Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet


Taking action on climate change


A familiar phrase so easy to gloss over, yet indicative of a worsening reality – so what can I really do about climate change? By Sarah Croft

 
I have become immune to the words ‘climate change’.

Taken by Storm They are the words that I got taught in a geography lesson at school aged 11 where I learnt how to draw diagrams of the greenhouse effect with my new coloured pencils. I wrote an essay on the impact they are having on three different countries when I was 18 during my A level exams, frantically trying to recall average rainfall figures. These were words that a fisherman mentioned to me when I was standing next to his boat, aged 21, on a trip to Sierra Leone. And these are the words I heard on the news a couple of months ago when I saw pictures of flooded families from Somerset.

They are words that are now so ingrained into my everyday life that I all too easily pass over them when skimming a newspaper article or when hearing politicians debate on the radio.

On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report examining the reality of those two words. Instead of skimming over it, I am going to make sure I take the time to pause and reflect on our changing world.

I am going to remind myself that climate change isn’t just a geography class term, or a news topic. Climate change is affecting communities worldwide, with the poorest countries being hit the first and the worst.

But I will also remember that some communities across the world are already acting to create a sustainable, fair and secure future for everyone. For example thousands of Christian Aid supporters have sent emails to David Cameron and Nick Clegg over the last couple of weeks demanding they hold firm on their climate commitments at European talks.

I am going to remind myself of the power of the church to bring about change.  A church that provided welfare before there was the welfare state, the church that has a history of speaking out on behalf of the world’s poor.

I am going to remind myself of a climate of hope. The hope of a new kingdom on earth and the hope that change can be achieved.  I am going to remind myself of the Robert Kennedy quote:
 
‘Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’
 
I have a choice, to skim over climate change... or to pause, reflect and take action.



Sarah Croft is a campaigns officer at Christian Aid

 
Baptist Times, 31/03/2014
    Post     Tweet
Collaboration, and our worship of Jesus
Notes from the two keynote addresses from Dave Ferguson and Alex Harris at the first Everyone Everywhere national conference on 8 October
Israel-Palestine: I can’t keep up
Baptist church member David Nelson has travelled to Israel and the West Bank on three occasions in the past 24 months. He offers this reflection on events in the region
Dwelling in scripture
Anne Le Tissier outlines the practice of remaining in just one or a few Bible verses for an entire week or more, which is explored more fully in her new book 'Dwell – Inviting God’s Word to make a home in our lives, one day at a time'
Protests or race riots?
Justice enabler Wale Hudson Roberts reflects on this summer's race riots. In doing so, he asks: what role can Baptists Together play in addressing the voice of the far right, Islamophobia, and racism in church and society?
Should your faith rely solely on the Bible?
For many of us, the Bible is by far and away the book that has most influenced our lives. But as Baptists, Jesus is our number one authority, writes Chris Goswami
The Church, the far right, and the claim to Christianity
The far right has grown in prominence in recent years - with some cynically employing Christian-sounding language. Helen Paynter highlights the current context - and how the Church can respond
     The Baptist Times 
    Posted: 14/10/2024
    Posted: 02/10/2024
    Posted: 22/07/2024
    Posted: 07/05/2024
    Posted: 12/02/2024
    Posted: 22/12/2023
    Posted: 16/12/2023