King Canute sat on his royal throne. His courtiers grovelled at his feet. “Hail to the King,” they chanted, “You are all-powerful.”

            “Nonsense,” snorted the king.

            “You can do anything you want,” his fawning lackeys assured him.

            “Take me to the beach,” the king commanded.

            So they carried him to the edge of the ocean, and set his throne down on the sand. And the waters rose, and covered the king’s toes.

            “Make the sea go back,” the courtiers urged. “Stop the waters from rising.”

            “Idiots!” snorted the king. “No human has that power.”

            “Then we’re doomed!” the courtiers wailed. “What can we do?”

             “Sell the beach for a tourist destination,” King Canute ordered. “By the time it’s underwater, we can all be living in Switzerland with fat bank accounts.”

Rising oceans

            No, that’s not how the original legend went. But it’s the way the current story is working out. Because oceans are rising all around the world. Low-lying island nations like Kiribati and Tuvalu in the Pacific, and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, will be inundated. Five of the Solomon Islands have already disappeared.

            The question is not if, but when.

            Twenty years ago, climate scientists warned that global warming would result in rising ocean levels. In their extreme case, if all the ice in the north and south polar regions melted, ocean levels would rise by over 200 feet. Mind you, that would take several centuries. In this century, they estimated, mean sea levels might rise by five only to seven feet.

            Now it seems that they made a mistake. Too optimistic. Current measurements from satellite data indicate that polar ice is melting at three times the originally forecast rates.

            If you think the world has too many refugees now, just wait until the heavily populated deltas of all the great rivers get flooded -- the Nile, Indus, Ganges, Mekong, Mississippi, Yangtze….

            Of course, thousands of coral islands in the Pacific will sink beneath the sea. You may argue that as a living thing, coral can keep building those islands as the sea rises. But the death of much of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia should remind you that coral are highly susceptible to ocean temperatures; they may not survive to rebuild those islands.

Make money while the sun shines

            For years, the government of Kiribati begged the larger nations of the world to take action against global warming.

            The industrialized nations paid for research. Signed agreements. Committed themselves to reducing greenhouse gases. And did nothing.

            Meanwhile, some of the nations threatened by rising oceans have had a change of policy. Kiribati, for example, elected a new president in 2016. Taneti Maamaudefined his policy asattracting foreign investors to develop “5-star eco-friendly resorts that would promote world-class diving, fishing and surfing experiences.”

            His nation’s 20-year plan: “to transform Kiribati into the Dubai or Singapore of the Pacific.”

            Maybe he believes that if you can attract enough big money, then when big money’s investment is threatened, they’ll do something about rising oceans and warming climates.

            Or maybe it’s just a “get rich quick” scheme.

            The government of the Maldives, a low-lying archipelago in the Indian Ocean, has taken a similar stance -- attract tourism investments while the going is good.

Betrayal pays, well

            Author, university professor, and activist Ugo Bardihas written, “Imagine that you are smart enough to understand what’s going on with the Earth’s climate. As things stand today, a burst of global warming that will push temperatures so high that nothing will save the Maldives. Maybe not next year but in a few decades, it is nearly certain.

            “So, given the situation, what is the rational thing for you to do? Of course, it is to sell what you can [to] a sucker who will buy. Then you can say good riddance to those who remain.

            “What we are seeing, therefore, is a game in which someone will be left holding the short end of the dynamite stick. When the elites of the Maldives will have left for higher grounds, the poor will be stuck there.”

            Bardi concludes, “Exactly the same thing seems to be going on with the Kiribati islands. You don’t have to be especially smart to understand that the rest of the world will not do anything to help the islanders. They will be left to drown while … for those Kiribati people who have bank accounts on dry land, the road to salvation is clear.”

            Bardi may be biased, but I think he’s right. Betrayal pays better than fighting for your people.

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Copyright © 2018 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.

                       To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Although I’m outraged at Trump’s policies about immigration, last week’s column was more about the use of the Bible to justify those policies than about the policies themselves. 

Tom Watson expanded my point: “You are right that we should be wary of politicians who use the Bible to prove their point. We should be equally wary of preachers who use the Bible to support politicians who will fulfill the preacher's, or their particular faith following's, narrow objectives.”

Ellen Feldman Lohman wrote as an American citizen: “Bravo to you, sir, for again eloquently proving your point...namely, that to use the Bible to support these horrific stances taken by our current administration is a lame way to appease public opinion. There are so many contradictions in the Bible, how can one even begin to show consistency in thought and actions? I can, however, think of one exception which would solve this immigration horror: from the New Testament:  ‘Do under others as you would have them do unto you’."

Cliff Boldt called it, “A timely column about a current issue. My father used to say to some of his friends and relatives:  ‘You are welcome at my table, but leave your Bible in the car’.”

John Hatchard wrote, “Beware quoting from the Bible unless you wish to be seen as either foolish, illiterate, or hypocritical. Notice to all in positions of apparent authority, especially politicians!”

Ted Wilson suggested that, “Jeff Sessions needs to take a lesson from Simon  and Garfunkel -- they got it right in their song The Boxer: “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”

But not everyone agreed. Steve Roney wrote, “I’m afraid there are two sides to this coin. Separating a child from their parents may be wrong in itself, and government makes an appalling parent, but it can often be preferable to the alternative. Unfortunately, not all families are loving. Some families are abusive. 

            “This was actually a large part of the logic behind, for example, the residential schools, or the Sixties Scoop, and it is forgotten or suppressed today. The schools usually began as a place to look after abandoned or rejected children, founded by missionaries for this purpose, children who would otherwise have simply died, and this remained a significant part of their mission.”

Indeed, there are two sides to this issue (perhaps to all issues). 

            I got two letters from a mother in Saskatchewan, who had adopted two Treaty children during the “Sixties Scoop.” She wanted to remain anonymous, so I won’t quote anything directly from her letters. But it was clear that the two children would have died, had they not been adopted – malnutrition, diseases, dental and visual problems, mental illness, fetal alcohol syndrome… Both of the birth parents did die not long after from alcohol-related causes – and so would not have been around to raise their children anyway. 

            The writer made the point that the SYSTEM may have been wrong, but many individual instances were not. 

            The same, I would add, is true of the residential schools. The whole SYSTEM may have been misguided, even criminal. But not everyone who worked in those schools was, and some were saints. 

            Her stories make clear that families who adopted Treaty children often did so at considerable personal sacrifice, and a great deal of emotional pain. 

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca. Or just hit the ‘Reply’ button.

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                       My webpage is running again -- thanks to Wayne Irwin and ChurchWeb Canada. You can now access current columns and five years of archives at http://quixotic.ca

                       I write a second column each Wednesday, called Soft Edges, which deals somewhat more gently with issues of life and faith. To sign up for Soft Edges, write to me directly at the address above, or send a blank e-mail to softedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

                       And for those of you who like poetry, I’ve started a webpage http://quixotic.ca/My-Poetrywhere I post (occasionally, when I feel inspired) poems that I have written. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca,  or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blankemail (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca(If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)

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PROMOTION STUFF…

To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. (This is to circumvent filters that think too many links constitute spam.)

                       Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at wwwDOTsinghallelujahDOTca

                       Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://wwwDOThymnsightDOTca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)

                       Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca>

                       I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom

                       Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawoodATgmailDOTcom to get onto her mailing list.

                       Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom or twatsonATsentexDOTnet