Climate change is also a European issue! Faith people of Europe; Wake up!

After returning from the ECEN assembly in Truggio outside Milan the European Environment Agency publish a report on the impacts of climate change to the European continent. The message is clear! Climate change will change the preconditions in Europe! And this is the time to act and that the emissions cut have to be essential!
This is not the first time it is said! We have heard this again and again. There seems to be something missing.

The missing piece must be the will to change, you might even call it the heart the drives you to action.
ECEN members better use the big words to their church structures when they return to the different European churches and more or less scream in their leaders ears; For Gods sake and for humans sake; We need to change and leave this fossil state of mind. Come on lets go on the renewable path!

Countdown to CO2penhagen

Final document from the ECEN assembly

After a day of hard working and some compromises the final document from the ECEN assembly is at hand.
To the institutions it says
"EU commitments must not be achieved through offsetting: significant cuts of greenhouse gas emissions have to be achieved through efforts here and now."
I hope that the churches really work for a pressure on the policy-makers to keep the pressure up! Look further at the ECEN website

The hard work of drafting papers

Saturday at ECEN assembly and all the delegates are more or less involved in the outcomes of the working groups and the appeal to the churches to act on climate change!
Some may say just papers and words! Where is the real action to the real challenge? Ok, that may be true, but don´t forget that words may make a difference between action and no action! If the word is like the so called good prophets of the old testament, inaction resulted in severe problems!
We are facing the same problem with those who neglect the urgency of climate change!
So hopefully good words from the ECEN assembly can get the churches to for Gods sake get their act together!

A silent ECEN assembly talks

Today the ECEN assembly gathered behind the cathedral in Milano for one hour of silence as a non violent action to get the attention of the Milanese inhabitants. All of this delegates standing in silence for an hour made some people to stop and hopefully to think.
Definitely there was a sharp contrast to the ongoing fashion week with the jet set of the consumption generation visiting the town! The gap between the rich and poor is clear on a day like this.And between those most affected by climate change and those who have influence the climate there is also a gap. But the difference is that when it come to richness there is winners and losers, when it comes to climate change there are just losers! Even if some will loose before others.
Time to close the gap! Time for a change, just for a change

Edman challenges the ECEN assembly to contribute with hope and action!

Stefan Edman, the Swedish biologist and writer gave a lecture at the ECEN assembly in Milano on Thursday. He wanted the churches to be contribute to the mitigation of Greenhouse Gases by get the attention of the wonder of being, to be a place for reconciliation, to be prophetic and cry out about the injustice of the climate change and to be a home for the hope of the possibility of another world.
I can only agree! The added value of faith communities must be on an ethical and mostly on a spiritual base! Let´s hope that faith communities of the world pick up this challenge.

Panel on churches contributions to the climate change agenda

The panel with representation from orthodox, reformed, roman-catholic, evangelical and an ethical perspective were all on the way to say that churches have something to bring into the climate change debate. But what?

European Catholic Bishops Conference have done a three pages document on climate change that will be published in October. Carl Golser say that it is not enough, even on individual level we have to act.
Otto Schaefer from reformed tradition says we need to educate pastors.
Dimitri Oikonomos , Orthodox means that churches can not serve as a vehicle to other forces. Churches must stand on their own ground.
Alfredo Abreu evangelical from Portugal want to see the churches working together with other organisations that want to move to a more sustainable direction. He also shared the experience of meeting the environmental minister from Brasil who said to him; - If you can make a lifestyle change in 1 percent of the population we will have a revolution in this country! Alfredo goes on "We have to draw from our conviction a change in small things. We have to do hands on work!"
Michael Slaby from Earth charter reminded us of the richness in different faith traditions to bring into the climate change debate!

The question from the floor is if the panel members are really aware of the urgency of the situation and I must agree! It is not enough to just sit on the side saying that God is a wonderful creator, and that we can look at how we use buildings.
We need very radical steps and the contribution of the churches must be to act in the debate with the poor people of the world in their focus. This is not an environmental issue, it is the key question to what future we will meet in just some decades and the urgency calls us as churches to speak out for a more equitable world.

At least Dimitri Oikonomos said that we need a new way of thinking, and that is maybe the churches can contribute to give space for new way of thinking.

