The winds of change are blowing a little too quickly. Some of us have grown weary that Hollywood, the media and politicians seem bent on popularizing a new God-free moral code – where the only sin is greenhouse gas emissions and the pinnacle of virtue is the neutralization of one’s carbon footprint.

Well, take a deep breath. It is coming right at us with a force that may be unstoppable. Churches are painting themselves green ... even though we may not be treating the earth all that well. No doubt the current state of affairs probably grieves the heart of God. The more we produce, in the way we have chosen to do it, the more we create a world that is simply not sustainable. Green is the newest semi-spiritual movement to sweep American culture. Part of its success could be attributed to the hollow and thirsty hearts of millions of Americans who long for faith but often settle for doing well for others. Fed up with what they consider to be the harsh and senseless demands of religion and its seemingly hypocritical leaders, they find comfort in environmental activism.

Environmentalism is a growing trend in society. Yet, even those of us who have considered ourselves “environmentalists” for a long time fear that it may be too little too late. The debate is as long and hard as it is complicated. Problems lie in the centralized, industrial way in which we chose to live. So-called “eco-friendly” products still require appalling amounts of water, energy, resources and labor to produce.

There is a connection between the environmental and the spiritual. God has called believers to be good stewards of the earth. Instead, we flirt with notions of sustainability – refusing to live a simple life, blindly addicted to exploitation, with no concern for sacrifice. While green initiatives span all faiths, most people are more concerned with being seen as “environmentally friendly,” rather than actually changing their behavior. Our indifference in the eyes of the world makes us appear insensitive, selfish and even intolerably deaf to what they consider a very moral issue.

American Evangelical Christians are one of the least involved in preserving or bettering the environment. The perception people have and the story our culture has about the Church is critical to us, and we ought to be concerned about it if we really care to connect with people. Our attitude and response to this issue is damaging our platform – even galvanizing an already negative story. Even if the scientific community is wrong about the threat of climate change, we would be foolish not to pay attention. Consider the effects our indifference has on the world’s perception of the Church. Not all decisions about protecting the environment should be based on scientific evidence. There have always been unusual weather events. Hurricanes, droughts and changes in wind patterns have existed for years. It is difficult to prove that global warming causes any one event. But if greenhouse gases continue to be emitted in large quantities, the result will be a substantially altered climate. Around the world, the land is likely to warm more than the ocean, and northern high latitudes will warm the most. The sea level will rise, accompanied by an increase in extreme storm surges. Changing rainfall patterns will increase soil erosion and affect water availability and quality. Drier soils will change the type and yield of crops.

Video footage of ocean areas off the coast of the Pacific Northwest seems to indicate that we have crossed a tipping point. Low-oxygen zones off the Northwest coast appear to be abnormally low for our system. Conditions such as this have not been seen in many, many decades. Climate change is affecting ocean temperatures, the supply of nutrients from the land, ocean chemistry, food chains, shifts in wind systems and ocean currents. These affect the distribution, abundance, breeding cycles and migrations of marine plants and animals. Congregations across the Western World are examining themselves and asking what their faith demands of them in response.

Houses of worship are some of the biggest wasters of energy on a per capita, per hour-of-use basis. Churches have lagged far behind commercial and governmental entities in green building because it requires a lot of costly planning. Environmentalists welcome the growing involvement of the world’s largest church in the movement to protect nature. Adding pollution to the list of the new seven deadly sins, the Vatican has suggested that pollution could be a new sin. The Holy See plans to become the world’s first “carbon neutral” sovereign state by planting trees in a Hungarian national park to offset the carbon-dioxide emissions and energy use of Vatican City.

Southern Baptists have compared destroying the planet to tearing pages out of the Bible. Their leaders have signed a declaration calling for action on climate change. Mormons remind followers that their original founders were early environmentalists. This year, church leaders expect to endorse sustainable construction standards set by the U.S. Green Building Council. The Presbyterian Church has asked its members to become carbon-neutral, or at least to reduce their carbon-dioxide emissions.

The elephant in the room – the rocky relationship between environmentalists and evangelicals – has reared its ugly head toward the door. The Christian groups who have so often minimized the issue, and even dismissed it altogether as a political construct, are beginning to change their point of view. A shift in the priorities of evangelical Christians is underway.

Formerly the publisher of green@work magazine, Dennis Walsh is a corporate sustainability specialist. Walsh creates campaigns to gain increased support for corporate national and international coalition building, grassroots organization, media networking, product endorsements and market development. He is a sustainability advocate and consults with corporations and communities in the delivery of economic and environmental return on investment.

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