climate change Archives - Page 7 of 13

Joyfully Live in Fellowship with Creation

January 23, 2016

Julie Cox and Sr Annette — Julie reunited with Sr Annette in Cameroon

Last month Julie Cox from St John Fisher Parish, Rochester, travelled to Cameroon to visit Sr Annette, who shares her deep conviction to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor. Here she shares her experience of “ecological conversion”.

In 2011, when the livesimply Parish Award Scheme was launched by CAFOD, I heard Fr. Sean McDonagh SSC speak passionately about the integrity of Creation and the impacts of climate change. A seed was sown and I continued to attend subsequent livesimply meetings, learning more about the connection between our Christian faith and human-ecology.

During a Creation-focused meeting at the Franciscan Study Centre, Canterbury, I had the good fortune to meet a Franciscan Sister from Cameroon, Sr Annette Tangwa TSSF. We became close friends, sharing a passion to restore Creation.

Find out more about becoming a liveSimply parish

I had the great privilege of reconnecting with my dear friend Sr Annette last November when I travelled to Cameroon. What struck me when I first arrived in this central African country was the warmth, openness and receptivity of the Cameroonian people. It was a truly wonderful experience to be among a rural community centred on the parish of the Sacred Heart, Shisong.

Continue reading “Joyfully Live in Fellowship with Creation”

Show Your Love and Share Your Heart for Valentine’s Day

January 15, 2016

Libby Abbott, Campaigns Coalition Manager at CAFOD, tells us how witnessing an act of kindness from a supporter on the Paris metro has inspired her to Show the Love and tackle climate change.

Crafted Green Hearts for Show the Love campaign — Green Hearts for Show the Love

In December, I had the privilege to travel with 21 CAFOD campaigners to Paris as part of the UN COP21 – where world leaders met and agreed a binding deal to tackle climate change. We had an incredible time bearing witness and participating in mass mobilisations around the Eiffel Tower.

We also had some very meaningful exchanges with Parisians. On the Paris metro, one campaigner, Jane, noticed a woman staring at a badge she was wearing. The badge was a heart made of green felt with the word ‘families’ embroidered across the front.

Jane explained to the Parisian that it represented families all over the world who would be affected by climate change. She then unpinned the green heart from her coat and gave it to the woman to keep. Looking back to me she said, ‘I guess I’ll just have to make another one for myself!’

Unbeknownst to Jane, she had just participated in a campaign action. CAFOD is teaming up with the Climate Coalition this Valentine’s Day to #ShowTheLove for all the things we hold dear that could be affected by climate change, from our families in the UK to the world’s poorest overseas. Continue reading “Show Your Love and Share Your Heart for Valentine’s Day”

CAFOD supporters reflect on Paris Climate Summit

January 15, 2016

Youth leaders: The People’s Climate March

January 13, 2016

Leah Fox is a volunteer at Youth Ministry Team in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. Here she reflects on her first experience of campaigning with CAFOD. In March Leah will be continuing her journey with CAFOD’s campaigning in a visit to Parliament with other youth leaders from across the country.

At the end of November I was asked to go and join CAFOD at the People’s Climate March in London. This was a peaceful demonstration to voice the opinion to world leaders that they need to act against climate change, just before they met in Paris to make some very important decisions. Climate change affects so many people across the world, but especially those living in poverty, so I was very excited to be joining others to help encourage world leaders to recognise and act on this issue.

SAMSUNG CSC — Leah (left) campaigning with other youth leaders at the climate march.

Get crafty and make, wear and share a green heart this Valentine’s Day

When I was asked to go, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had never been on any sort of march so I naively thought that there might be a few hundred people marching through London, interrupting people’s busy lives. So I was very surprised to join over 50,000 people walking from Hyde Park to Whitehall!

When we first arrived at the meeting point for the entire march we made our way to the section which had people from different faith groups marching together, towards the front. CAFOD was one of many faith-based charities that were marching. There were more people there already than I could ever have imagined. Soon we all had a CAFOD placard and a few others and myself drew green hearts on our faces to represent CAFOD. The energy from the march was amazing, with cheering, music and people talking over speakers. Politicians from every major political party spoke before the march to show what their party would do to prevent climate change.