ECEN Assembly alive!

Today ECEN Assembly embarked on the Climate Change discussion. Co Chair of the IPCC Jean Pascal Ypersele started the day with a very engaged introduction on were the scientist are now. There is absolutely no hesitation that we are affecting the climate with the emissions of greenhouse gases! To hear mr Ypersele was encouraging because he was very clear of the development agenda and the social repercussion of mitigating GHG. But the message was clear! Urgency to act now and to make considerable cuts now is what the new results of science tells us.
If I understood this right that means the 20 - 30 % that is EU:s position now is not just sufficient.

The Start of the Blame Game!

Just some months before Poznan meeting and a little more then a year before Copenhagen and hopefully a new treaty the tactics have started. Or you can call it a blame game! The Swedish minister of environment declared that developing countries with fast growing economies must do essential contributions when it comes to mitigation of greenhouse gases. Of course there are some truth in that but this does not mean that industrial countries can be passive. And if you look at per capita emissions there are no developing country that reach levels of industrial countries!

There is nothing good in this way of pointing fingers and say that others should do! If there is no solution to the question of burden sharing before Copenhagen we risk a situation of a locked up negotiations!

The idea in Greenhouse development Rights ( originating from Stockholm Environmental Institute and Christian Aid and others) can serve as a tool to lock this up.
In short it says that there is a threshold for doing mitigations. In a country like US 95 % of the population comes over that threshold but in China about 25%.
I hope that this can give some stimulation to new way of thinking and stop the blame game

Will EU take the lead in Poznan or will they wait for others to act? And what about Copenhagen 2009??

After spending 24 hours in Brussels listening to people inside the EU system I am concerned! What happened to the active EU at Bali saying 25 – 40 % reductions in industrialised countries?

Now it sounds like they will be satisfied with 20 % and maybe 30% reductions, but that will be tough anyway. And that is not just the domestic responsibilities. In this 20 – 30% they will count JI/CDM as being more cost effective than doing it as a “home work”.

It sounds to me like they don’t want to change or wait a little bit longer.
It is a moral obligation to act first domestic and also help developing countries to make a leap over the fossil period.

EU must act proactive. This is an opportunity seldom given to change. This is the chance of a lifetime to start the walk on the road of sustainability. And those who will be first will also be those who will have the technique to offer.
Come on EU and member states! Leave the fossil thinking behind. Think outside the box! The people of Europe doesn´t need to consume all the energy they do. We want to live more simple and not depend on insecure energy sources that being used as a political force. We want a mix of different energies that is renewable cause we know that we only have one earth.

European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN) - assembly on the real challenge of climate change

Later in September (24 - 28 September) ECEN will have their 7th assembly outside Milan in Italy. The theme of Assembly is The True Challenge of Climate Change. In the invitation you can read "The question not only concerns proper action but equally the link to theology as the foundation of the action. The intensifying awareness that churches and religions have the potential for a genuine contribution to the climate change debate will be at the centre of attention of the Assembly"

I hope that this Assembly will empower churches of Europe to be more active in climate change discussions. Climate Change is not only about who is going to pay. Since the situation is urgent we are more challenged then we ever been. The question of what a good life is, the question of justice, is at stake and we need to address them from a faith perspective.

Some might ask if this is really something for the Churches act upon? The answer is; Yes because this is about how we live together on this earth and how we share the gifts of creation. A silent church in these matters will not follow their assignment of being church.

I will come back to report on this Assembly when I will be at the assembly.

Australian Faith Communities does it !

Earlier in August an open letter from Australian religious leaders was published. They urge the Australian government to strong commitment to address the causes and consequences of climate change.
The list of signatories are impressive.
But also the short text of the letter is valuable because first ,it stresses the fact the most vulnerable to climate change must be in focus and second, that the religious leaders commit themselves to act.

They also call upon the Australian government to act both to mitigate their own emissions but also to support the adaptation to climate change in the Pacific Islands.

This is really needed! The Pacific Islands is somehow like the Canary in the coal mine. They are the first to be hit by climate change. And if the canary in the coal mile stops singing people know that they are in danger. The people of the pacific are still singing but they are singing out a warning; Time to act!