Climate Change
Jesus challenged us to treat everyone as neighbours (Luke 10:30-37). He knew how easy it is to love our friends while ignoring people we will never meet or who live on the other side of the world.
The Government Department for International Development put it like this,
"Only a few degrees of increased temperature separate us from dangerous climate change. The consequences of this will be devastating, especially in poor countries where poverty will increase and development will go into reverse.
In some ways global challenges, like poverty and climate change can be seen as great dividers - exposing the degrees of separation between people who can afford to cope and people who cannot.
But equally, they can bring distant communities together, united against a common threat. Although it is the world's poorest countries that face the greatest challenge, we live in an increasingly globalised world: we're all in this together. Tackling poverty and climate change is a priority for us all."
In the words of United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, "The developing world needs to stop viewing climate change solely as an environmental issue, and begin approaching it as a development concern. Our changing climate is a result of unsustainable development practices. And it is a serious threat to human progress everywhere."
According to the Red Cross, "nine out of ten people killed and affected by natural disasters come from developing countries, underlying the link between poverty and vulnerability to disaster."
So this is why we have prioritised Climate Change as an area of injustice most affecting the poorest people of the world today.
If we are causing climate change and do nothing it will be too late. The effects are irreversible once they have occurred. We can't afford to do nothing.
The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put together an amazing 52 page report in 2007 that looks at the current effects of climate change and predicts what will have happened by the end of the century if we do nothing.
Here are some of its predictions:
A temperature rise of a further 2 degrees would have devastating effects:
Approximately 20-30% of plant and animal life will be at an increased risk of extinction.
A decrease in rainfall in the driest areas of the world and an increase in rainfall in the wettest areas of the world will lead to an increase in drought and flooding. Both will cause more famine, poverty and greater health risks.
A massive increase in the frequency and severity of weather related disasters will occur all over the world.
Of course, it is the poorest people and the poorest countries that will be affected the most, inevitably leading to more poverty and more death.
The message is simple:
1. Reduce the amount of energy we are using.
2. Reuse as many things as we can instead of throwing them out.
3. Recycle as many items as you can.
Every day I have to remind myself that climate change is about justice.
We are doing the most to cause climate change and yet it's the poor, who have done the least to cause the problems, who are suffering the most.
We have a responsibility to love each other and to love justice.
Producing ever-increasing levels of carbon dioxide, which devastate the lives of the world's poorest people, isn't meeting these responsibilities.
Jesus' life was all about challenging injustice and reflecting God's heart. Ours should be, too.
Here are some websites that we have found useful:
Government Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
