Nurturing the planet for next generation

To the Editor,

On Sunday mornings, while sitting in the pew, I read our church's Brief Statement of Faith, which includes the following: " . . . ignoring God's commandments we . . . exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care."

As I listen to and read about the political and economic discourses concerning the environment, I do so while being attentive to what I have read while sitting in the pew. Therefore, it is good to hear about the recent standards for new cars, which set strong mileage and pollution standards, and which serve as an historic step to get us off of oil and tackle global warning.

Such standards will cut--by the year my grandchildren will be entering adulthood (2030)--annual global warming pollution by roughly 280 million metric tons, annual oil consumption by nearly 23 billion gallons, and save American consumers nearly $45 billion annually at the gas pump.

Also, such innovation regarding the standards for new cars will create nearly 500,000 new jobs.

These standards present huge wins across the board for our environment, our economy, and our national security.

To affirm and support these new standards is to engage in what the American psychologist Erik Erikson called generativity, i. e., to be concerned about the world we will leave our children, an action that is an indicator of mature psychosocial human development.

The new standards help move us toward the day when we will be able to affirm that " . . . we care for our neighbor and nature, nurturing and cherishing the planet entrusted to our care."

Rev. Jeffery F.

Hammonds

Poplar Bluff, Mo.