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Rev. Dr Jessica Hetherington, who serves on the WCC Climate Justice and Sustainable Development Commission, opened the session. “I’m witnessing a cognitive dissonance: a disconnect between the evidence and the way people want things to be,” she said.
Rev. Glen Chebon Kernell, a member of the Seminole Nation, is the executive director of the Native American Comprehensive Plan of the United Methodist Church-USA and is a member of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.
He spoke about the earth as the original mother, and how the advancement of AI is problematic. “I belong to her and she is my first mother,” he said. “It is our species that has been rebellious, that has been violent towards her, and extracting and commodifying and trying to sell whatever it is that she freely offers to all of creation.”
Wan Jou Lin, a member of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, is completing her doctoral research at National Taiwan Normal University on ecofeminism and Indigenous Taiwanese.
“When I look at these key issues, I ask: where is Taiwan in this picture and what kind of ecological crisis is Taiwan facing?” she said. “At this stage most of the discussion is about electricity supply. The question is: given Taiwan’s current condition, can we really support the huge demand for the AI industry?”
Rev. Prof Dr Yoon-Jae Chang, who represents the Presbyterian Church in Korea, is the dean of theology at EWHA Womans University in Seoul, Korea.
He addressed how digital infrastructure impacts vulnerable populations, and reminded those gathered how humans and AI differ in crucial ways. “We are mortal. We suffer. We grieve,” she said.
