Although I’m an atheist on most days, I think about God on a regular basis. This is unsurprising, as I spent 12 years in a Catholic school, taking mandatory theology classes. One of the most important things I learned in the convent is that the majority of people want quite desperately to believe there’s a reason behind it all. Why are we alive? Why doesn’t God speak to me? Why do bad things happen to good people? These are all questions that people spend endless sermons, books and prayers on. They are questions that most people can’t bear to leave unanswered.

I see these God-related queries popping up everywhere, most clearly in people’s responses to my own writing about global warming, a topic which many are so scared of that they’ll go to any lengths not to discuss it, or even to prove its nonexistence. In these objections to my writing, I sense a God-query writhing below the surface. What’s scary about global warming, beyond the obvious fact that it threatens future generations of human life, is that it begs this hardest of hard questions: Why do bad things happen to good people?

When theologians come up with explanations for this question, they’re called theodicies. A theodicy attempts to explain how an omniscient, omnipotent, omni-benevolent God can allow awful things, whether perpetrated by an axe murderer or an avalanche, to happen to human beings.

With reference to my own pet issue, global warming, this question surfaces both overtly and subtextually as: Why would God let global warming happen to human beings? It gets knottier when we remember that people are the ones causing global warming with their addictions to driving, jet setting, factory production, etc. Why, then, would God let humans do such a terrible thing? The knots get tighter when we reflect that global warming was set into motion before any of us were born. It’s not entirely our fault, but virtually none of us is not at fault. We’ve all driven cars, watched televisions, used blenders. We’ve all contributed to this big sin with our little sins. Why would a good God let this happen?

We’d like to think we can avoid disaster at every turn, if only we’re wily enough. Some people like to think that God will intervene with miracles at just the right moment. There is a huge resistance to the idea that very bad things can happen to very good people for no discernable or remediable reason. A famous theodicy, the free will theodicy, posits that free will is essential to the human experience. If God stepped in at every turn to avert evil, we’d never have the opportunity to make bad choices, and we’d thus miss out on the ‘full’ human experience, which is presumably one huge ‘learn from your mistakes’ lesson.

Some theologians weave natural disasters into this theodicy, painting God as an uninvolved being who allows for natural disasters to occur, but never inserts Her divine hands into the messy situation. In this view, nature operates by its own, immovable laws. Human beings are allowed to make choices for themselves. Essentially, we have a level ground on which the rules are clear, if unfair. At least, in this theodicy, we know how things work. We know God isn’t going to swoop in with convenient miracles.

Many people like to surrender themselves to an involved God who shapes each of our destinies with Her loving provenance, ensuring, as some people are so sickeningly fond of saying, that everything is for the best. But if I were to believe in a God, I would certainly prefer the Free Will God to the Intimately Involved God. What use is living if you have no say in it?

But if we accept this God-free responsibility for our lives on Earth, the responsibility for dealing with disasters is entirely in our hands. There is going to be no last-minute bail out, no divine justice. There is only what we choose to do about this messy intersection of nature and human choice that is global warming. Denying its existence can only be called irresponsibility. The science is in, the evidence is clear. Whether you believe in God or not, there are many compelling reasons to care whether the coasts are flooded within the next hundred years.

If you believe in a benevolent God, surely there is some virtue in working to improve the lives of generations to come. If you don’t believe in God, humanity is all you’ve got. The continuation of human life is your only stab at immortality, if that’s anything you care about. Essentially, making choices for the good of the future, for the good of your children or someone else’s, is the undeniably necessary path that our nation and the rest of the world needs to walk down. Quibbling about the decrease in job opportunities, market inequity, technological viability, etc. will only hinder this effort and make us weak and blame-worthy in the eyes of the precariously-balanced future generations.

I have never believed so whole-heartedly in anything, and that includes God’s presence or lack thereof, as I do in the fight against global warming. When you go home this summer, and when you begin to live the rest of your life after college, remember that this is an age in which personal choices are ones that will define human life for centuries to come. This is an unprecedented moment of historical urgency, and whether there is a God or not, we all have an obligation to take action, because our future is not a divine guarantee.

Ruth is grateful for all her readers, both belligerent and complimentary. Send her hate/fan mail at ruthmccann@stanford.edu. Buy hybrids!