UN conference told climate change is a ‘spiritual’ crisis
-08/12/05
A statement to be
UN conference told climate change is a ‘spiritual’ crisis
-08/12/05
A statement to be delivered tomorrow (Friday) to the UN climate change conference in Montreal will suggest that climate change is not only a technological, economic and ecological crisis but also a spiritual one.
The statement is to be delivered at the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol by the World Council of Churches (WCC) climate change programme coordinator Dr David G. Hallman.
In 2001, US President George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, which binds about 40 industrial nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
The Montreal talks are seeking ways to enlist both the United States and poor nations such as China and India in discussing ways to combat climate change beyond 2012.
The WCC statement may appeal to the Christian faith that teh US President professes.
“We would like to light a candle” is how the World Council of Churches (WCC) statement will begin.
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The statement, and the [non-fossil-fuel!] candle, will celebrate the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol, and evoke “the pain and disaster already suffered in various regions due to climate change”. It will signal that “time is running out” for negotiating equitable and sustainable targets for post-2012 when the present protocol expires.
The candle will also symbolize “that what we suffer from is not simply a technological, economic or ecological crisis, but a spiritual crisis”. It is for this reason that the statement includes a spiritual declaration on climate change drafted by faith community participants at the conference.
The declaration was circulated at an inter-faith ceremony attended by up to 1000 people at St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal on 4 December. In an earlier statement in support of WCC work on this issue, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I defined climate change as a “profoundly moral and spiritual problem”.
The WCC has been working on climate change ever since 1990, when this was identified by the scientific community as one of the most threatening social and ecological issues of our times, affecting creation as a whole.
Representatives from over 180 countries are meeting in Montreal to negotiate the future of action on climate change. The talks are primarily about next steps in implementing the Kyoto Protocol, including resources needed by developing nations for adaptation to the impacts of climate change. The parties are attempting to start a process of negotiation for a climate policy framework that will be needed once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Last weekend Christian Climate Change campaigners in the UK were part of a day of protests in London which focused on respect for God’s Creation and the need for more urgent responses to human-induced climate change.
UN conference told climate change is a ‘spiritual’ crisis
-08/12/05
A statement to be delivered tomorrow (Friday) to the UN climate change conference in Montreal will suggest that climate change is not only a technological, economic and ecological crisis but also a spiritual one.
The statement is to be delivered at the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the First Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol by the World Council of Churches (WCC) climate change programme coordinator Dr David G. Hallman.
In 2001, US President George W. Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol, which binds about 40 industrial nations to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 5 per cent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
The Montreal talks are seeking ways to enlist both the United States and poor nations such as China and India in discussing ways to combat climate change beyond 2012.
The WCC statement may appeal to the Christian faith that teh US President professes.
“We would like to light a candle” is how the World Council of Churches (WCC) statement will begin.
Related Articles
The statement, and the [non-fossil-fuel!] candle, will celebrate the coming into force of the Kyoto Protocol, and evoke “the pain and disaster already suffered in various regions due to climate change”. It will signal that “time is running out” for negotiating equitable and sustainable targets for post-2012 when the present protocol expires.
The candle will also symbolize “that what we suffer from is not simply a technological, economic or ecological crisis, but a spiritual crisis”. It is for this reason that the statement includes a spiritual declaration on climate change drafted by faith community participants at the conference.
The declaration was circulated at an inter-faith ceremony attended by up to 1000 people at St Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal on 4 December. In an earlier statement in support of WCC work on this issue, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I defined climate change as a “profoundly moral and spiritual problem”.
The WCC has been working on climate change ever since 1990, when this was identified by the scientific community as one of the most threatening social and ecological issues of our times, affecting creation as a whole.
Representatives from over 180 countries are meeting in Montreal to negotiate the future of action on climate change. The talks are primarily about next steps in implementing the Kyoto Protocol, including resources needed by developing nations for adaptation to the impacts of climate change. The parties are attempting to start a process of negotiation for a climate policy framework that will be needed once the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
Last weekend Christian Climate Change campaigners in the UK were part of a day of protests in London which focused on respect for God’s Creation and the need for more urgent responses to human-induced climate change.