The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation is a conservative Christian public policy group that promotes a free-market approach to care for the environment that is critical of much of the current environmental movement. In particular, the Cornwall Alliance rejects claims of man-made harmful climate change.[1]
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In 2000, a statement called the Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship was put forward and has been signed by over 1500 clergy, theologians and others. Signatories include prominent religious individuals from the Roman Catholic, Jewish and Evangelical worlds such as Charles Colson, James Dobson, Rabbi Jacob Neusner, R. C. Sproul, Richard John Neuhaus, and D. James Kennedy.[1]
The declaration states that human beings should be regarded as "producers and stewards" rather than "consumers and polluters". It states:
The Cornwall Declaration further sets forth an articulate and Biblically-grounded set of beliefs and aspirations in which God can be glorified through a world in which "human beings care wisely and humbly for all creatures" and "widespread economic freedom…makes sound ecological stewardship available to ever greater numbers."
On December 2, 2009, the Cornwall Alliance's evangelical arm issued a statement called "An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming".[2] In the statement, they declare,
"Recent progress in climate research suggests that:
1. Observed warming and purported dangerous effects have been overstated.
2. Earth’s climate is less sensitive to the addition of CO2 than the alleged scientific consensus claims it to be, which means that climate model predictions of future warming are exaggerated.
3. Those climate changes that have occurred are consistent with natural cycles driven by internal changes in the climate system itself, external changes in solar activity, or both."
Prominent signatories include climate scientist Roy Spencer and economist Ross McKitrick.[3]
Along with the "Evangelical Declaration", Cornwall Alliance also issued a three chapter document, examining the theology, science, and economics of Anthropocentric Global Warming entitled "A Renewed Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor".[4] The "Executive Summary" of their document stated,
The world is in the grip of an idea: that burning fossil fuels to provide affordable, abundant energy is causing global warming that will be so dangerous that we must stop it by reducing our use of fossil fuels, no matter the cost. Is that idea true? We believe not. We believe that idea – we'll call it "global warming alarmism" – fails the tests of theology, science, and economics.