How should the Church respond to a declaration of a climate emergency?
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This curation of articles indicates that a response may soon be expected from Church leadership. The Green Christian group urges the UK to join more than 400 local authorities and declare a climate emergency.
More than 400 local authorities worldwide have declared a Climate Emergency, pledging to take decisive action to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and engage citizens to do likewise. In the UK nearly 300 arts and cultural institutions and individuals have joined nearly 70 local authorities in doing so. Opposition Leader Jeremy Corbyn is seeking a Commons debate on the matter this week.
Green Christian is calling on the national governing bodies of Churches and denominations to use their moral leadership and spiritual insight to help mobilise change. A declaration of emergency can act as a catalyst for rapid, focused, co-ordinated and equitable action across society, and help individuals make sacrificial choices which reach well beyond the incremental change achieved so far 1
Climate Mobilization calls for the rapid and just transformation of the physical economy and society at large, delivering an integrated package of solutions for a regenerative, zero emissions and safe-climate economy, geared toward reversing global warming and the 6th mass extinction of species as rapidly as possible.
The U.S. must launch a Climate Mobilization at emergency speed, on a scale not seen since the mobilization leading up to and during World War II.2
Henry Nicholls of REUTERS reports that after protests, Britain's parliament declares climate change 'emergency' by backing a call by opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for “rapid and dramatic action” to protect the environment for generations to come.
The measure was passed as an opposition motion, using a procedure typically ignored by the ruling party, and has no direct consequences for policy.
But it is a nod to an increasing vocal activist movement particularly among young people in Europe, who have staged school strikes and civil disobedience campaigns to demand action.
Eleven days of protests by the Extinction Rebellion activist group caused major disruptions in central London in recent weeks, and Swedish schoolgirl campaigner Greta Thunberg addressed lawmakers on a high profile visit.3
Andrea Gunn reports that Canada could be the next country to declare a climate emergency if a government motion tabled Thursday passes. The Feds are poised to declare a national climate emergency.
Following countries like the U.K. and Ireland, as well as municipalities like Halifax, a motion tabled by environment minister Catherine McKenna is calling on the government of Canada to declare that Canada is in a national climate emergency, and to go above and beyond its Paris Agreement obligations by pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.
On Wednesday, following McKenna’s announced intentions to table the motion, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh tabled their own climate emergency motion that was defeated in a vote Thursday afternoon. The NDP motion contained similar language surrounding the Paris Agreement and keeping climate change below 1.5 degrees, but also included additional points calling on the government to prioritize reconciliation with Indigenous people and ensuring workers don't get left behind when implementing its climate change strategy. The NDP bill also called for immediately ending all fossil fuel subsidies and axing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
Emma Norton with the Halifax-based Ecology Action centre said while the motions are meaningful, actions are key.
“It’s very exciting to see two motions put forward in one week to address the fact that we’re in a climate emergency,” she said. “But these declarations do not change policy.”
Norton signalling Canadians and to the international community that climate change is a priority is only meaningful if there are corresponding measures that enact the change necessary to mitigate that emergency and hold the federal government accountable to its climate change goals.4
Kady O'Malley reports on May 14, 2019 that Competing ‘climate emergency’ motions are set to hit the House this week.
Last week, the government served notice that it intended to put forward a motion that would allow the House “to debate the rising climate emergency across Canada,” which was dutifully filed by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna on Monday.
If passed, it would have the House formally declare that Canada “is in a national climate emergency which requires, as a response, that Canada commit to meeting its national emissions target under the Paris Agreement and to making deeper reductions in line with the … objective of holding global warming below two degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.”5
Margaret Bullitt-Jonas reports that U.S. religious leaders including Dr. Richard W. Miller, Professor of Philosophical Theology and Sustainability Studies, Creighton University, and inventor and tech business entrepreneur David W. Carroll, author a report entitled “Religious Declaration of Unprecedented Human Emergency”.
The third lead author of the Religious Declaration, inventor and tech business entrepreneur David W. Carroll, asserted: “There is no moment more critical for all-out personal and cooperative action.In my view, the Religious Declaration of Unprecedented Human Emergency successfully avoids both risks. It presents a menu of effective solutions. And it also lifts up the need to tackle both the ecological and the economic crises. As Pope Francis stated in his encyclical, Laudato Si’, we need to hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor – neither one can be adequately addressed alone.
That is why Religious Declaration supports “the bold direction of the Green New Deal, or other similar science-based proposals, as an opportunity for this country to commit to stabilizing the climate while creating ‘unprecedented levels of prosperity and economic security for all people of the United States.’ This specifically includes low-income communities, communities of color, and those that have historically been marginalized or underserved. The Green New Deal is the first resolution that addresses the climate crisis with the urgency, focus, and comprehensiveness that the situation requires. Our nation mobilized every part of society during World War II and the Great Depression. Like the Greatest Generation, we must rise to the occasion and commit to doing what science says it takes to avoid irreversible catastrophic climate chaos and make a rapid and just transition to a clean energy economy.”6
Emma Norton with the Halifax-based Ecology Action centre is quoted noting that while the motions are meaningful, actions are key.
The Church in Canada, through national bodies like the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and locally from the episcopal leadership, will be expected to address the action required by members of the Church in response to these emergency declarations.
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