Canon Jeff Golliher, Anglican UN Office Program Consultant for the Environment and Sustainable Development, has provided the following summary report. The official in-depth report from the Anglican Observer’s delegation is in preparation.
As church bells rang throughout the world Dec. 13 to mark Christianity's commitment to combating climate change, Anglican leaders were making their voices heard about global warming in Copenhagen, Denmark.
A Statement from the Anglican Communion Environmental Network
In preparation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference Of Parties (COP) Meetings to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December, the Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) has issued a statement to Anglicans Worldwide, to COP Delegates, Faith Community Representatives, Observer Organizations, and Friends of Creation.
Lecture given by Bishop George Browning Oxford England August 2009.
…The dominant economic narrative of our time is one of exponential growth. Without growth, so we are told, we face recession or depression. Economic growth has reaped enormous prosperity for those of us who live in the West. We are at least twice as prosperous as our grandparents were 50 and more years ago. However it is not rocket science to understand that exponential growth, based upon an expanded exploitation of natural resources is simply not sustainable in the long term. If all the world were to enjoy the life style enjoyed by most in the west, a life style and level of development which the Chinese and Indians rightly tell us they are morally entitled to, we need much more than one planet….
The Full Article can be found here:http://acen.anglicancommunion.org/resources/docs/Christian responses to Climate Environmental issues.pdf
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a lecture at the Ebor Lecture, York Minster, to spell out why respect for the environment is not an optional extra, particularly for Christians. Dr Williams suggests that "we are capable of changing our situation"; in "Christian terms, this needs a radical change of heart, a conversion." The Ebor Lectures are a series of lectures which aim to relate faith to public concerns.
The full article can be found here: http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2351
Archbishop Desmond Tutu has lent his voice to Earth Hour's global call for action on climate change.
“Climate change is the greatest human induced crisis facing the world today. It is totally indiscriminate of race, culture and religion. It affects every human being on the planet,” said the Archbishop.
Archbishop David Moxon has told an international press conference that the Anglican Communion should offer "moral leadership" in the campaign against global warming.
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