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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}NAE-Loving-the-least-of-these.jpg" style="float: right; width: 100px; height: 155px; " />On December 13, 2011, the National Association of Evangelicals released a short publication called &quot;<a href="http://www.nae.net/lovingtheleastofthese">Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment</a>.&quot; &nbsp;The publication draws connections between the ways human beings are altering environmental landscapes and processes, how those changes have impacted the most poor and vulnerable human populations on the planet, and our dual callings to be stewards and to care for the poor, the widow, and the orphan. &nbsp;In particular, the report highlights the looming threats of global climate change on the poorest people on the Earth.&nbsp;</p>
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	<img alt="" src="{filedir_5}Dorothy-Boorse.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 143px; " />Dorothy Boorse, Chair of the Gordon College Biology Department and long-time Au Sable faculty representative, served as lead author of &#39;Loving the Least of These.&#39; &nbsp;She sat down with Dieter Bouma (Au Sable&#39;s Communications, Development, and Recruitment Coordinator) for the&nbsp;following exchange about the publication and her thoughts on global change and the poor.</p>
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	<strong><em>What did you hope to accomplish through this report, and why was this the right time to release a document on this topic?</em></strong></p>
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	DB: The NAE wanted to promote a greater conversation on the topic of climate change in part because Christians are often committed to care of the poor and may not see the connection to climate. &nbsp;So that was the big objective: to put a human face on climate change and make that connection. In addition, we wanted to get churches, schools, etc. talking more about it.</p>
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	<strong><em>I was struck by how much you focused on the science and impacts of climate variability. &nbsp;One of the issues many people have identified as a barrier to addressing climate change is its complexity. &nbsp;Why did you think it was important to focus so extensively on the science, and was it challenging to convey these complex scientific findings without missing key details?</em></strong></p>
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	DB: The report has four components: &nbsp;A theology of care of the poor and care of the environment, a background on climate, how environmental change especially climate changes affect poverty, and where we can go from here. &nbsp;We originally were going to focus most on the first and third of those ideas, but reviewers felt strongly that the report needed to include scientific background and a sense of what to do next. &nbsp;Obviously this could not cover all the science, but we could do three things: first, give the basic ideas of the science; second, directly address the controversy (why is it controversial for some people and how do you deal with controversies generally); and finally, what does scientific evidence suggest the likely outcomes will be.</p>
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	Those are all topics I get asked about when I talk to non-scientists, so it seemed like there is a gap in people&rsquo;s background. &nbsp;Everyone who wrote, advised or reviewed on the report is a Christian. Tom Ackerman, a climate scientist, describes the connection of his faith and work. We wanted this to be a place where people could hear from voices they trust, and look at the science a little more than they might have already. We wanted a tough topic to be approachable.</p>
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	<strong><em>From all your research on theology, environmental change, and poverty alleviation efforts, what was the one thing that stuck out to you?</em></strong></p>
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	DB: Several things did. &nbsp;One was that it is easier to deal with the call to be compassionate when the needs are immediate, very clear, and solvable. It is harder when they are on-going, and there is no single clear solution.</p>
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	Another was how convinced the relief and development community was that we need to be addressing environmental degradation if we are to keep people from falling into poverty even more.</p>
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	Finally, I was struck by the fact that people in poverty are smart, are doing some really innovative things, and that this isn&rsquo;t just richer countries stepping in to solve problems for others. &nbsp;One thing I thought was fascinating was a discussion I read about crop failure insurance for very small farmers who live on tiny amounts of money. &nbsp;It would never have occurred to me that insurance would be the key to economic survival for farmers in that group, but it can be.</p>
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	Okay, one more thing! &nbsp;I already knew it, but all of the reading highlighted that climate change intensifies other problems. It doesn&rsquo;t cause a lot that are unique. People want to do cost benefit analysis on adaptation and mitigation as if this problem is completely separate from all other poverty issues, but it isn&rsquo;t.</p>
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	<strong><em>We often hear about ways the average person can play a role in climate change mitigation, yet even if we stopped excess greenhouse gas emissions today, climate change would march on for a number of decades still. &nbsp;This makes adaptation critical despite our mitigation efforts. &nbsp;What role can the average person play in adaptation?</em></strong></p>
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	DB: We are going to need all our tools in the toolbox -- every type of mitigation and adaptation strategy, I think. &nbsp;Some really obvious ones are helping people get relief from the heat in heat waves. This might not be best done by increasing use of air conditioning, but certainly green roofs in cities and an approach to urban heat waves that wisely used central spaces for cooling in emergencies. In arid areas, collecting of water and improved more efficient irrigation is a no brainer.</p>
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	We also ought to be helping people have greater resiliency to extreme events. &nbsp;There are a number of ways to do that. &nbsp;But this paper is an initial discussion in the evangelical community. We did not want to write a long list of potential actions. There are other venues for that.</p>
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	<em><strong>You mention other venues for discussing mitigation and adaptation strategies. &nbsp;What resources would you point people towards to learn more about this?</strong></em></p>
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	The best might be volumes in the National Academies of Sciences series &#39;<a href="http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/sample-page/">America&#39;s Climate Choices</a>.&#39; &nbsp;One of their reports is on mitigation, called &#39;<a href="http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/sample-page/panel-reports/70-2/">Limiting the Magnitude of Climate Change</a>,&#39; and another report is on adaptation called &#39;<a href="http://nas-sites.org/americasclimatechoices/sample-page/panel-reports/panel-on-adapting-to-the-impacts-of-climate-change/">Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change</a>.&#39; &nbsp;The UN also has a nice informational report called &#39;<a href="http://www.global-mechanism.org/dynamic/documents/document_file/ccesinfokit_web-1.pdf">The Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Information Kit</a>.&#39;</p>
