The Rev Scott Hardin-Nieri regularly revisits the story of Noah’s ark. “People look at that story fondly, because they focus on all the animals that were saved,” the pastor says. But for Hardin-Nieri, Noah’s ark isn’t a simple story of hope; it is principally a story about human suffering amongst widespread ecological devastation. “We forget how many people were killed in this apocalyptic world where the environment was ruined,” he says.
Hardin-Nieri, who was ordained in the Christian church in 2003, works in North Carolina trying to get congregations across the state to care about climate change. Creation Care Alliance, an organisation he has directed since 2015, aims to connect the religious with the environment around them. Across religious pockets of the south, Hardin-Nieri sees fertile ground for climate activism – and believes scripture is uniquely suited to help religious communities better comprehend the unfolding environmental catastrophes happening around them.