For the first time ever, Christians will celebrate Pentecost with carbon dioxide concentrations in the air at 400 parts per million (measured by the world’s most important monitoring station. An updated reading by the NOAA adjusted this to 399.89, but Scripps continued to measure 400.08).
Even if the original Pentecost event was credited with a daily increase in numbers (Acts 2:47), this number 400 is not good news – neither for this Pentecost, nor for the planet, nor for Pentecosts to come. A safe level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 350 parts per million, significantly lower than the levels currently measured. We have already witnessed the devastating effects as we moved above 350, for example in rising seas and extreme weather. (And in case someone still wonders: the rapid rise of carbon dioxide levels is the work of human hands, not, for example, that of cow farts, as some still seem to think).
My wish for Pentecost 2013 is this: that Christians around the globe will not only fervently invoke God’s Spirit to renew the face of the earth, but also commit themselves, with equal fervor, to refrain from further marring the face of the earth, for example by reigning in the use of fossil fuels, and transitioning to renewable energy, energy efficiency, and sustainable food practices.
One thing is certain, on this first Pentecost at 400: the future Pentecosts Christians will still celebrate on this beautiful planet will be numbered unless we bring the number 400 back down to 350.