My climate anxiety peaks periodically. When that happens, Luke 9:23b (KJV) pops into my memory—“Deny yourself and take up your cross”—as one possible part of the solution to global warming. I wonder if a society-wide ascetic mindset—although not easily engaged—might tamp down the factors that are causing our planet’s ecosystems to unravel.
That theology feels hard to put into practice. If I’m already satisfied with my low-impact lifestyle, what would additional “denying myself” look like? If I’m clueless about limiting my materialism, where do I go to learn the specifics of a new asceticism? If I already have little or nothing, does Jesus’ directive apply to me, also? If I’m the only one concerned about this shift, where do I go for support and advice? Even more difficult: How can I deny myself at the level required to save the planet from irretrievable environmental disaster? (Or “What’s that cross look like?”)
What’s sobering in all of this: The accumulation of smaller lifestyle adjustments that many of us already make—lowered thermostats, fewer purchases, recycling/composting, public transportation—may not offset rising planetary temperatures. We may have come to the moment Duane Elgin imagined—in his classic Voluntary Simplicity—when we’ll be forced to make large-scale changes.
Jesus’ words add urgency: “What will you gain, if you own the whole world but destroy yourself or waste your life?” (Luke 9:25 CEV) As both invitation and command, this question has to be answered by each of us. I must step up and shoulder the burden—the cross—of bringing God’s love for the created world into specific ways of thinking and acting.
So, if tinkering at the edges of climate collapse isn’t going to solve the problem, the time for my self-denial and cross-bearing might be right now!
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