Corporate Profits vs Developing World Survival?
Unsurprisingly, CitizenLink, a publication of Focus on the Family’s political arm, has posted an article critical of the Copenhagen climate talks.
Somewhat unexpected, though, is the article’s indifference to the suffering of the world’s poorest citizens and Focus’s faith-free justification of it.
The article portrays the Copenhagen talks as some kind of handout of fancy green technology to poorer countries: The countries gathered will attempt to form a strategy to fight global warming that includes saying there will be “money sent to ‘developing countries’ to aid in making them ‘eco-friendly’”and “cutting-edge green technology sent to those countries at no charge.”
This, scare-quote heavy summary is a misrepresentation of what aid to developing countries really is. It’s not what we normally think of “green” here in the US (installing bamboo floors instead of Brazillian hardwood) it’s literally about survival for the people scripture calls on us to care for the most. In the developing world, climate change is causing massive floods, crop failure, disease and starvation, but CitizenLink seems to think we shouldn’t help.
Most disappointing is that CitizenLink uses sources from the conservative Heritage Foundation and the health insurance, tobacco and oil industry champion Americans for Prosperity to make it’s case, but not one reference to scripture or the “Biblical perspective” the site purports to offer.
For those playing at home, that’s moneyed corporate interests: 2; Bible: 0.