When Jack Twombly retired in 1990 from his 54-year career as a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Colorado, he didn't give up teaching. Now a vital 84, Twombly's educational mission is helping Christians better understand the need for stewardship of the environment, or, as it is frequently called in church circles, "creation care."
At the heart of creation care is the concept of "eco-justice," Twombly explained, a situation "where society and ecology both win." The notion embraces the insight that "justice to human beings is inseparable from right relationships with and within the natural order," said Twombly, citing the Rev. William Gibson's book Eco-Justice: The Unfinished Journey.
The biggest challenge to that mission, he said, is that people do not have enough information, an impetus for making more ethical decisions. He seeks to rectify that among churchgoers in his denomination and beyond. Churches took part in the first Earth Day observance in 1970, he said, when "people really began to wake up" about the environment. He hopes the contemporary creation-care movement will have a similar effect.
Twombly, who received a bachelor's degree from CU in 1944 and a PhD in 1959, has been a member of First Presbyterian Church in Boulder for half a century. He currently serves as a liaison for creation-care issues to 44 churches in a regional division of the Presbyterian Church USA, a 19,000-square mile area that encompasses northeastern Colorado and western Nebraska. There are about 60 such appointed "Stewardship of Creation Enablers" nationally, part of the larger Presbyterians for Restoring Creation.
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| CU Professor Emeritus Jack Twombly (Photo/ Wendy Redal) |
In his position, Twombly assists congregations in gaining the knowledge and skills to sustain a "long-term, spiritually vital commitment to God's Creation." That may involve giving workshops, hosting an information table on a Sunday morning, or, in keeping with his own expertise in energy issues, counseling churches on how to save resources and money by converting to compact fluorescent lighting and other means of enhancing energy efficiency. Twombly has also helped sponsor an annual "Bike to Church Day" at First Presbyterian in Boulder, where those who cycle or walk to the Sunday service enjoy a free breakfast to honor their efforts.
Twombly credits retired minister and climber John Wade for inspiring him to get involved in the position back in 1997. He had read about Wade, then the 77-year-old chair of the Sierra Club's Rocky Mountain Chapter, in Sierra magazine. The article outlined Wade's vision for sparking an Earth stewardship movement in the Presbyterian Church through the creation of a network of grassroots positions like the one Twombly now holds.
Twombly's task has not been an easy one, though. While most people say they support environmental protection, they don't have enough facts to push them into behaving differently, he said. Part of the problem, Twombly thinks, is that the U.S. is "only a couple of generations away from the frontier economy." A belief prevails, especially among older people, that "there's always more out there, that resources are infinite." Challenging that perspective is central to Twombly's educational mission.
One of the biggest hurdles is encouraging people to take time to educate themselves, he said. He has found it hard to get individuals to commit even 15 minutes a week to read from an array of accessible publications he would like to suggest. Even when he is successful in persuading parishioners to learn more about environmental problems, "when they do, they find it overwhelming. A lot of people are living in denial," he said, with the attitude that "if we ignore it, it will go away."
He worries that his message may come across as too negative, but he doesn't want to dilute the realities he expects the next generations will face. "You're not a doom-and-gloomer if you study the facts and report them."
It is young people who know the most about environmental problems, Twombly said. When he spoke to a group of CU freshmen in the Honors Program a few years ago, "they were very aware. They're the ones with the biggest stake in it…By 2050, when they're approaching retirement, they're going to be living in a very miserable world" if current trends continue, he said.
Twombly is heartened that environmental consciousness, especially among Christians, is growing.
"We're making progress. But it's not nearly fast enough." Particularly about climate change, "people need a sense of urgency," he said. Global warming is "easily" the most pressing environmental issue Twombly wants to get church members concerned about.
"If this issue is not solved," he said, "all these other issues become somewhat irrelevant."
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| Jack Twombly with hiking partner Bonaire (Photo/ Wendy Redal) |
As a scientist, he is worried about the possibility of abrupt climatic shifts. "Very few things in nature are linear. You approximate it with linear mathematics because that's the best you can do." But he wonders if we may already have moved beyond that linear process with polar ice-sheet melting, a "self-sustaining phenomenon" in which melting ice creates a larger dark ocean surface which in turn speeds up further ice-sheet melting.
It's frustrating to Twombly when people's eyes glaze over at such discussions. He sees in part a "willful ignorance of science," compounded by the Bush Administration's "distortion of reputable science," which troubles him. When he first started in his position with the Presbytery, "I thought if I had impeccable data and presented it well, it would bring people over, rationally…but I've found that you have to get people emotionally and passionately involved."
Twombly thus believes it is crucial how issues are framed. He cites the latest issue of Eco-Justice Notes, a publication of ecumenical Denver-based Eco-Justice Ministries, which observes that people are more likely to respond to pictures of a starving polar bear perched on an ice floe, marooned by ice that has fragmented too early, than to scientific studies. "That gets to people more than a curve on a graph of CO2 and temperature."
It's also critical to take on the economic argument, according to Twombly, who said his professional background in electrical engineering has taught him a few things about energy efficiency. "If we could just get past this mantra that doing anything about global warming would ruin our economy – that's tragically not true."
While he recognizes that a public response is happening, "it's got to happen faster. There's got to be a tipping point where most people get involved."
Far from being daunted, however, he works indefatigably for even small gains.
"There's no choice but to be hopeful," said Twombly, who has 16 grandchildren. "As a retired professor, I have a lot of faith that if people would just become informed, it would make a difference…They have good hearts."
Jack Twombly will be attending the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Conference in New Orleans June 1-4, 2006.
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