Let Justice Roll Down Lesson Five
Lesson Five: Air Quality
Scripture: Genesis 1:26, 30; 2:7; 6:17; 7:15, 22; Psalms 32:2; 104:29; Job 7:11; Isaiah 42:5; Ezekiel 11:5; 37:5, 8, 10
Air Quality
I am pleased that so many groups have adopted this study. I am also honored by the enthusiasm expressed by so many women from across the country and grateful to you who take the time to lead and to read deeply. I hope your year together studying environmental justice proves enlightening and inspiring.
In this communally tense year, I am not surprised to hear that some have called the study “too political” or “not biblical enough” for their groups. True to form, not one person has said this to my face. It is others who have asked me how to answer such arguments. I’d like to offer my best response in hope that it will help your own communication.
By nature, both politics and faith concern our common human life and common good. Because of this, whether we like it or not, scripture is filled with political statements. Isaiah and other prophets were advisors to Judah’s leaders on internal ethics and international relationships, and their advice was usually controversial, though its inclusion in scripture may make it appear less so to us. Even the familiar claim that “the earth is the Lord’s” (Ps 24:1) was political when it was made and remains so. Jesus’ teachings constantly challenged powerful individuals and institutions while upholding “the least of these” (Matt 25:40). In fact, it’s hard to imagine a more politically pointed poem than the Magnificat uttered by his expectant mother (Luke 1:46–55), saying that God “has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.” Perhaps the question is not whether the Bible or our conversations are political in nature or not, but which values our speech and actions uphold, and whether they reflect priorities we understand to be faithful.
Most of us want to get along and don’t wish to stir up trouble. Sometimes I envy friends who live in neighborhoods whose political signage all looks the same, and who attend churches where one viewpoint prevails, who can talk politics unopposed. Yet they risk failing to see and understand neighbors who are not part of their conversations. This is true for us all, no matter where we are in terms of politics, race, gender, generation, geography. If we want to understand the world around us, we must listen to people whose lived experience differs from our own, even when doing so is personally challenging.
Most churches I know include one or more members who object to talking about anything they deem to be political. Such objections seldom serve to foster fruitful conversation or deepen Christian community. Rather, they communicate that those who disagree should keep silent. Deferring to such posturing leaves the community poorer. Scripture does not show Jesus backing away from conflict, nor trying to foment it, but rather doing his best faithfully to engage with all he met, including his opponents.
As disciples, we seek to follow his example. Contemporary culture often leads us to focus more on those standing farthest from ourselves in beliefs and opinions than on the whole spectrum of people in between. Our mental landscape may be of people separated by great chasms when, in reality, we are scattered all across the map. We don’t have to focus all our attention on the few who would prefer to shut conversations down. Instead, we can endeavor to foster reflection and dialogue, and learn to tolerate and even enjoy our differences—and, as this Bible study suggests, seek to learn from neighbors who aren’t present at our table.
Now, about Lesson 5 . . .
Both indoor and outdoor air quality matter for human health. My home is fully electric, and that matters for multiple reasons. Health studies show that gas-powered appliances, especially stoves, can leak methane even when they are not in use. Besides the danger of fire or explosion, methane can cause asthma and other ailments. Having cooked with gas most of my life, I found the change to induction cooking very welcome, since the controls are more responsive than either conventional electric or gas, and the cooktop is more efficient and easier to clean. Cooking with children, I welcome it being much safer for curious fingers. Building our house fully electric and maximally efficient was a conscious choice. While many of our neighbors differ with our political views, they are fascinated by our home. Home renovation expenses must be measured, but government assistance for home electrification and efficiency is available through the Inflation Reduction Act. This website, Rewiring America, explains it all.
Even though 42% of the U.S.’s energy-related carbon emissions and related air pollutants come from individual homes and vehicles, there is much in the business sector that individuals don’t control, but should be aware of and may influence. Lesson 5 discusses some of these issues, specifically those related to certain types of animal farming; vehicle emissions (especially ozone and carbon monoxide); sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide from burning coal, oil, and gas; and lead smelting. It especially raises awareness of dangers from factories and refineries along Cancer Alley in Louisiana.
There is always more to learn. Yesterday I ran across an interview with Bill Moyer (not the Bill Moyers of PBS), who wrote a 2016 book called Solutionary Rail: A People-Powered Campaign to Electrify America’s Railroads and Open Corridors to a Clean Energy Future, and who hosts a podcast series on the same topic. Here is a 4-minute introduction to his concept, explaining the dysfunction of our current rail system and its potential to solve several vexing problems, including air pollution and dangers from the ever-increasing number of semis transporting goods on public highways. He explains how the U.S. lost the robust passenger train system we once had while those elsewhere are growing; why so few commodities are transported by train, and how the railroad’s already existing pathways can also serve the national electric grid. This work is fascinating, hopeful and exciting. Moyer himself calls reforming our railroad “a solution hiding in plain sight.” Especially meaningful are the visions of reduced air pollution for people living close to transport hubs.
Breathing is so crucial that our bodies’ autonomic systems do it for us, day and night. Life begins and ends with breath. As the lesson points out, scripture’s vocabulary around air repeatedly drives home the point that air is not only crucial to life but a gift from the Creator. Isaiah 42:5 identifies God as the one who “gives breath to the people upon it [the earth] and spirit to those who walk on it.” Speaking to the people of Athens, the apostle Paul said similarly that God “gives to all mortals life and breath and all things” (Acts 17:25). According to both of these witnesses, and others in scripture, this gift is not for some but for all of us. Equal access to clean air will improve our collective health, strength and future.
Patricia K. Tull
Author of the 2024–2025 PW/Horizons Bible study, Let Justice Roll Down: God’s Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation.
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This blog is the fifth in a series of nine blogs.
Let Justice Roll Down is the Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA), Inc. Bible study for 2024-2025. Go to presbyterianwomen.org/bible-study/justice to find more resources and purchase Let Justice Roll Down to study along with us. Call 800/533-4371 or order online.
