Tag: environment

Climate campaign: Turn your talent and faith into action

June 6, 2015

Megan Cornwell is CAFOD’s UK News Officer working on the One Climate, One World campaign.

This summer, people of all faiths and none from across the country are knitting, stitching, sewing and speaking up, all for the love of our brothers and sisters overseas who are being driven deeper into poverty because of extreme weather like floods, droughts and typhoons.

Whether you’re a seasoned campaigner or just passionate about your faith and our world, Wednesday 17 June is our opportunity to meet our newly-elected MPs and speak up.

Join us on 17 June and Speak Up to your MP at Westminster

If you can’t make the event, you can still make bunting to show your MP what you love and could lose to climate change. Here, four supporters tell us how they’re turning their talent and faith into action for our One Climate, One World campaign.

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Listening to the cry of the earth

April 22, 2015

Today on International Mother Earth Day, Rachel McCarthy from the CAFOD Theology Programme reflects on listening to creation. This is the third of a series of blogs ahead of Pope Francis’ encyclical on human development and ecology, expected to be published this summer.

Flowers in Nicaragua
A blossom of flowers in Nicaragua

“The cry of the poor and the cry of the earth are one.”

(Canadian Bishops Conference, 2003)

We are called to open our hearts and hear what creation is saying to us.

But what does it mean to truly listen to our sisters and brothers across the world, and to the earth?

Listening to God’s creation 

The call to listen to creation is grounded in our belief that all of the earth reflects God’s glory.

Scripture reveals the inherent goodness of creation as made by God. Jesus talked to his disciples about the natural beauty of

the flowers in the fields, and said, “Not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these” (Matthew 6:28-30).

All living beings are made by God, and we have a deep connection with the whole of creation. Indeed, God establishes an everlasting covenant with all creatures on earth (Genesis 9:16).

Humankind, as created in the image of God, is simultaneously interconnected with all creatures and is given a special role to care for creation.

Inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of ecology, we remember that we are all members of the eco-family. We are called to praise the Creator God together with our ‘Brother Sun’ and ‘Sisters moon and stars’.

Contemplate the beauty of creation with our reflections

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Seven (and a half) reasons 2015 is the year for action on climate change

January 12, 2015

Sophie Dodgeon, Head of Campaigns at CAFOD.
Sophie Dodgeon, Head of Campaigns at CAFOD.

CAFOD’s Head of Campaigns, Sophie Dodgeon, gives us the lowdown on what to watch out for in the year ahead – and explains why 2015 is such a crucial year for action on climate change.

Sign our climate petition to party leaders

1. It’s a year to say goodbye. In 2015, we reach the end of both the Kyoto Protocol and the Millennium Development Goals. Both are UN processes which set targets for governments to meet.

The Kyoto Protocol covered carbon emissions, and the Millennium Development Goals gave a global framework to measure progress on ending poverty – from improving access to education to reducing the number of women dying in childbirth.

 2. It’s a year to make a new start. The end of past agreements means the pressure is on this year to set new goals and agreements to spur us on into the future.

In September, all eyes will be on New York, where there will be a major UN summit to agree a set of new Sustainable Development Goals. How far climate change is recognised in the new goals is still being negotiated. CAFOD is already involved, getting our overseas partners’ concerns heard at the highest level.

Next is Paris. By the end of 2015, all countries need to agree how they will cut carbon emissions and what collective action they will take to respond to the impact of changes in the climate (for instance, what funding they will provide to enable developing countries to cope with adapting to change).

Each country will make a pledge saying what they will do about climate change. The UK will pledge as part of the European Union.

Discussions have already started; some of the main pledges are expected to be agreed by March. The global deal itself needs to be thrashed out at a fortnight-long meeting called the COP 21 (Conference of the Parties) in Paris in December 2015.

For the sake of the communities that we work with, the deal needs to be ambitious, binding and fair to the poorest people.

Take action today and email party leaders telling them why you care about climate change.

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