Our Climate is in Our Hands
27 March 2009
CAFOD (Catholic Agnecy for Overseas Development) Manager in the Clifton Diocese, Tony Vassallo reports on the launch of CAFOD’s Climate Justice Campaign.
“If the motivation to do something about climate change is guilt, it will be very short lived, but if we act out of love and faith it will flourish.”
With these words from Bishop Declan’s opening address, CAFOD’s Climate Justice Campaign was launched in the Clifton Diocese in front of CAFOD supporters from around the diocese who packed into St Teresa’s Social Centre in Filton, Bristol.
They heard Bishop Declan deliver a message of hope. He emphasised the importance of linking our faith with everyday life and action. He spoke of the need for us to share in the care of creation as we are part of God’s creation and therefore of the environment. Bishop Declan concluded by urging us not to lose hope when faced with problems and challenges as God is ever creative and imaginative and asks us to be creative and imaginative with him.
CAFOD’s Director Chris Bain, explained that because poverty and climate change are so intertwined, climate change runs through most of CAFOD’s work. CAFOD has increased its capacity to respond to emergencies and is taking on leadership roles within the Caritas network of Catholic humanitarian agencies - and in its programmes.
Chris encouraged us to ask our church leaders to speak out with us against the destruction of God’s creation and the impoverishment of humanity. Picking up on Bishop Declan’s message of hope he urged us to have hope in our hearts so that we could look back on 2009 and proclaim it a watershed year when world leaders really did lead and decided to act and began the process of ending poverty and creating climate justice.
Lay Sophea and Khim Sarin - CAFOD partners from Cambodia - spoke of the human face of climate change in Cambodia. They told of the vast changes in weather which have become more extreme causing food shortages, and impacting on drinking water and health. They explained how floods and droughts destroy crops and, unable to grow rice any longer, people are forced to forage in the forests for plants to feed their children - plants they would normally feed to pigs - or to chop down and sell wood and bamboo from the forest in order to earn money. There was a real concern and fear that if such activity continued it would result in the destruction of the forest which local people firmly believed was the source of all life.
With CAFOD’s help, they said, communities in Cambodia are being supported to adapt to the effects of climate change by providing small scale irrigation, fishponds, planting drought resistant seeds, and raising awareness of climate change in their communities.
Their concluding message was that although communities were adapting to climate change, they could only do so to a certain extent and it was vital for the international community to provide them with support and technology.
The final speaker was Neil Thorns, CAFOD’s Head of Advocacy, who said that for CAFOD climate change is not just a development challenge, but a matter of justice. He added that as there’s strength in numbers and that climate change is an issue which crosses borders, CAFOD is working in coalition with 170 Catholic organisations across Europe and the world so that governments around the world would get the same message. With the nations of the world coming together in Copenhagen in December, there was a real opportunity to agree a just and equitable deal to succeed the Kyoto Treaty. However, it was imperative for the UK government to continue its good work from the Climate Change Act and show strong leadership within the EU to help people to flourish in developing countries; provide necessary support for developing countries, and tackle the root causes of the problem by cutting emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Neil said there was much we could do to help. The first step is to sign an action card calling on the UK Government to get fair deal at the UN and then get everyone else to sign one as well. There were many other actions to take all of which were contained in an action pack available from CAFOD.
Neil also explained an online action in the shape of an online ‘garden’ which is featured on the websites of Catholic development agencies from around the world inviting people to leave messages of support and for every message left a plant will appear in the online garden. By clicking on the plants, messages can be read from people in countries across this Catholic network - all calling for climate justice.
The Bristol parishioner who’s the inspiration for Sound of Many Waters - Mary Colwell joined Bishop Declan, Chris Bain, Lay Sophea and Khim Sarin on the panel taking questions from the floor. Questions ranged from the responsibility of emerging economies in relation to climate change to local environmental issues and reflected the depth of interest and concern for climate justice.
Supporters responded positively to what they’d heard and before leaving signed the CAFOD action cards and took away bundles back to their communities.
Our climate is in our hands - please join CAFOD’s Climate Justice Campaign.
You can listen to Mary Colwell’s podcast report from the event in the multimedia panel on the right.
