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The Church of Ireland has  announced  that the General Synod in Armagh in May 2018 will be a 'Sustainable Synod'. The announcement from the RCB in Dublin said that synod will aim to be paperless and, "reduce the environmental footprint of General Synod, encourage recycling, and reduce waste as much as possible." This is very welcome. I really am pleased to see this. I made the call for a Sustainable Synod back in February with this blog post and in the Church of Ireland Gazette and it is another sign that the RCB listens and is taking action when it comes to the environment. This is another positive step from the RCB. I hope they'll take more at General Synod itself.

Anglian archbishops and bishops have joined with 170 faith leaders from across the Commonwealth to call on governments to turn “words into action” on climate change.  Commonwealth countries have increasingly been affected by the effects of climate change. The chruch leaders write, “Not even the remotest corner of the Commonwealth remains unaffected or unthreatened by the impacts of climate change.” The leaders said that to keep the global temperature rise below the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees concerted action is needed. In a letter to the Daily Telegraph they wrote, “Subsistence communities in African countries struggle to grow crops in increasingly arid earth. In the Pacific, rising sea levels threaten the existence of whole countries. In Asia, salination is driving people from their land. Arctic communities’ ways of life are undermined. Ever more violent and unpredictable storms devastate the Caribbean. At the scale of the Commonwealth we can see tha...

The Archbishop of Dublin, The Most Revd Michael Jackson, is hosting a Climate Change Awareness event on 26 April 2018 at Trinity College Dublin.  The list of speakers is impressive and hints that more fossil fuel divestment is on the way. Three academics are speaking: Prof John Sweeney, Dr Lorna Gold and is Dr Cathriona Russell. Professor John Sweeny is the keynote speaker addressing The Science of Climate Change. There is no one better in Ireland to explain why Ireland is not immune to the dangers of climate change. He has written extensively, publishing 110 scientific papers on climate change in Ireland contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4 th Assessment Report. He also regularly writes about the topic in the national press. Dr. Lorna Gold is Head of Policy and Advocacy in Trócaire. She has led the charity’s campaign for climate justice and is an expert in the fossil fuel divestment. Speaking about solutions she has said, “fossil f...

At the 2017 Church of Ireland General Synod a motion was passed to divest from coal and tar-sands. This blog post explains how it happened. Post-synod pub dinner We met in Bobby Byrne’s Pub for dinner in Limerick after the 2017 Church of Ireland General Synod.   Motion 11 on climate change and fossil fuel investments had just been passed. It committed the Representative Church Body (RCP) to divest from coal and tar-sands, reduce the carbon footprint of the investment portfolio, support collaborative engagement, and divest from oil and gas companies that are not serious about the change to a low carbon economy. Over dinner I was asked by some friends, ‘How did you learn about church divestment from fossil fuels? ’ Typhoon Haiyan Photo:  Lawrence Ruiz  I explained what had impacted me, ‘A few years ago my passion for climate justice was lit after the Super Typhoon Haiyan disaster in the Philippines. This was the strongest storm ever to make landfall a...

The Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church of South America, Bishop Greg Venables is calling together the bishops of six countries in South America to discuss the challenges posed by climate change. Bishop Venables said, “The gathering is aimed at equipping bishops and Church delegates in defining the focus and strategies to respond to the ever-growing environmental challenges resulting from climate change. In particular, the event will provide a space for mutual learning and reflection in order to define concrete steps that will put the Fifth Mark of Anglican Mission into action: ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’” This is a timely call to action. For a number of countries in South America are beginning to suffer severe impacts from climate change. For example, 70 % of Peru’s hydroelectric power and Lima’s drinking water comes from glacial meltwater. Glaciers that have shrunk by a third since 1970 and, at the current r...

Coffee-culture goes counterculture ( Episodes are below) I love a freshly brewed coffee. I know you do too. You might buy one on the way to work, I like to have a lunchtime walk so that’s when I enjoy mine. But recently throwing away all these disposable cups has been bothering me. Every minute 500 coffee cups are thrown away in the UK – that is 2.5 billion cups a year! I’d like to do something about that and I thought Lent might be a good time to make a change. So I’m giving up on disposable cups and sharing the journey with you by making a podcast. I’m calling it #NoCupPlease. #NoCupPlease is a podcast experiment. I’m going to visit as many coffee shops as I can, both major chains and local coffee shops, and when I order I’m going to say something like, ‘Americano but #NoCupPlease’. I’ll record the experience as a podcast episode. I’ll be using the Anchor Podcast app on my phone to create the podcast. You can join in the experiment by installing Anchor from the AppStore...

