Unusual weather conditions that led to a blanket of hail resembling snow falling on the Nyahururu area in central Kenya are the result of the plunder and pollution of the planet, says a Kenyan theologian and ecologist.
A new guide from the Church of England offers church leaders a template for a year-long programme of practical action to reduce their congregations' carbon footprints, as energy prices head upwards. The book, Don't Stop at the Lights, has already won praise from the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London among others.
The Anglican Diocese of Capetown is offering the following resources on its website 'A season of creation is a resource book on environmental issues: dealing with biodiversity, water, land, climate change, need not greed and stewardship.
The materials can be found here:
http://www.capetown.anglican.org/view.asp?pg=downloads
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has announced the church's support for raising awareness of ecological dangers threatening the planet.
Caring for the environment 'a moral imperative,' says bishop
Climate change affecting 'the poorest of the poor'
Anglican bishops gathered here for the Lambeth Conference are preparing a statement expressing their concern for the devastating effects of climate change which they say are affecting the world's poorest countries the most and urging churches to advocate for the environment as a moral imperative.
Churches have "no option" but to care for "God's environment" because "this is our core business theologically," Bishop George Browning, of the diocese of Canberra and Goulburn told a press conference.
The full article can be found here
Safeguarding the Integrity of Creation
A Statement from concerned Bishops at the Lambeth Conference August 2008
Genesis 1:27, 28. So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
Given the Ecological Crisis, what is the role of the church?
Kay Goldsworthy, Assistant Bishop of Perth, chaired a session in which both the science and the implications for moral leadership at a time when our very existence is under threat was considered.
The principal speaker, Professor Chris Rapley OBE, currently Director of the Science Museum and well known expert on climate change, outlined some of the indisputable evidence: the earth is a complex object with no manual, no spares and is finite. Its currently unhealthy state is being driven by human behaviour, and the need for fossil fuels that has happened within the last 200 years. The UN IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) wrote in 2007 that "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal". The effects of climate change can be seen in one off extreme events, which impact areas such as flooding in low lying coastal communities, as well as gradual changes.
the full article can be found here
The EU Budget, in not matching up to the EU's' objectives, fails to provide sufficiently for the European Common Good, concludes the Church of England House of Bishops' Europe Panel in a submission to the European Commission's Budget Review exercise calling for a greener Budget.
Urgent action is needed by the United States in response to global warming, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a March 31 letter to the U.S. Senate, urging Congress' upper house "to take up climate change legislation at the earliest possible moment."
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has said that the case for action on climate change is a moral as well as a practical one, challenging the world's rich and powerful nations to act with justice towards future generations and to the world's poorest.
European church leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, have warned governments that "Substantially reducing global emissions of greenhouse gasses will not avoid the serious impacts of climate change already experienced by many of the world's most vulnerable communities".
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has appointed Paula Clifford on a six month secondment from Christian Aid to help further the Church of England's quest for sustainable solutions to climate change, following on from the launch of the Church of England's "Shrinking the Footprint" initiative.
Bishop Geoff Davies is affectionately known as the "Green Bishop." Recently retired from Episcopal ministry in the Church of the Province of South Africa, Bishop Davies provides leadership for the Southern African Faith Communities' Environment Institute.
The Church of England will be marking World Environment Day (Monday 5 June) by taking a further step forward in the campaign to 'green' the Church. All parish churches are being invited to carry out an audit of current energy uses so that a benchmark can be established. Once the size of the current 'carbon footprint' of the Church has been assessed, the campaign will roll out initiatives to shrink that footprint.
The Church of England has been working with The Conservation Foundation on a series of events linked to the Foundation's Parish Pump Programme since 2001. The programme aims to provide environmental information to individuals actively involved in their local communities, both rural and urban, many of whom planted trees in the Foundation's Yews for the Millennium initiative. This nationwide project provided local communities with young yews propagated from ancient trees estimated to be 2000 years old or more to celebrate the third millennium. As a result, many members are associated with their parish church and the Parish Pump Workshops are an opportunity for the Church to act as host for Parish Pumps and others to meet one another together with representatives of local authorities and environmental organisations.
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