Tag: Environment

Aim higher on climate change

Post author By revivewa
Post date September 16, 2015

“The Uniting Church views climate change as a most serious threat to humanity that must be tackled urgently,” said the moderator of the Uniting Church in Western Australia, Rev Steve Francis.

“The time has come to aim higher on climate change action. The Australian Government, along with global leaders, has a unique opportunity at the upcoming United Nations climate talks in Paris to commit to carbon emission reduction targets that prevent the worst impacts of climate change.”

At the Uniting Church’s 39^th meeting of the Synod of Western Australia over the weekend, members of the Synod paused to make a symbolic action calling for stronger action on climate change.

“Western Australia is particularly exposed to changes in climate with noticeable impacts already being felt in our agricultural sector and urban water supply. The unique and vulnerable flora and fauna species of the South West are at particular risk and we feel a responsibility to advocate for this wonderful network of ecosystems,” Steve said.

Tags Environment

News & Announcements

Emerging faith leaders calling for action on climate change

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 22, 2015

Jessica Morethorpe, First Third specialist for the Metro West Region of the Uniting Church in WA, recently travelled to Rome to join hundreds of other faith leaders in thanking Pope Francis for his encyclical, Laudato Si’. She shares her experience with Revive.

We came from all over the world, from many faiths and many countries, but with one cause and one message: we need to act on climate change. We came to thank Pope Francis for taking leadership in this area by releasing Laudato Si’ (his teaching letter on care for our common home – the Earth), and to ask world leaders to prepare to take action at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s supreme decision-making body, COP climate negotiations to be held in Paris in December. We brought our stories of the effects of climate change we are already experiencing in our countries, and our hopes and dreams for a better future for ourselves and our children than currently seems possible.

We had come to Rome for the Emerging Leaders Multi-Faith Climate Convergence (ELMCC), a meeting of about 100 delegates chosen from over 400 applications worldwide to discuss the climate crisis and what we can do together to create change. To launch the convergence, on 28 June we joined about 5000 people to march from Piazza Farnese to St Peter’s Square, with a range of signs and artistic symbols telling a story of what needs to happen. We also handed out large leaves with quotes from major faith leaders about climate change on them. They were so popular the whole square turned green for the Pope’s weekly message.

Tags Environment

News & Announcements

Australian Government must heed Pope’s call for action on climate change

Post author By revivewa
Post date June 19, 2015

The Uniting Church in Australia welcomes Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on the environment, Laudato Si (Canticle of the Sun) and will be praying for Australian leadership on climate change.

Rev Prof Andrew Dutney, president of the Uniting Church in Australia said, “It is timely and encouraging to have a global church leader speak so unequivocally about the human causes of destructive climate change.

“In addressing his message to all people, Pope Francis is encouraging us to recognise that we will only succeed at halting the effects of damaging climate change if we all work together,” said Andrew.

The papal encyclical urges ‘enforceable international agreements’ to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the rapid take-up of renewable energy, and emphasises the importance of supporting renewable energy in the developing world to help alleviate global poverty.

The Uniting Church has been concerned with the wise use of energy and the need to protect the earth for future generations since its inception in 1977. In 2006 it declared climate change a “serious threat to the future and integrity of life on earth” and in 2009, in its statement An Economy of Life, called for a reimagining of our social and economic systems to prioritise human and ecological wellbeing ahead of profits for corporations and increasing wealth for the few.

Rev Elenie Poulos, national director of UnitingJustice Australia, said, “Pope Francis rightly points to the need to urgently curb the consumerism, greed and unchecked economic growth that is driving our global economy.

“It is a powerful global call to action that will be difficult for some political leaders to hear. Yet, we desperately need leadership on climate change here in Australia”, said Elenie.

“We have called on the Government to reconsider its position on climate change, better support renewable energy and take a strong emissions reduction target of at least 40% of 2000 levels by 2020 to the international negotiations in Paris later this year.”

Rev Prof Andrew Dutney said, “As one of the world’s major producers of greenhouse gas emissions on a per capita basis, Australia must acknowledge that it has a responsibility to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Many of our Pacific neighbours are already feeling the devastating effects on climate change – we must do all we can to help them.

“We stand with Pope Francis’s call for ‘a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet’ and to wealthy nations to take their share of the responsibility to urgently curb their emissions. As long as we remain prepared to abuse the atmosphere and entire ecosystems for the sake of short-term economic gain for a few, we undermine our own future and further condemn millions already living in poverty. There can be no security for humanity without a healthy planet.”

In 2014 the Uniting Church Assembly resolved to divest from corporations engaged in the extraction of fossil fuels, recognising that “with national governments reluctant to take difficult decisions, it falls to us as members of the body of Christ to show leadership in taking action to reduce damaging pollution.” This resolution followed similar decisions on divestment by the Synod of NSW and ACT and the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania.

UnitingWorld, the Church’s international aid agency, is working with partner churches across the Pacific to support vulnerable communities, including funding a Climate Change Support Worker in Tuvalu.

The National Council of Churches Australia and the World Council of Churches have also spoken out in support of Pope Francis’ encyclical.

Tags Environment

News & Announcements

Faith leaders target politicians on climate

Post author By revivewa
Post date May 27, 2015

Prominent leaders from diverse religious traditions in Australia are joining calls for more ambitious post-2020 emissions reduction targets, ahead of separate debates on each side of the political divide. Rev Prof Andrew Dutney, president of the Uniting Church in Australia, alongside the heads of the Anglican Church, peak Hindu and Buddhist bodies, and prominent leaders in the Catholic and Jewish communities, state there is a ‘moral imperative’ for considerably higher targets.