Members of St. Saviour’s Church Dollingstown in Magheralin Parish decided to ‘Show the Love’ on Sunday 11 February, just before Valentine’s Day, to raise awareness about how things we love might be affected by climate change. Whether it’s coffee, the Causeway coast, sea turtles, our grandchildren or the people of Kenya, we all love someone or something which will be affected by climate change. The changing climate is already taking a toll on vulnerable communities around the world causing, for example, drought and food shortages in East Africa and more extreme flooding and cyclones in Bangladesh. The ‘Show the Love’ campaign is organised by Christian Aid along with over 100 other organisations as part of The Climate Coalition . They call on individuals, schools, churches, clubs and societies across Ireland and the UK to ‘Show the Love’ for everything that is threatened by climate change. For more details search social media for #ShowTheLove and visit showthelove.org.uk for...

Yesterday the RCB released this press article:  ' #RCBeClimateConscious #reduce #reuse – Bees, Trees, KeepCups and other Church House Dublin initiatives'  on how the Representative Body of the Church of Ireland has stepped up its commitment to Tackling Climate Change. I have to say, the RCB is now doing a decent job on tracking its steps on climate change, biodiversity and reducing pollution. The investment and pension funds are being cleaned up by removing investments from fossil fuels and the RCB's collaborative engagement muscles are being flexed by telling large corporations that they must speed up the transition to a carbon-free future. It is also encouraging that the RCB is piloting an energy audit in Down and Dromore Diocese, highlighting the joint Eco-Congregations and Bishops' Appeal #jars4journeys Lent project , and introducing bee hives (1/3 of food crops need pollination but bees are in serious decline, see sos-bees.org ). The policy on trees: 'pl...

The Archbishop of Armagh, the Most Reverend Richard Clarke, will make his views on the environment known at an event in Lambeth Palace in September 2018. The Archbishop of Canterbury has invited all presiding bishops and moderators of the 39 provinces of the Anglican Communion to make a written submission to be displayed at Lambeth Palace and online during the Season of Creation from 1 September to 4 October 2018. The idea came about from the primates meeting in October 2017. It is clear that environmental issues such as climate change are very important to the primates. This was reported by Archbishop Richard Clarke himself at the January 2016 Standing Committee , as the minutes recorded, “Archbishop Clarke relayed that hearing directly about climate change had had a profound impact upon him – from the reality of islands in the south Pacific disappearing into the ocean through rising water levels to parts of east Africa becoming desert again though intentional deforest...

A group of Anglican Bishops and clergy recently called upon the Church Commissioners and the Church of England Pensions Board to "show moral leadership" by divesting from fossil fuels, and divest from ExxonMobil in particular. See my earlier blog post . In a letter to the Guardian newspaper, the group cites a recent journal paper analyzing ExxonMobil’s activities from 1977-2014 that concludes: ‘ExxonMobil contributed to advancing climate science – by way of its scientists’ academic publications – but promoted doubt about it in advertorials.’ The Anglican group's letter concludes, "Now is the time for decisive action. We call on Church of England investors to take the lead and immediately divest from ExxonMobil." The Church of Ireland in recent years has changed its fossil fuel investment strategy by aligning it to the policy to the Church of England. At General Synod 2017 a motion was passed that committed the RCB to: excluded investments in coal and tar s...

As people of faith, we don’t just state our beliefs — we live them out. One belief is that we find purpose and joy in loving our neighbors. Another is that we are charged by our creator with taking good care of his creation. Justin Welby,  from an opinion piece in the New York Times, 4 Nov 2017.

A letter in today’s Guardian calls on the Church of England to divest from ExxonMobil because of its deception about climate science and the increasing risk posed by climate change. The letter, which is signed by 4 bishops and numerous clergy, concludes, "Time is running out to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. While some governments and companies pursue policies that are leading us in the wrong direction, the Church of England is uniquely placed to show moral leadership through its investment policies.  Now is the time for decisive action. We call on Church of England investors to take the lead and immediately divest from ExxonMobil." It is good to see a voice from the Church of England calling for increased urgency with divestment. The Church of Ireland has taken steps in recent years to reduce its investment in fossil fuels. Since 2015 the Representative Church Body has excluded investments in coal and tar sands and reduced investments in oil and gas ...

