Weekly Action - 4 December 2023 - COP28
COP28
This week COP28 UN climate change negotiations are taking place in Dubai from Thursday 30 November – Tues 12 December. The stakes couldn’t be higher in this annual gathering which brings together the nations of the world to agree the actions necessary to halt global climate change. In recent years the impacts of climate change have included heatwaves, droughts, floods, cyclones, wildfires, landslides, more intense storms, massive polar melting, the melting of the world’s glaciers, sea-level rise, the devastation of coral systems, mass food and fresh water shortages, ill health, huge negative economic impacts, conflicts over scarce resources, the creation of huge numbers of climate refugees, and much more. All of which hits the poorest nations hardest. Climate change is impacting millions of ordinary people like Gloria, a friend of Arise from the Philippines. “We have always experienced typhoons in our country. They used to come from the same direction at the same time of year. But now they hit the country from every direction all throughout the year” she says. In one of the worst of these storms their home was destroyed, along with thousands of others, when a typhoon cut a swathe of devastation many miles wide over multiple islands. “The storm shook the whole house. The children were crying. Then the storm ripped the roof off, then all the walls. My husband and I kept the children safe by pinning them to the floor underneath us, whilst we gripped the floorboards, to stop us all being blown way. The wind and the rain were screaming all around us. It was terrifying.”
The conference got off to a good start with the announcement of funding to help developing countries to cope with the loss and damage that has already been caused as a result of climate change, to enable them to support people like Gloria. The conference will also conduct a ‘Global Stocktake’ to assess where nations have got to on their commitments to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing climate change. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, and keep global average temperature rise below 1.5 degrees, the level scientists say we must stay below to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, as agreed in the 2015 Paris Agreement.
As Christians what should we do about it?
As Christians we are called to look after and care for God’s amazing creation, it belongs to him, not us, as he says in the Psalms, “The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it.” (Psalm 89: 11). We therefore need to urgently get out of fossil fuels, which are driving global climate change, and instead shift to 100% clean renewable energy, which does not lead to climate change, and is cheaper as well. Arise’s 4 Shifts Campaign calls for this shift as part of rewiring of our global economy to be green and fair, so it still creates the jobs and wealth that lift people out of poverty, but does so without relying on fossil fuels and the overconsumption which is wrecking our planet.
Will you take action as part of Arise’s 4 Shifts campaign this week to help Gloria and millions of others like her, and call for an urgent shift to a clean energy economy?
Take Action
Speak out in advocacy
Write to your MP in your own words asking them to take urgent action to:
1. Urge the government to bring forward and strengthen the UK’s plans to transition out of fossil fuels, so that we shift to zero emissions and 100% clean renewable energy, and ban the use of fossil fuels by 2030. Implement this in every sector (energy, transport, buildings, industry etc.)
2. Meet immediate needs of communities in developing countries who are being impacted by climate change, by urging the government to significantly increasing the UK’s contribution to the $100 billion in climate finance long promised to the world’s poorest nations.
Find your MP, and their contact details here
Pray
Pray for people around the world who are currently being hit by the impacts of climate change. Pray for protection, that their basic needs will be met, and that their societies can adapt to a changing climate. Pray for action from the UK government to immediately stop the licensing of new oil and gas in the North Sea and instead to rapidly shift the economy out of fossil fuels and into 100% clean renewable energy.
Give
Give to Christian organisations like Cafod, Christian Aid, Tearfund or World Vision who are supporting the poorest communities impacted by climate change around the world.
Practical Action
Install an energy monitor at home. Use it to help identify ways you can reduce your energy use and save carbon emissions.
Ethical Consumption
Consider using public transport, car shares or occasionally renting a car rather than owning one. If you do need a car, consider having just one per family, switching to an electric car (it’s not as expensive as it sounds), or buying as fuel efficient and low emission model as possible.
Encourage us and others by letting us know what actions you have taken – message us at info@ariseuk.org, or via Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Find out more
It’s great to take this action as individual Christians, but even better to come together with others to pray, discuss, worship, learn, have fun and take action together. Contact Arise if you are interested in joining or starting a local Arise group in your church or area. If you are already in an Arise group, take this action to your wider church, and get them all to do it too.
Find out more about why the world needs 4 Shifts to transition to a green and fair global economy in Arise’s 4 Shifts Report, and how this forms part of God’s bigger vision for our world in the Arise Manifesto.
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