Advocacy and Action on Climate Change

30 experts of the WCC working group on climate change met last week in Wuppertal do discuss about the churches efforts to save the climate. Grace Ji-Sun Kim, Visiting Researcher at Georgetown University, USA, attended the meeting. Here is an excerpt from an article wirtten together with Guillermo Kerber from WCC.The WCC is addressing climate change for two specific reasons. First, churches in various parts of the world are recognizing how climate change consequences are affecting the lives and livelihoods of their communities. In an effort to respond to these challenges, churches are helping develop resilient communities, which are equipped to adapt to climate change. These churches benefit by learning from the work of other faith communities from around the world. The WCC has a unique ability to build networks and relationships between churches around the globe, and enhance their work in solidarity with all the churches of the world. Second, at the community level, churches of different denominations are coming together to respond to the impacts of climate change and to advocate at local and national levels policies that respond to the needs and rights of vulnerable populations. The WCC receives a growing number of requests for advice, theological reflection, worship materials and a holistic approach to these global concerns. Many members of the WCC Climate Change working group are also engaged in various work to fight for climate justice. A few examples demonstrate the breadth and diversity of these efforts. Julia Edwards who is the Climate Change and Relocation Researcher at The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) believes that: “The rights and dignity of people displaced by climate change need to be protected and upheld. The Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) offers hope through accompaniment during these uncertain times. The Nansen Initiative, a state led global project will support PCC to hold a Pacific civil-society workshop to raise awareness of the climate-change displacement issue.”There were a few young people within the WCC Climate Change working group who are active workers in climate justice. Pawel Pustelnik, who is a member of the Campaign Coordination Team at the Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE) shared: “The EYCE is an ecumenical umbrella organization consisting of national ecumenical youth councils, denominational youth councils or bodies or international Christian youth organizations. Our recent work has been focused on the Campaign to Promote Ecological Justice. Given the growing concern related to climate change and need to encourage initiatives regarding ecological justice we decided to launch a campaign to raise ecological awareness, empower youth to advocate for greener Churches and greener Europe as well as to explore the relation between ecology, economy, politics and numerous conflicts. We led several international training courses, study visits and a "Be Eco Heroes" project to make our network more sustainable and ecologically aware.”Climate change is affecting the most vulnerable in our society. Climate change is intertwined with issues of land, food, work, devastation and human flourishing. The most vulnerable are losing their land and are forced to live in other areas which have not yet been devastated by climate change. The poor are losing their means and ways of preserving the land. These threats to humanity and to the earth as a whole will only get worse.Religious leaders and church organizations must embrace the climate change challenge rigorously and with upmost priority. This is the focus of the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change to be held in New York on September 23, 2014. We must work towards influencing policy and actions to prevent Earth's temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius. Unlimited carbon pollution must be stopped. Advocacy for the earth must become a priority. Climate change skeptics must join in the journey for the protection and sustainability of the earth. We all need to gain hope in joining the task of climate justice. As the WCC continues to engage in the work towards protecting the integrity of creation, all must come together in this task to contribute to sustainability and advocacy for the earth.This article is a shortened version of an article published in the Huffington Post. Read the wohl article here: www.huffingtonpost.com/grace-jisun-kim/climate-change-advocacy_b_5344044.html

Advocacy and Action on Climate Change

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