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Commentary: Caring for creation while tackling food inflation
December 13, 2024 / By Dr. Andrew Hartley, UNY Creation Justice Chair / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The following commentary was written by Dr. Andrew Hartley on behalf of the UNY Creation Care Ministry. The views expressed in this article are of the UNY Creation Care Ministry, and not of Bishop Burgos Núñez or any Upper New York staff member.
Before Thanksgiving, as our congregation’s team began packing food bags for a local food pantry, our Deacon, the Rev. Deborah Coatsworth, said the families and children needing help from such sources had increased several-fold over the past few years. Those seeking aid said the main reason was rising foods prices. These prices should concern us all.
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Several factors have contributed to this inflation. The government’s economic policies are to blame, according to some political candidates in the 2024 elections. That may be difficult to argue though since inflation has been lower for us than for most developed nations. Also, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many businesses to shut down or scale back, reducing supplies.
In any case, we must not ignore the inflationary impacts of environmental degradation. For 50 years, humanity has been using up Earth’s resources faster than they can be replenished and polluting faster than Earth can clean itself. We are drawing down the groundwater used for irrigating crops. How long can we dig ever-deeper wells to continue feeding ourselves? Parts of the Southeast are becoming too hot to plant many types of crops. In Western States, wildfire season has doubled in duration, straining or breaking firefighting budgets and destroying houses, businesses, and more. Droughts in the Midwest and the Amazon Rainforest are delaying shipping via rivers and causing supply chain headaches as a result. Climate change is causing sea levels to rise, resulting in the loss of farms in coastal regions.
We have only seen the beginning. According to an Associated Press article that highlights a March 2024 study, unless we drastically reduce burning fossil fuels, weather and climate shocks will increase food inflation 1.5% to 1.8% annually within a decade. Friends in Serving Humanity, or FISH, is not the only humanitarian organization affected. On November 22, 2024, the United Methodist Committee on Relief posted about its need to divert resources to humanitarian relief in areas devastated by climate-change-induced storms in the Philippines and Western North Carolina. Likewise, World Vision reports, “climate change is causing anomalies in weather patterns. Droughts that used to happen once every 10-20 years are now happening every two or three years. Severe storms, extreme heat events, or prolonged dry spells can wipe out entire crops. This leaves [families we serve] unable to provide enough nutritious food for their children and without an income.”
How will the Upper New York Annual Conference step up to these challenges? Our own heat trapping pollution from burning fossil fuels is worsening heat waves, droughts, and floods. Will we shift to clean energy and adjust our lifestyles? Our meat consumption, especially beef consumption, worsens deforestation, the decimation of Earth’s “lungs;” will we transition to healthier, plant-based diets? We can do so much. I pray we will not turn away our eyes but work to alleviate the suffering.
There are ways you can act now. The UNY Creation Care Team recommends calling or writing members of Congress and remind them how you want them to help move Americans to clean energy for the sake of those suffering from rising food prices.
If you’re a bird lover and like to feed them, now is the most beneficial time to do so, both to support local over-wintering bird populations and to enjoy the sights and sounds of birds close to home. Please consider offering the most nutritious and attractive seed mixtures. For guidance on how to do this, click here.