PW spoke with Kyle Meyard-Schaap

in Following Jesus in a warming world (IVP, February), Meyaard-Schaap, vice president of the Evangelical Environmental Network, spoke about Christian perspectives on climate change.

You note that a warming environment disproportionately harms those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. How do you see this as key from an evangelical perspective?

Jesus says the most important thing we can do is love our neighbor, and here that means loving our neighbor as if their future climate prospects were our own. Climate change is fundamentally unfair, with winners and losers – people with disabilities, people of color, people on the margins. Jesus had the greatest compassion for people pushed by society to the margins, and we see climate change pushing particular people to the margins. I don’t know how to love my neighbor in a warming world without fighting for his right to a stable climate.

Are there any new insights you gained about Christianity while writing the book?

It deepened my understanding of the commandment to care for God’s creation and to take seriously how climate change threatens all of God’s creation. This lesson is not hidden in the beginning of Genesis. When you look at the meta-narrative of what God is doing in creation, it’s not hype—it’s the main character.

Are there any ways in which your idea for the book changed while you were writing it?

I didn’t expect it to be so personal. I put in quite a bit of my own story as an archetype for a generation of millennial evangelicals who grew up in a church that was largely silent on climate change. Growing up, I had to do the work of integrating environmental activism into my faith mostly on my own; there were others on the journey with me, but without the institutional framework provided by the church. The book is also dedicated to my sons, who are four years and 10 months old. If they live the typical lifespan of a white male in America, they will see the year 2100. It’s a benchmark we always use in climate talks – keeping warming below two degrees Celsius by 2100 – and it really got to me.

You discuss concerns about talking about environmental issues on an individual level, to people within social, political and religious communities who may not look kindly on it. Now that the book is almost out, how do you feel about its reception?

I’ve learned that this work comes with negative reactions – most of the time it’s anger, fear, mistrust of change. It was also a difficult message for many in the evangelical church to hear and continues to be. I am encouraged that even in the last 10 years I have seen a huge change. The reaction is now steeped in more good faith, especially among younger people. And that’s basically what this book is about.