Climate and Ecological Justice
We are in a time of climate and ecological emergency.
Human activity, primarily led by unsustainable lifestyles in the global north, has altered our planet. Species have become extinct, levels of pollution have increased, extreme storm events have intensified, sea levels have risen and weather patterns have become more unpredictable.
Climate change impacts all areas of life on earth exacerbating risks to health, threatening food security and increasing the likelihood of conflict and the displacement of people.
Fundamentally, Climate change is an issue of justice disproportionately caused by a few and impacting the least culpable and the most vulnerable.
In 2015 the world came together in the Paris Agreement to adopt universal legally-binding targets to limit the impacts of climate change. Change is possible but ambitious and rapid action is needed.
The Bible is clear that God wants us to work for climate justice. The Anglican Communion’s Fifth Mark of Mission reminds us that God longs for harmony in the whole of Creation, not just in the human family.
The Rt Revd Apimeleki Qiliho, Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Polynesia, shared: “We are at a critical juncture in our history… we have a responsibility to act… If we are of one mind, one heart and one spirit, we can challenge leaders and decisions makers to work effectively to end the calamity that surely awaits us if we continue blindly down this road.”
To read more about USPG's work on climate justice, visit United Society Partners in the Gospel | Faith in a Changing Climate (uspg.org.uk)