For Aaden* and his fellow villagers, climate change isn’t just a vague concept, it’s a harsh reality that impacts their lives in devastating ways.
Aaden is a 45-year-old farmer from the Hargeisa region of Somaliland. He is part of a community who are learning that the solutions to environmental problems can come from within themselves.
Written by Bebeto Araújo, originally in Portuguese.
In Christ human beings become able not only of cultivating communion with the Creator, but also with their fellow creatures and the creation of which they are part and which, although it is being hit by our "destructive dominion", remains good and beautiful, and one day will be fully restored.
Back in April 2015 Cyclone Pam hit the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. It was the most powerful storm yet recorded in the islands, and it was devastating.
But of course people aren't helpless. Patrick Joseph on the island of Efate had trained to prepare his community for disasters like this, 'We put sandbags and stones on the roofs because we weren't sure if the houses would be strong,' he said. After the cyclone Patrick organised a group of young people to rebuild the community meeting house.
In many parts of the world, climate change is a lived reality.
It's not something that might happen in the future, it's a day to day struggle.
We asked some of our friends around the globe what climate change means to them. This is what they had to say:
The Renew Our World campaign launched in UK with a prayer walk organised by Tearfund.
Together as Christians we want to Renew Our World to help the world’s poorest people who are affected by climate change, by joining in prayer and action.
As I watched President Trump announce that he’s pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement, I felt massive disappointment. I thought about all the people this will affect, and one in particular came to mind, a Malawian man named Fambi. He’s married with six children, 3 girls and 3 boys, and works as a farmer, and I remembered him because I heard his story just ahead of the Paris climate talks at the end of 2015.
Just before the big climate talks in Paris in 2015, a wave went round the world. People in nation after nation stood together in solidarity to ask our governments to take climate change seriously, and agree to take more action together.
Jack Wakefield tells the story - Last October I took the daunting step to organise local people to meet our Member of Parliament, and quiz him on Climate Change. It was daunting because I had never met my MP before; my only communication with him was signing petitions or sending letters on behalf of charities and causes, so I had no idea how it would go.
We all want to be able to flourish in our lives, right? How can we ensure everyone around the world has enough to eat, clean water to drink, and aren’t living in dire poverty... and in fact more than that; are able to flourish?
Renew Our World has launched in Australia with multiple events in major cities, including most recently at Surrender, the largest gathering of its kind with more than one thousand young Christians focusing on social justice and radical discipleship.
As a Christian network, we believe that prayer plays an important part on the way towards a more sustainable and just world.
We prayed for those heavily affected by climate change and started symbolically at the Embassy of the Fiji Islands who are also leading this year’s international climate negotiations. We also prayed at places representing different institutions and Member States of the European Union.