Find out more about climate change

Blog 2 edited — The climate march took place ahead of the Paris COP where world leaders met to discuss climate change

Throughout the march we saw people from different charities marching on behalf of different reasons (some were even dressed as polar bears or bumble bees!) but despite the many reasons for people being there, it felt amazing to be united with so many people, marching for one outcome – to stop climate change. I got to talk to many people from CAFOD and other charities over the course of the march and talk about my faith and the amazing things we can do to help raise awareness of climate change and how it’s affecting communities across the world.

At the end of the day, we were all very tired from walking, but left the walk feeling very happy and fulfilled knowing that we had helped raise awareness to people that climate change is a problem and needs to be stopped.

Join our campaign, One Climate, One World to protect our common home.

Climate change campaign: Thank you

January 12, 2016

Sarah Hagger-Holt works in CAFOD’s campaigns team on the One Climate, One World campaign.

CAFOD campaigners at Paris climate talks Last month, I was part of something very special, a moment in history.

I was in Paris, joining hands with campaigners underneath the Eiffel Tower and praying outside the conference centre where a global climate deal was finally agreed.

At CAFOD, we know that faith groups, including Catholic campaigners, have a huge influence on politicians – including those from the 196 countries who agreed a deal to tackle climate change in December. Their dedication and tenacity often inspires and moves me.

It’s not often what they have done is publically acknowledged. But now it has been.

This letter from Christiana Figueres, who heads up the UN’s work on climate change, is addressed to you, and to everybody who took part in this campaign.

Read it, share it, print it out– this is for you. Thank you.

An open letter of gratitude to all

To those who walked, to those who prayed,
To those who sang, to those who cried,
To those who challenged, to those who supported,
To those who acted early,

To those who came with hope,
To those who came with facts,
To those who used the power of their influence,
To those who honored the public trust bestowed upon them,

To all those, the millions of people around the world
who laboured now and before,
so long and so hard, I say:
This is your success.

Individually for each of you, but more powerfully, collectively for all of us.

A critical milestone reached, a decisive turning point inscribed into history.

We have come together to address the most daunting of challenges. We have done so by respecting our differences and setting aside our enmity, by focusing on the present we share and the future we must build together.

As we celebrate this momentous step, may we remember that the journey ahead, although irreversible, will equally require our determination, our ingenuity, the best of our humanity and above all our community of purpose.

Together we can.

Christiana Figueres

All Saints Young Climate Bloggers reflect on food waste

December 9, 2015

Throughout this year we have been blogging for CAFOD about climate change. When I first started I thought it would be mostly just about global warming and saving energy, but I have learnt it is so much more than that. I have never really stopped to think about how the actions of people in this country affected the lives of those in poorer countries.

All Saints bloggers find out more about climate change

As well as saving energy, we need to think about how much of the earth’s resources we use and how wasteful we are.

Watch our Laudato Si’ animation and be inspired

Everyone talks about how we, as a country, need to save money and learn to live on less but I never really stopped to think about the big difference each family can make. Last week I watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s programme on food waste.

Continue reading “All Saints Young Climate Bloggers reflect on food waste”

Sr Karen: Why I’m travelling to Paris with CAFOD for climate change action

December 7, 2015

Sr Karen d’Artois OP is a Dominican nun from the Archdiocese of Westminster. She’s part of a delegation of CAFOD campaigners travelling to the UN ‘COP21’ meeting in Paris, calling on world leaders to agree to action on climate change to prevent people in the poorest communities being pushed deeper into poverty.

Sr Karen joined tens of thousands of people marching through London for action on climate change

I learned very young, when I was aged 10, that politics isn’t a ‘spectator sport’.

Studying Politics at university, I realised the same about my Catholic faith. That belief inspired my vocation as a Dominican Sister: to bring together faith and politics in the quest for truth.

