The world was made by God.
When we are out in the creation we experience the amazing presence of that creator in the trees, the animals the sea, the stars, the rivers and the intricacy of creation. And we feel at home in it, at one.
Part of the creation is the ecosystem and out harvests depend on the balance in our ecosystems. Our harvest depends on the weather. The climate is changing because of carbon emissions mostly caused by us using fossil fuels that have lain in the earth for thousands of years and we started to dig them up for energy, coal, oil, gas.
The US and China are the biggest pollutants and cows!
Just 100 companies in the petrochemical industry are causing the most damage. They include BP and Shell. Coal and oil need to stay in the ground and we need to move to renewables like the wind, waves and solar.
The use of chemicals and pesticides have also destroyed most of the wild life and birds in the countryside and killed the bees.
To change this we need to change our way of life and our attitudes. Most of all we need government and CEOs to get the message and save the planet.
We can do our bit by planting trees, wilding, using the car less, flying less, using more eco friendly products and not investing in fossil fuels. Ethical Investments. We can lobby and we can demonstrate.
The problem is that it is urgent. When we hear we have only so many years to live then we have mixed reactions. Sometimes we go into shock, we deny its happening. Sometimes we say surely not and try to bargain with the doctors, our families and God. Sometimes it kicks us into action and it’s the same with the planet. We need to be kicked into action.
'Thus says the Lord:
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 Also I raised up sentinels for you:
‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O people of God, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words;
and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
See, I am laying before this people
stumbling-blocks against which they shall stumble;
parents and children together,
neighbour and friend shall perish'. Jeremiah 6:16-19, 21
Stand at the crossroads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way lies; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 Also I raised up sentinels for you:
‘Give heed to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not give heed.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O people of God, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; I am going to bring disaster on this people,
the fruit of their schemes,
because they have not given heed to my words;
and as for my teaching, they have rejected it.
21 Therefore thus says the Lord:
See, I am laying before this people
stumbling-blocks against which they shall stumble;
parents and children together,
neighbour and friend shall perish'. Jeremiah 6:16-19, 21
Sadly some people are paid by the 100 companies I mentioned to make sure we do not know what is really happening because of their profits. And continued to assure us that that we did not need to worry.
'They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace.' Jer. 8:11
The young people demonstrating are saying: It’s time to act like your house is on fire.
Living with climate change is a reality and we will all have to make adjustments, some large and some small.
Living with climate change is a reality and we will all have to make adjustments, some large and some small.
David Attenborough has said 'we cannot be radical enough' in our action on climate change. Young people need a future but this is at risk because of people in power with a great deal of money.
Young people have taken to the streets every month since February to call on the UK government and those in positions of power to take the necessary steps to tackle the climate crisis and create a better world.
For many of the children out on strike, they are too young to vote and so they do not have a say in who forms their governments. Yet it is children and teenagers who are realising the gravity and urgency of tackling climate breakdown in ways our political leaders have so far failed to grasp.
Along with poor communities around the world already suffering from the lack of political action, young people will bear the brunt of our failure to act.
The phrase ‘out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom’ is appropriate. Psalm 8.
Our economic system, the relentless burning of fossil fuels, the degradation of natural systems and the extraction of resources has pushed us to the brink of irreversible disaster. Climate Change has and will destroy homes, wrecked lives and displaced people from their land. (Australia)
Movements throughout history have played a part in bringing about transformation.
The World Bank has estimated that there will be 143 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America alone that will be forced to migrate due to climate breakdown, by 2050. Why should people in developing countries, who have barely contributed to this warming, have to take the brunt? We are the ones who have caused this damage and we need to accept this truth and do as much as we can to slow down the climate breakdown.
We can all try to live a simple and sustainable life, for example, by only buying the clothes and resources that we need rather than want; buying second hand; giving away or reusing products which still have life in them; and buying locally sourced produce to reduce airmiles. We can eat less meat. We can demonstrate, we can write letters and call on the government, businesses and people to act.
Since 1906 the global surface temperature has increased by more than 0.9 degrees Celsius. Nearly 500 animals have become extinct. We need to commit to a low-carbon sustainable community. Our politicians must do something and now.
The climate crisis is rooted in inequality: for hundreds of years our global economy has been a place where a few have been winning whilst others have been losing out. Those who have lost out are now, as we speak, being hit by climate breakdown.
As Ian Christie from the University of Surrey said: “Four in five of us are, to some extent, members of faith communities. If just a fraction of this huge body of believers were to connect their faith to sustainable development and act accordingly, with the support of their institutions, the gain could be world-changing."
Churches have much to offer the movement for climate justice. We can speak out with moral clarity, reach across difference, speak with both love and conviction.
To achieve these goals we need prayer and campaigns, changing energy suppliers, lobbying, applying pressure, public statements, social media, pledges, reducing and removing single items – anything and everything you can do to support this cause.
In “What were fighting for Now is each other” Wen Stephenson writes;
“Because what we are fighting for now is each other…” p.208
We are fighting for a future for our children and grandchildren and the future of the planet because we are Gods people.
What can you commit to today that helps fight global warming?