In letters to all Labor and Coalition parliamentary members, they write, “We propose 40% below 1990 levels by 2025, and 80% below by 2030, and to increase our offer to the UN Climate Fund.”

The current bipartisan target is 5 percent below 2000 pollution levels by 2020.

“We have a duty to this generation and the generations to come to protect the world around us. To do so, we need to cut pollution in line with the recommendation of scientific experts,” said Thea Ormerod, President of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change (ARRCC), who co-ordinated the letters. “The current target fails to live up to our responsibilities as a nation. It is fundamentally immoral.

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News & Announcements

Wanted! A nuclear free future

Post author By revivewa
Post date December 17, 2014

Rev Steve Francis, Uniting Church Moderator says, “At Christmas, I am reminded of the angelic choir on the Galilean hillside, who in anticipating the birth of Christ sang a chorus of “Peace on Earth”. Uranium mining can lead to the growth of nuclear weapons, thus making the world a more dangerous place and a less peaceful world in which to live.”

Steve made the comments following the decision of the General Council of the Uniting Church in Australia, Western Australia on Monday 8 December, to call on the Federal and WA State Governments to ban the production, deployment, transfer and use of nuclear energy and weapons and reintroduce the uranium mining ban in Western Australia.

The Council also re-affirmed the commitment of the Uniting Church in Western Australia to divest from businesses and financial institutions involved in the production of nuclear weapons or nuclear energy and related exports, including uranium.

Tags Environment

News & Announcements

Uniting Church in WA divests from fossil fuels

Post author By revivewa
Post date October 19, 2014

The Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of Western Australia has decided to divest from companies involved in mining, exporting, or energy generation from fossil fuels. Instead, the Church will seek to invest in companies which reduce the impact on the environment through power generation from renewable sources.

The Church’s investment policy has always been guided by ethical principles. Since its inception in 1977, the Uniting Church has expressed its concerns for the environment. Over time, this call has only become more urgent, with the Church making many statements on the need to act on climate change. The Church recognises that divestment from fossil fuels is important in transitioning to a renewable energy future. The Church is committed to promoting renewable energy as a priority in responding to the challenge of climate change.

The Uniting Church in Australia, national Assembly, as well as the Uniting Church in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, have also recently committed to divesting from companies involved in the extraction of fossil fuels.

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News & Announcements

Planting trees strengthens life and community in Metro West

Post author By revivewa
Post date September 25, 2014

The Metro West Region held their first Church and Community Tree Planting Day in 2012. It was less than three months after I started as the First Third specialist in the region. I needed an event that would be intergenerational and active, that could involve the local community and which would build relationships between people in my group of churches as well as making a difference. I settled on planting trees at Lake Claremont with the help of the Friends of Lake Claremont, who are conducting a major volunteer revegetation program at the lake.

On the day, about 25 people showed up to help restore the wetland and provide habitat for local fauna. Some of the children participating had never planted trees before, but they dived in with energy. Everyone played their part. The ministers helped to plant, families worked together, children too young to plant collected the empty pots, and some older church members who couldn’t plant brought delicious baked goods for the friendly morning tea afterwards.

Tags Church and Community, Environment

News & Announcements

West Australian Church Groups say: “Renewables not Uranium, Minister!”

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 18, 2014

Church groups in Western Australia have called upon the Hon Bill Marmion, Mines and Petroleum Minister to embrace renewable energies instead of thinking of uranium as the fuel of the future. The group said Mr Marmion’s recent comment was ill-informed and dangerous. All of the groups have expressed deep and abiding concerns about the social and environmental costs of uranium mining and the nuclear industry into which Western Australia’s uranium would be sent.

Spokesperson for the group Rosemary Hudson Miller, Associate General Secretary Justice and Mission, Uniting Church in Western Australia said, “Nuclear technologies that utilise non-renewable resources such as uranium, while at the same time producing toxic by-products that have been proven to interfere with human and ecosystem health, are not a sustainable way of providing energy for human consumption. Renewable energy technologies need to be given primacy instead.

Tags Environment

Stories & Feature Articles

Yearning for nature: Is there respect?

Post author By revivewa
Post date August 3, 2014

In Australia’s cities, it’s so easy to spend days or weeks without really connecting with the natural environment. Not only that, but how many of us actually know how the ecosystem works, or where our place in it is? Even in rural areas, it could be said that we dominate the land without really living with it.

Over time we’ve lost a vital connection to the earth and the natural system with which we once lived. Rev Dr Geoff Lilburne has a passion for theology of the land and has published works in the areas of contextual and eco theology. Geoff said that while we place a lot of importance on our history – or timelines – we also should be thinking about the space that we exist in.

“In our western tradition we have tended to think time and history are important, but we haven’t tended to think of ‘space’ or ‘place’ as important,” he said.

He continued, saying that it is important for churches to develop a sense of place by living locally and taking care of the spaces that we inhabit.

Part of thinking about this local space means looking into how we consume our food. While the food we eat is possibly one of the most direct ways we interact with our natural environment, many of us have no real sense of where it has come from and the work and resources that have gone into producing it. We may rationally know that our beef is dead cow or that our apple has grown on a tree, but for most of us, our minds simply don’t comprehend what that actually means for the producers, the economy and the planet.

Tags Environment, Sustainable September