The article 'RCB rises to the challenge of climate change', published in the Church of Ireland Gazette on 6th October 2017, is one I was very happy to read. After all, this blog is about trying to get the Church of Ireland to respond to that very challenge. You could say I was astonished. I t is fair to say that the Church of Ireland has moved significantly since 2015. Back then, four of the top ten investments were in fossil fuel companies. I Pointed out this inconvenient truth at  synod in 2015 , and there has been real change. Today none of the top 10 investments are in fossil fuels and the overall percentage has dropped from 10% to 3%. Progress, but it needs to get to zero. The article mentions the  motion on climate change  that passed at General Synod 2017. It is worth a reminder of what this called for. Put simply the RCB will exclude coal and tar sands investments and continue to reduce exposure to oil and gas companies by investing in green alternativ...

A letter to the press THE publication of the Government's Clean Growth Strategy is good news for Northern Ireland. The focus on home energy efficiency, clean power, electric cars and planting new woodlands will mean jobs, lower bills and cleaner air. Offshore wind power provides an enormous opportunity for Northern Ireland. Harland & Wolff are now experts in the construction of giant offshore wind turbines. The white towers rising from the shipyard point towards a green-powered future. Recent energy auctions for offshore wind power have set "astounding" prices well below those of nuclear power and even gas. Giant battery technology that can store energy from renewables is also getting cheaper very quickly. AES Energy Storage installed the UK's largest battery at Kilroot power station in 2016. The Department for the Economy's Wind Map for Northern Ireland web page says: "Northern Ireland is regarded as having one of the greatest wind energy ...

Primates of the Anglican Church discussed the impacts and response to climate change at their recent Primates’ Meeting. Archbishops shared about the devastating impacts of hurricanes in the Caribbean, floods in Asia and Pacific islands disappearing under rising sea levels. Here are some interesting quotes from the Archbishops. The Archbishop of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba said, we need to  “make the linkage between social justice and climate justice.”  And “What I hope will come from this meeting is a commitment by each primate to pray for social justice issues but to look at those with the eyes of saying the climate, the environment, the earth where they are happening, ought to be cared for,” Archbishop George Takeli, the Primate of Melanesia, said, “Our stories are making the world become a very small world - that we are part of each other." "..what I begin to sense from the Primates’ Meeting is that all of us are moving towards creating a strong network to work...

The General Synod of the Anglican church in Australia has called on its government to ‘get serious’ about climate change. The proposer of the motion, the Very Reverend Dr Peter Catt, Dean of St John’s Cathedral Brisbane, said the federal government should deepen its commitment to the Paris Agreement of 2015. The motion called for the following actions: For the Federal Government to act with a deepened sense of urgency to develop policies and practices that would allow Australia to achieve the reductions in carbon pollution it committed to at the Paris Climate talks in 2015. For the Church to get its own house in order by actively seeking to reduce its carbon footprint and the footprint generated by its investment portfolios.  For the Church to more fully take its place in the public square and to be a more active participant in the Climate Change debate. And for the church to bring to bear the rich resources it possesses such as its theology of the environment in the Clim...

I would like to draw your attention to a great article, ' Church and tree-huggers, unite! ' in this week’s The Church Times, by Joe Ware of Christian Aid. Joe explains that there have been harmful relations between environmentalists and the church in the past, ‘The perceived divide between a gang of godless tree-huggers, on the one side, and an institution that cares only about saving souls at the expense of ecological destruction, on the other, caused a damaging impasse in which both creation care and evangelism suffer.’  Thankfully this frostiness between church and the environment is now thawing, ‘Like the arrival of Aslan in Narnia’s perpetual winter … spring is coming.’  The result is huge potential for the Kingdom of God. Thousands of churches have responded, by reducing fossil fuel usage through greater energy efficiency and switching energy providers, by greening their investments and divesting from fossil fuels, and by teaching about creation care. As the la...

New Wine Ireland Seminar 2017 Monday 10 July IT Sligo 2:45pm in Seminar 4 Some great books The Mission of God's People: A Biblical Theology of the Church's Mission (Biblical Theology for Life)– 1 Aug 2010, Zondervan; First edition (1 Aug. 2010), £15.99 The Radical Disciple– 19 Jul 2013 by John Stott (Author), IVP; First edition (19 July 2013), £9.99 Creation Care and the Gospel: Reconsidering the Mission of the Church by Colin and White (Author), Robert S Bell (Author), Hendrickson Publishers (1 May 2016) £19.99 Creation Care by Evangelical Alliance NI, Sept 2016. Caring for Creation– 4 Oct 2016 by Paul Douglas (Author), Mitch Hescox (Contributor) Bethany House Publishers (4 Oct. 2016), £9.99 Hope in an Age of Despair– 21 Jun 2013 by Jonathan A Moo Robert S White (Author) Publisher: IVP; First edition (21 Jun. 2013) £11.99 Surprised by Hope Paperback –by Tom Wright (Author) SPCK Publishing, 23 Sep 2011