Displaying items by tag: A Rocha

Dave Bookless of A Rocha writes: ‘On 4-5 October I spoke at a symposium on “Ecumenical Perspectives on Climate Change” held in Beirut by the Middle East Council of Churches. It was remarkable to see all the diverse cardinals, metropolitans, bishops and archimandrites, and hundreds of robed and bearded priests and seminary students, all coming together to address creation care. All the churches of the region were represented - an amazing witness to Christian unity. The whole event was televised across the Middle East. Amazingly, all the Churches of the Middle East have agreed to a joint statement and call to action which will be presented at COP28, due to be held in Dubai at the end of November.’

The former Archbishop of York, Lord Sentamu, hit out at 'arrogant' Shell after he was prevented from delivering a Christian climate letter to the headquarters of the oil giant on behalf of Christian charities. When Sentamu, now chair of Christian Aid, knocked on the building entrance in central London, he was refused entry. The letter, addressed to Shell’s chief executive, was signed by Green Christian, Christian Climate Action, Tearfund, A Rocha UK, Christian Aid, Cafod, and Operation Noah. It calls on Shell to stop all new fossil fuel exploration and extraction and asks for a meeting to discuss the issue. Lord Sentamu said, ‘Climate change is the greatest insidious, brutal and indiscriminate force of our time. Those suffering the most have done the least to cause it. Continuing to search for new sources of fossil fuels, despite explicit warnings from the International Energy Agency, is an offence against humanity.’

The House of Lords debated a bill on 11 April, and if wise amendments are not made before it receives royal assent it is regarded as the gravest threat to our wildlife in decades by a number of wildlife and conservation charities. A new bill, officially called the Retained EU Law Bill, threatens to wipe out thousands of crucial laws which protect wildlife by the end of the year. This will lead to even more pollution poisoning rivers, more wild places at risk of being damaged - and potentially destroyed - and more wildlife threatened with extinction. It is an attack on nature, and environmentalists are urging the Government to bin it before it’s too late. The Government wants to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030. If this bill is passed without change, it will undermine any possibility of achieving that goal. A Rocha believes the bill should be abandoned in its current state.

Police are texting 70,000 people, warning them that they may have been victims of a banking scam in the UK's biggest anti-fraud operation. The Met have charged a Londoner with running an international service of fake phone calls to victims, who have lost thousands of pounds. Detectives only have victims' phone numbers and are asking people to act if they receive their messages. Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the proactive counter-fraud investigations involved ‘industrialised fraud’. There could be 200,000 UK victims of fraudsters pretending to be a bank and warning of suspicious activity on their accounts. A London address is the centre of fraud on a global scale. Police have the numbers of victims but not their names and addresses. Genuine messages from police were sent on 24 or 25 November, directing victims to register at the Police Action Fraud website. Texts on any other day should be regarded as fraudulent.

A new project is planning to regenerate 15 percent of the UK's church land in a bid to cut carbon emissions. According to a Christian conservation charity, A Rocha, approximately 500,000 acres of land across the UK is owned by churches in the form of churchyards, conference centre grounds, urban community farms, and agricultural estates. A Rocha’s initiative aims to transform 75,000 acres of this land into wildflower meadows, native woodlands and food forests over five years. Regenerating certain types of ecosystems can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and lock it up safely in soil and vegetation. The scheme will also involve the restoration of peatlands to help to soak up carbon emissions with native mix forests, protecting soils from drought and floods. These nature-based solutions can make a significant contribution to lowering the amount of carbon dioxide that is being stored, held, and taken up across the country.

A Rocha is a respected Christian environmental organisation, currently operating in over twenty nations. On 28 October, Peter and Miranda Harris, its co-founders, along with Chris Naylor, executive director of A Rocha International, and his wife Susanna, were involved in a fatal car accident in Port Elizabeth. Miranda, Chris, and Susanna did not survive. Peter and the driver of the car are being treated at a local hospital and are in a stable condition. Please pray for the families concerned, and also for the future leadership of the organisation.

Nestled in the Himalayas in north-eastern India, Sikkim has been leading a green revolution. Despite being small and isolated, with its people living in extremely tough mountainous terrain, it became the first Indian state to ban disposable plastic bags (1998) and is among the first to target single-use plastic bottles. In 2016 Sikkim banned packaged drinking water in government offices and events, and banned the use of disposable plates and cutlery to cut down toxic plastic and refuse problems. Pray for more governments to be active in promoting environmental programmes that end the global use of single-use plastic. Pray for more research and development into alternative materials to be used to manufacture food packaging, carrier bags, plastic pipes, electrical cable insulation, and artificial limbs. Pray for more innovative recycling and composting programmes, and thank God for the work of Christian environmental organisations such as A Rocha.

It is ten years since the Church Times announced its first Green Church Awards. Since then, there have been great advances in scientific understanding and public awareness of environmental issues. Internationally, the new Paris Agreement was ratified in November, with 117 countries signing up. Domestically, recycling is far commoner than it was, and it is now possible to subscribe to clean-energy suppliers. However, globally the outlook is not good, with sixteen increasingly hot years damaging the natural environment and a number of influential voices still denying that there is a problem. The Church needs to play a greater part in this. Its national and global reach put it in a position to influence large numbers of people, even governments and power-brokers. But if its voice is to be heard, its own house must be in order. Fortunately, recent messages coming from the Pope and other faith leaders show how care for God’s planet and our common home is a priority around the world. Organisations such as A Rocha are leading the way in highlighting the issues, and around the country there are thousands of groups and individuals working sacrificially to change the climate - and the climate of opinion.