I knew about environmental problems including global warming as a kid, but it wasn’t until I was a young adult in college in the 1980s that I first felt called to climate action. It was a 1986 college class, Introduction to Global Studies at the University of Iowa, taught by religious studies professor Jim McCue, that began to deepen my understanding of global environmental challenges, including the greenhouse effect and the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. (At the time, carbon dioxide levels were just under 350 parts per million.)
The heat and the drought in the summer of 1988 made it feel very real to me. As an intern for Alderman David Orr in the summer of 1989, I helped organize a hearing on Styrofoam and stratospheric ozone depletion for a Chicago city council committee. That fall, when I started a master’s degree program in public policy at the University of Minnesota, I decided to focus on energy and environmental policy.
In the 1990s, I began to connect my concern about the overheating planet more directly with my faith. I was aware that the National Religious Partnership for the Environment was formed in 1993. My priest challenged me to think and say what I believed about my faith and my concern for the environment.
I also began to recognize that people were experiencing climate-related disasters. My family home in Iowa, on top of a hill, had water in the basement in the Flood of 1993. Our first home in Minneapolis suffered water damage in flash flooding in the summer of 1997. I also saw more climate disasters in the news, across the country, and around the world, like the Red River Flood and Hurricane Mitch.
On one family visit to my in-laws around that time, I was not feeling well, so I decided to lie down and read the Bible. I got through Genesis. I was struck by the story of Joseph in Egypt in Genesis chapter 41, who read the Pharaoh’s dreams to use seven good years to build up large grain reservoirs so that the people of Egypt – and the people of Israel – could survive the seven bad years of drought.
I imagined what the Egyptians must have thought during the good years as they watched 20% of their grain taken by the government. If they knew it was because a foreigner had read the Pharaoh’s dreams – a foreigner who was in prison for a heinous crime (albeit a crime which he did not commit) – they must have been skeptical. Maybe even outraged. Yet, with God’s help, Joseph was able to take action to safeguard people from the coming bad years.
In 1999, after moving home to Iowa, I stumbled into an opportunity to coordinate a global warming education project in Iowa funded by the National Council of Churches. For me, it was an opportunity to educate Iowans (and Presidential candidates of both parties) about the growing dangers of climate change. It also forced me to define more precisely why climate action is a faith issue.
It was not easy at first, but eventually it was quite simple. Loving God means caring for God’s Creation. Loving our neighbors means safeguarding people from climate disasters and other environmental harm. Dominion does not mean destruction. It means stewardship.
I also believe that faith institutions have a unique capacity to think and act globally and inter-generationally. Like Joseph in Egypt, we are called to take effective precautionary action to safeguard people today and future generations from climate damage and environmental harm.
Nearly 25 years later, I see good things happening thanks to people who have gotten involved and taken action: the clean energy provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Justice 40 Initiative, the American Climate Corps, the Kigali Amendment on ozone depleting gases, more regenerative agriculture, etc. We should take heart from our efforts and the good things that are being accomplished.
But the need for more climate action has never been more urgent. In Iowa, we suffered record flooding in 2008, 2011, and 2019. In 2020, we suffered the worst derecho on record. In 2023, we suffered the worst air quality in state history from wildfires in Canada. We are currently experiencing the longest drought of my lifetime (2020 – present).
No matter how much worse it gets, there will always be something for people to do to relieve the harm and make our future better. Conserve resources. Use renewables. Invest in people and solutions. Grow and eat local foods. Provide relief, care, and comfort for those who are losing so much.
I hope you can join Iowa IPL on Saturday, October 28 for “Called to Climate Action” at Grinnell College, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It is a great way to get more informed, connected, and involved. Bring a friend and share what happens there with your faith community.
Climate change is the challenge of our times. We are called to climate action. With God’s love, we have the freedom, the strength, and the hope to make any changes we need to make. With God’s help, we can safeguard our people, our planet, and our future.
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Rob Hogg is a retired state senator and a member of the Iowa Interfaith Power & Light board of directors. He and his wife, Kate, live in Cedar Rapids where they are members of Christ Episcopal Church. You can reach Rob at senatorrobhogg@gmail.com.