Ecology

The United Church of Canada, together with other churches in Canada and around the world, is deeply concerned about climate change. This issue has profound ethical and moral dimensions: climate change is being caused largely by the polluting emissions from richer, over-developed countries but the consequences will be suffered disproportionately by poorer developing nations, vulnerable ecosystems, and future generations.

Information and Action

• Ethical Challenge of Climate Change
  Climate change calls us to rethink the way we live and to seek right relationship with other people, other creatures, and the planet itself.
• KAIROS Climate Justice
  The United Church is a part of KAIROS, who challenge us to understand climate change as an ethical issue and a justice issue requiring urgent and decisive action.

UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 2009

See interviews on YouTube from Guillermo Kerber Mas of the World Council of Churches, United Church Moderator Mardi Tindal, and Nick Nadeau of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. View the Renew the Face of the Earth PowerPoint presentation to the UN side event in Copenhagen by Joy Kennedy, representing the United Church on the World Council of Churches Climate Change Working Group.

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Related Partners and Programs

The United Church works in partnership with organizations in Canada and around the world to address the issue of climate change, including the following:

• Canadian Youth Climate Coalition (CYCC) (Canada)
  CYCC is a coalition of youth from across Canada acting locally, nationally, and globally to demand immediate and meaningful action on climate change by governmental and private sector leaders.
• Climate Action Network (CAN) Canada (Canada)
  With other members of CAN, the United Church works to prevent dangerous levels of human interference in the global climate system while upholding principles of just transition with equity and justice.
• Green Communities Canada
  The United Church works with national and local Green Communities members across Canada to encourage energy efficiency, affordable energy networks, eco-friendly transportation, walkable communities, and green IT.
• Greening Sacred Spaces (Canada)
  Find resources to assist with creating Green Teams in your congregation. An initiative of Faith and the Common Good.
• KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
  This is the United Church's key ecumenical partner in Canada focused on climate justice and sustainability. It has many program and worship resources for climate change and energy campaigns.
• National Council of Churches in Kenya (Kenya)
  Susie Ibutu from the National Council of Churches in Kenya describes Kenyan churches' integrated response to climate change and lack of water in a YouTube video.
• Pacific Peoples' Partnership (Canada)
  Works with peoples of the Pacific region where global warming threatens the viability of many small islands, negatively impacting access to fresh water, food sovereignty with the depletion of marine resources and the destruction of coral reefs by changing temperatures.
• The World Council of Churches Climate Change Working Group
  Our main international ecumenical partner leading climate justice advocacy. Many documents and video links on the website.

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Conference Connections

United Church communities work on climate change through a variety of initiatives at the local and regional level. Here are some examples:

• Toronto
  The Toronto Conference Green Awakenings network links to the Toronto Climate Campaign.
• Montreal and Ottawa
  The Montreal ecumenical Green Church Project includes United Church congregations and community ministries.

For more information on initiatives in your local area, please contact your local Conference office.

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Background, Resources, and Links

• 350.org
  A global campaign calling for carbon dioxide to be reduced to 350 parts per million in the atmosphere.
• Climate Change as a Moral Issue
  A series of retreats and public events for religious leaders and people of faith held in communities across the country.
• Global Campaign for Climate Action
  A coalition of international and national groups advocating for a FAB (Fair, Ambitious, and Binding) global deal on climate change through the United Nations.
• Global Climate Change: Renewing the Sacred Balance
  A web-based curriculum from Globalization We Can Grasp, including video clips from Greening Sacred Spaces, Bible studies, and workshop modules.
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  The IPCC was established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme in 1988, and is a key source of information on the science of climate change.
• Mandate May 2009
  This issue of Mandate, focused on “Living for the Earth: Choosing Creation over Empire,” includes resources for learning about and responding to climate change.
• National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
  An eco-justice program with useful program and worship resources.
• The Pacific Conference of Churches
  Strong calls for action on climate change and resettlement in the Moana Declaration.
• There's a New World in the Making
   This call from the North American consultation on poverty, wealth and ecology sponsored by the World Council of Churches, Calgary, November 2011, draws on prayers for confession, wisdom, healing, and thanksgiving, and then turns to a call for vision and action.
• Uniting Church in Australia
  A great program and worship resources for the Season of Creation, and a hymn on climate change.
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
  Documentation on the Kyoto Protocol, the framework, and ongoing negotiations.

For more information, contact:

• Joy Kennedy
  Program Coordinator, Poverty, Wealth, and Ecological Justice
  Tel: 416-231-7680 ext. 4069
  Toll-free: 1-800-268-3781 ext. 4069
  E-mail: Joy Kennedy