Tony Vassallo
CAFOD (Catholic Agnecy for Overseas Development) Manager in the Clifton Diocese, Tony Vassallo reports on the launch of CAFOD’s Climate Justice Campaign.
“If the motivation to do something about climate change is guilt, it will be very short lived, but if we act out of love and faith it will flourish.”
With these words from Bishop Declan’s opening address, CAFOD’s Climate Justice Campaign was launched in the Clifton Diocese in front of CAFOD supporters from around the diocese who packed into St Teresa’s Social Centre in Filton, Bristol.
They heard Bishop Declan deliver a message of hope. He emphasised the importance of linking our faith with everyday life and action. He spoke of the need for us to share in the care of creation as we are part of God’s creation and therefore of the environment. Bishop Declan concluded by urging us not to lose hope when faced with problems and challenges as God is ever creative and imaginative and asks us to be creative and imaginative with him.
CAFOD’s Director Chris Bain, explained that because poverty and climate change are so intertwined, climate change runs through most of CAFOD’s work. CAFOD has increased its capacity to respond to emergencies and is taking on leadership roles within the Caritas network of Catholic humanitarian agencies - and in its programmes.
Chris encouraged us to ask our church leaders to speak out with us against the destruction of God’s creation and the impoverishment of humanity. Picking up on Bishop Declan’s message of hope he urged us to have hope in our hearts so that we could look back on 2009 and proclaim it a watershed year when world leaders really did lead and decided to act and began the process of ending poverty and creating climate justice.
Lay Sophea and Khim Sarin - CAFOD partners from Cambodia - spoke of the human face of climate change in Cambodia. They told of the vast changes in weather which have become more extreme causing food shortages, and impacting on drinking water and health. They explained how floods and droughts destroy crops and, unable to grow rice any longer, people are forced to forage in the forests for plants to feed their children - plants they would normally feed to pigs - or to chop down and sell wood and bamboo from the forest in order to earn money. There was a real concern and fear that if such activity continued it would result in the destruction of the forest which local people firmly believed was the source of all life.
With CAFOD’s help, they said, communities in Cambodia are being supported to adapt to the effects of climate change by providing small scale irrigation, fishponds, planting drought resistant seeds, and raising awareness of climate change in their communities.
Their concluding message was that although communities were adapting to climate change, they could only do so to a certain extent and it was vital for the international community to provide them with support and technology.
The final speaker was Neil Thorns, CAFOD’s Head of Advocacy, who said that for CAFOD climate change is not just a development challenge, but a matter of justice. He added that as there’s strength in numbers and that climate change is an issue which crosses borders, CAFOD is working in coalition with 170 Catholic organisations across Europe and the world so that governments around the world would get the same message. With the nations of the world coming together in Copenhagen in December, there was a real opportunity to agree a just and equitable deal to succeed the Kyoto Treaty. However, it was imperative for the UK government to continue its good work from the Climate Change Act and show strong leadership within the EU to help people to flourish in developing countries; provide necessary support for developing countries, and tackle the root causes of the problem by cutting emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Neil said there was much we could do to help. The first step is to sign an action card calling on the UK Government to get fair deal at the UN and then get everyone else to sign one as well. There were many other actions to take all of which were contained in an action pack available from CAFOD.
Neil also explained an online action in the shape of an online ‘garden’ which is featured on the websites of Catholic development agencies from around the world inviting people to leave messages of support and for every message left a plant will appear in the online garden. By clicking on the plants, messages can be read from people in countries across this Catholic network - all calling for climate justice.
The Bristol parishioner who’s the inspiration for Sound of Many Waters - Mary Colwell joined Bishop Declan, Chris Bain, Lay Sophea and Khim Sarin on the panel taking questions from the floor. Questions ranged from the responsibility of emerging economies in relation to climate change to local environmental issues and reflected the depth of interest and concern for climate justice.
Supporters responded positively to what they’d heard and before leaving signed the CAFOD action cards and took away bundles back to their communities.
Our climate is in our hands - please join CAFOD’s Climate Justice Campaign.
You can listen to Mary Colwell’s podcast report from the event in the multimedia panel on the right.
Tony Vassallo
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