THE CLIMATE CHANGE RELIGION The world’s best climate experts have released the most comprehensive report on climate change ever made. The conclusions are sobering. Our climate is changing at a disastrous rate. Our leaders need to hear a message of hope, to step outside politics as usual and realise that people around the world are praying for them to be bold and do what is right.” ~ Rev. Fletcher Harper, OurVoices Anglican angst over climate change: “The Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group is reviewing its policy on ethical investment related to climate change, with some church officials calling for disinvestment from such companies to highlight the need to move to a low-carbon economy.” “The Church of England, mother church of the world’s 80 million Anglicans, holds total investments worth about 8 billion pounds ($US 13 billion) that are used to pay clergy pensions and fund the church’s work. If science, or the political consequences are not persuasive, consider God’s warning in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 11:18): “I will destroy those who destroy the earth.” Surely evangelical leaders, more than most, ought to pay attention.” ~ Richard Cizik, president, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good and spokesperson, The Good Steward Campaign, in Washington Post on 28 June 2013. I don’t think we can afford to wait to see if the worst case scenarios about climate change turn out to be true, this is a small step that we can take now towards a low carbon economy and therefore we should take it now before the climate situation gets really drastic.Reverend Dr Tim McKenzie, after the Wellington Diocese of the Anglican Church in New Zealand had voted to divest from fossil fuels. First of all: Take a stand and talk about it. One of the first thing your church, mosque, synagogue, temple or community could do, would be to take a stand on this issue of climate change, and then to make it public and visible to everyone similar to how a group of Australian religious leaders have written and published an open letter about climate change: “We urge all Australians to give this moral issue the attention it demands. Our world is a blessing, a gift, and a responsibility. We must act now is we are to protect this sacred trust. And similar to how 40 American corporations in the business world have done it when they signed the Climate Declation — more about this here. Like the Australian religious leaders have done it, you could unite with religious leaders and communities in your country from other religions, and make a similar declaration. Or… to begin with, you could simply announce a statement in your next newsletter to your own congregation. THAT would be a good start. Inspirational stories and sites about why going green and thinking strategically about sustainability makes a lot of common sense not only for environmentalists, but also in a religious perspective. Guide: How to live Laudato Si’Safeguarding Creation is everyone’s responsibility. “Journeying Towards Care for Our Common Home: The Laudato Si offers a guide to all Christians on how to maintain a healthy relationship with Creation.