Utahns want their voices to be heard during the Paris climate talks. They include Mormons whose church has been silent about a problem they see as a moral issue.
Jared Meek, a conservation biology student at Brigham Young University, is a leader BYU’s EcoResponse Club, which has teamed up with the nonprofit, LDS Earth Stewardship. They’ve developed an online petition urging world leaders to take speedy action on climate change.
Meek says it gives faithful Mormons an opportunity to weigh in even though church leaders have not taken a stand.
“The main purpose of the petition is to really add the Mormon voice to the whole climate-change discussion,” he says.
So far, more than 350 people have signed an online petition that quotes the Bible and texts of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Meek hopes the number grows as LDS faithful realize that climate change threatens the environment and the people who depend on it. He says some Mormons view global warming as a leftist political issue, while more and more like himself see it as a spiritual problem.
“We brought these scriptural accounts together,” says Meek, “to point out that God has actually asked us to care for the Earth and care for all life on Earth and especially our fellow human beings.”
A contingent of the environmental advocacy group, Utah Moms for Clean Air is also in Paris. And Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker is part of the U.S. delegation to the talks.
