WCC Meeting on Climate Justice
I have been part of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working Group on Climate Justice since 2013. We meet yearly but during the pandemic, we met online. Therefore, it was really wonderful to see my ecumenical friends face to face in Ban Herrenalb, Germany, August 27-29, 2022.
During our meeting, we made plans for COP27 and other future WCC Assembly work and activities. WCC has made a commitment to prioritize climate action and climate justice. This commitment is important as climate change is one of the biggest justice issues of our time.
During our meeting, it was crucial to meet with the Indigenous People’s Reference Group. They shared some of their work and also shared their stories of how they have always lived with climate justice.
I believe that we have much to learn from Indigenous People and we cannot work on climate justice without listening to them. They have lived in harmony with the earth for 1000’s of years and it is only in the last 150 years that our western and industrial lifestyles have begun to ruin the earth.
We need to acknowledge our role in colonialism, genocide and displacement of Native Americans so that we can engage and learn from and from their commitment to climate justice. Without repenting of our sins, we cannot work towards climate justice as all these social justice issues are intersectional.
Overall, it was a productive meeting and we will continue to work and advocate for climate justice and sustainability.
A book discussion on “Making Peace with the Earth: Action and Advocacy for Climate Justice” was held at the ecumenical center on 29 September 2016.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Feel free to read my post for Duke Divinity School’s Faith and Leadership post.
If we want to change the climate crisis, we need to put our money into it
Crucial steps toward saving our earth include analyzing our money and divestment, a religious scholar says.
Link to author Grace Ji-Sun Kim
By Grace Ji-Sun Kim Professor, Earlham School of Religion
When I attended a portion of COP26, the U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow at the end of 2021, nearly 200 countries negotiated the Glasgow Climate Pact, which included the first mention of fossil fuels in the final draft of a COP summit.
Signatories committed to “accelerating efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, recognizing the need for support towards a just transition.”
One of the largest contributors to our present climate crisis is fossil fuels — coal, crude oil and natural gas formed from fossilized plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Click here to read more.