience of dealing with faith leaders is that they tend to have a much more global view of things.

For example, take the work of Operation Noah in bringing a Christian focus on the issue of climate change.

In the week that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its latest report on the scale and urgency of tackling climate change, it's a shame that Bishop Wharton has had a misinformed pop at one of the solutions.

I wrote to the bishop pointing out some of the several inaccuracies in his statements. It's early days yet but I've not had a response.

I guess the Bishop is a busy man dealing with diocesans facing fuel poverty driven by ever increasing gas prices and those that are still recovering from the flash floods which hit the North East last Summer.

Four things which I think the Bishop needs to understand more fully:

·         Climate change is a critically urgent problem which is already having a major impact on the wellbeing of millions of people around the world.

·         It will continue to have a massive impact on the North East with more extreme weather affecting homes, industry and agriculture.

·         We need to wean ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas.

·         Wind energy works - it is an efficient form of power that, alongside energy efficiency and other renewable energy like solar, wave and tidal, is a positive solution to climate change.

In the USA, there's a very successful educational campaign about transport set up by Christian groups called What Would Jesus Drive?

I'm posing to the Bishop a serious question set against the prospects of more carbon emissions from gas, devastation to local communities from fracking, the legacy of nuclear waste and destruction of forests from biomass. Where would Jesus get his energy from?