To me, the idea that ‘faith has no place in politics’ is rubbish! Faith, in some form, is the basis of every person’s thinking and acting. Jesus criticised the unjust political and social circumstances of his day and appealed for change: he called it the Kingdom of God. As a follower of Jesus, I’m called to help build that Kingdom — where justice and opportunity are within everyone’s reach.

Learn about Pope Francis’s Encyclical

The Climate Summit in Paris is a chance to speak up for planet Earth and the goodness of creation. It’s at risk from our reckless behaviour and misuse of resources. Faith and politics aren’t opposites; they depend on one another. My Catholic faith is the foundation of my politics and activism, and politics informs my faith. Continue reading “Sr Karen: Why I’m travelling to Paris with CAFOD for climate change action”

Climate change: The Laudato Si’ challenge

November 23, 2015

Paul Kelly is a CAFOD supporter in the Lancaster diocese. He will be travelling to Paris in December 2015 as part of a supporter delegation at the time of the UN climate talks.

With the UN Summit on Climate Change due to start in Paris in a week’s time, it couldn’t have been better timing for a CAFOD study day on the Encyclical letter Laudato Si’.

Sign our petition to world leaders in response to Laudato Si’

As a CAFOD supporter, and member of the Lancaster Diocese Faith and Justice Commission Environment Group, I travelled from North-West England for the event, held on Saturday 7 November in Westminster Cathedral Hall.

Journey with us

The opening prayer litany set the tone: “If you are asking questions such as: What is the purpose of my life in this world? What is the goal of my work and all my efforts, then journey with us;” “If you think we were made for love and therefore that gestures of generosity, solidarity and care can well up within us, then journey with us.” Continue reading “Climate change: The Laudato Si’ challenge”

Pope Paul VI Lecture: Please join us on Friday 4 December

November 12, 2015

Cardinal Peter Turkson meets CAFOD's Director Chris Bain — Cardinal Peter Turkson meets Chris Bain

Director of CAFOD, Chris Bain, invites you to the upcoming annual Pope Paul VI Memorial lecture.

We are reaching that time of year when thoughts begin to turn to the start of Advent and the coming of Christmas. At CAFOD our thoughts also turn to our annual Pope Paul VI Memorial lecture. This year I am delighted that Cardinal Peter Turkson will be joining us to deliver the lecture on Friday 4 December. He will speak about the Church’s response to climate change in an address titled Care for Creation: how to protect and sustain our common home.

Reserve your free ticket for the CAFOD Pope Paul VI lecture

Cardinal Turkson has been president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. He is Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Coast, Ghana, and this year played a key role in communicating Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the environment.

We are especially glad that Cardinal Turkson is joining us this year as the lecture coincides with the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris when world leaders will meet to agree legally binding targets to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change. If successful, the talks will set governments on a more sustainable pathway for economic growth, protecting the planet and people from climate change.

At CAFOD we see the impact climate change is having across the world. In communities where we work, many are suffering from more frequent and extreme floods, storms, or droughts, pushing the most vulnerable people further into poverty. And farming families are struggling with more unpredictable seasons, meaning crops fail and livestock die because of a lack of food and water. We are called to respond to this.

Continue reading “Pope Paul VI Lecture: Please join us on Friday 4 December”

Young Climate Bloggers Celebration

November 10, 2015

On Thursday 5 and Friday 6 November, the CAFOD Young Climate Bloggers came down to Romero House for two packed days of reflection, workshops and celebration. Their original task was to blog monthly about climate change but they have gone above and beyond this. Since January, between them, they have written over 70 blogs and vlogs, spoken to MPs, raised money for those who are affected by climate change, have thousands of followers on social media accounts and raised awareness about climate change in their own communities and beyond.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLaXJS3bSmA&w=560&h=315]

CAFOD Young Climate Bloggers visit Romero House to celebrate their achievements.

Part of their task on the two days they were in Romero House was to produce a vlog, as a group, to reflect on their year of blogging. You can watch this above.

Young Climate Bloggers Rap

We’re the CAFOD bloggers and we’re here to stay

We’re from different schools from across the UK.

We’re talking to you ‘cause we care about the earth,

Protect the planet, show what it’s worth.

Continue reading “Young Climate Bloggers Celebration”