Churchill insisted that the two leaders take a break from their deliberations to spend a few days in Marrakech. Soldiers guarded the roads for the five-hour drive from Casablanca, and planes circled overhead. And so they did, visiting the Atlas Mountains at sunset, with Churchill concluding that ?it?s the most beautiful place on Earth.?

It is fitting then that the U.N. Climate Conference COP22 held in Marrakech, 73 years later, would be a place to make history. Not to save democracy and civilization but the entire Earth from environmental catastrophe.

A year ago this month, the Paris Agreement was signed at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change summit, known as COP21. In it, nations agreed to keep the increase of the average global temperature to below 2 C (3.6 F) of pre-industrialization levels. But even this reduction target, as difficult as it is, might not be enough.

If emissions from human activities continue unabated, it could trigger runaway planetary warming, researchers warn. Writing in the latest issue of the journal Nature, they project that an increase of 1 C (1.8 F) will release an additional 55 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere by 2050. This could trigger a ?positive feedback? and push the planet?s climate system past the point of no return.

Thus, a group of interfaith clergy, in addition to myself, traveled to COP22 to make the case that faith leaders—who have the ear and the hearts—of billions (85 percent of the Earth?s population identifies with a religion) want action by governments to curb carbon emissions.

This was my fifth COP event with other faith leaders, joined this time by 20 young ecologists from 14 African countries. Their perspectives on climate impacts—such as soil erosion and droughts—help explain why they view the federal inaction here in the United States so strongly.

Each of these next-generation leaders face resistance to a shift to renewable energy. On a team-building trek through a Berber village and forest in the Ourika Valley of the Atlas Mountains, our group rested for tea on the roof of a mountain house. There, Joshua Amponsem of Ghana, sporting a ?Coal no more? shirt, described how established interests lobby lawmakers to do the wrong thing, out of expediency. He asked what the election of Donald Trump would mean.

We?re getting the picture, and to this creation-care advocate, it?s like a bad dream. The president-elect?s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, is a close ally of the fossil-fuel industry, claims the science of climate change is ?not settled,? and wants to shut down the Obama administration?s Clean Power Plan, aimed at cleaning up old and new coal-burning utility plants and transitioning to clean or renewable energy.

A majority of Americans support environmental protection, renewable energy and want efforts to counteract climate change. So, what?s our duty to the country and common good?

First, as people of faith, we need to support action to protect our precious air, water and land. This must be a priority. For those who want an incentive, read on: God says ?I will destroy those who destroy the Earth.? —Revelation 11:18. That?s a clear warning about the sin of ecological destruction from the Bible.

?What America needs is a reduction of emissions of human greed, ignorance and hatred. If the human community must learn to live within the carrying capacity of Earth to survive, then a major shift in consciousness is required,? says Dena Merriam, founder of the Contemplative Alliance and organizer of the interfaith delegation to Morocco.

Second, spiritual leaders can help their flocks to see old truths in new ways. That is, put a love of creation, with our duty to be stewards, alongside science and innovation, to do energy-saving changes to their facilities and help lobby for our government to do the same and to understand that cutting carbon pollution is a spiritual responsibility, and then act on it.

Climate skeptics in Congress respond, ?I am not a scientist,? to defend their inaction, but this is no excuse. They should quit claiming ignorance, own up to reality and tell their oil and gas campaign contributors they owe it to the common good of the country and the Almighty to change directions.

Third, faith leaders can change the atmosphere—reduce political polarization—by reframing the environmental crisis as a spiritual and cultural one, rather than a scientific or political issue. More empathy and less apathy is needed.

Finally, the goal is transformation of our society toward renewable energy and good jobs. It was clear from statements and presentations at COP22 that momentum for these things—and carbon reduction—is gathering steam. This is true of the 194 countries that have signed onto the Paris Accord, whether or not Trump withdraws from the agreement. Maybe together with these partners we can persuade him to change his mind.

Donald Trump should visit the Atlas Mountains, like earlier leaders, and see the snow-capped terrain and beauty for himself. It might persuade him they?re worth saving. The people of Morocco, especially the children, would be grateful.

Written By: The Rev. Richard Cizik, a Stafford County resident, is president of the New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good.