Economic Justice

Creating a sustainable economy means finding a way to care for the needs of those now living while protecting the well-being of future generations. To do this we need to understand ourselves in a new way: we are members of an Earth community that includes a wide diversity of cultures, creatures, and ecosystems, and the economy is one part of that system. Instead of seeing the Earth as a storehouse of natural resources to be exploited, all creation is a gift of God we must love and care for.

To work for a sustainable economy, we must seek to remedy the grave harm we are inflicting on the poorest members of the human community and the entire community of life. We need to end the debt that impoverished people are now being forced to pay to the rich, to challenge the ecological debt that impoverishes the Earth itself, and create an economy that respects the ecological limits of our planet.

Information and Action

• AGAPE: Alternative Globalization Addressing Peoples and the Earth
  This World Council of Churches document calls for a new "economy of life" that supports and nourishes everyone at God's table.
• Eco-justice and Ecological Debt
  The World Council of Churches' powerful "Statement on Eco-justice and Ecological Debt" is a challenge to Northern countries to pay the debt to Southern countries and the Earth that has been created by excessive exploitation of resources.
• Debt Cancellation
  Many of the world's poorest countries are being driven even deeper into poverty by a growing, unjust, and unpayable debt.
• Just Finance and the Economy of Life
  This World Council of Churches statement calls for using a new set of values measurements for wealth to support a just and sustainable Earth Community.
• World Communion of Reformed Churches
  The Accra Confession calls for a more just economy and ecological alternative to globalization. The North American Working Group on Covenanting for Justice has produced a Web-based curriculum called "Globalization We Can Grasp."

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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 issues related to the creation of a sustainable economy, including the following:

• African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (Zimbabwe)
  AFRODAD works for a fair and sustainable development process leading to a prosperous Africa. They do research and advocacy related to debt, development assistance, and economic governance.
• KAIROS: What Is Sustainability?
  KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives works on many issues related to a sustainable economy, including its corporate accountability program.
• Latin American Council of Churches (Ecuador) (Spanish-language website)
  CLAI works for a sustainable economy through a variety of initiatives including its Faith, Economy, and Solidarity program (including issues related to ecological debt) and its Environmental Citizenship program.
• World Council of Churches
  The United Church is a member of this global body that has created a wide range of statements and resources on poverty, wealth, and ecology, and how they interconnect.

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Conference Connections

United Church communities work for the creation of a sustainable economy through a variety of initiatives at the local and regional level. Here are a few examples:

• Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario
  The Interfaith Task Group on Northern Development does study and action related to the impact of northern development projects on rivers, beaches, and wildlife.
• Montreal and Ottawa
  Conference justice groups have advocated against the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and for corporate social responsibility standards for Canadian companies working in Guatemala.

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

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Background, Resources, and Links

• Jubilee South
  A network of campaigns, people's organizations, and communities in 40 countries of the global South working for the cancellation of immoral and illegitimate debt.
• Quaker Institute for the Future
  QIF, based in the United States, envisions a global future in which humanity is in right relationship with the commonwealth of life. They work toward this through seminars, publications, and research.
• Social Investment Organization
  A Canadian organization including financial institutions, investment firms, financial advisers, and others interested in socially responsible investment.
• Southern People's Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance
  Excellent resources explaining the concept of ecological debt and providing news on the campaign to establish the responsibility of the global North to repair and stop the damages to the Earth that disproportionately affect the global South.

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