Podcast: Earth’s Twin Crises: Biodiversity Loss + Climate Change

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Today is the release date for the third episode of Jubilee for the Earth: Biodiversity and Our Sacred Story.

You can watch the episode here, called “Earth’s Twin Crises: Biodiversity Loss + Climate Change.”

About the Episode

In an article for the Australian Academy of Sciences, Professor Ary Hoffman writes: “even small changes in average temperatures can have a significant effect upon ecosystems. … The interconnected nature of ecosystems means that the loss of species [because of climate change] can have knock-on effects upon a range of ecosystem functions.”

Every day, scientists are learning more and more about how climate change accelerates biodiversity loss, and about how biodiversity loss worsens climate change. Their work has made it clear that we need to solve both crises together.

For example, the United Nations observes that conserving or restoring habitats can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while adopting climate-smart ways of farming can significantly reduce greenhouse gas pollution. This shows us how caring for the planet’s biodiversity is a great way to care for the planet’s climate.

Recognizing that we have to address both crises together also allows us to get at an even deeper truth: that climate change and biodiversity loss are not separate problems, but actually two consequences of one deeper problem. The problem is our over-extractive economy that prioritizes growth-at-any-cost over the common good of all creatures. Even though the climate and biodiversity crises are existential threats to a healthy planet, we must also address their root cause. Because if we don’t, then even if we do manage to solve our planet’s twin crises, our over-extractive economy will simply keep creating new ones into the future.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Jubilee for the Earth.

In Solidarity,

St. Columban Mission for Justice, Peace and Ecology

P.S. The fourth episode of Jubilee for the Earth will be released on September 22, called “Saqueando Nuestra Tierra: La Pérdida de Biodiversidad + Sobreexplotación.” It will be in Spanish. 

Urge President Biden to take bold and just climate action at the COP27 in Egypt

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Dear President Biden,
As people of faith/conscience from across the United States, we urge you to bring the full power and persuasion of the U.S. government to achieve agreement at COP27 in Egypt to rapidly cut emissions and keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees. We ask you to also ensure that the U.S. does our fair share to support developing nations and people on the front lines of extreme climate impacts by scaling up funding, investments, and clean technology transfer.

To lead by example, the U.S. must take bold action and make serious and ambitious investments. U.S. faith communities are proving this can be done, cutting emissions in their own facilities and supporting vulnerable people and communities in the U.S. and globally. Fueled by a sense of moral responsibility to care for our neighbors, our common home, and protect our children’s future, congregations and families around the country are reducing their climate pollution.

The U.S. must also have domestic policy in place to curb our own emissions, and we strongly support the climate elements of the Inflation Reduction Act as well as administrative actions to reduce carbon pollution. This year’s COP comes at a critical moment. We are witnessing the tragic effects of climate change affecting every community on Earth, but it is the poor and historically disenfranchised who are least responsible for the problem who suffer the most.

As the wealthiest country in the world and the country that has emitted more carbon pollution than any other, the U.S. has a moral responsibility to solve this crisis and to commit to our fair share. We ask the U.S. government to make these commitments and advance priorities during the COP27 negotiations:

  • Accelerate Ambition. We urge the U.S. to accelerate ambition and reduce carbon emissions to keep global warming to no more than 1.5C degrees above pre-industrial levels.
  • Increase Climate Finance Commitments. We urge the U.S. to pay its fair share of the $100 billion commitment to climate finance through the Green Climate Fund and finance mechanisms by increasing its commitments by 2025.
  • Support Loss and Damage Finance. We urge the U.S. to prioritize commitments to the most vulnerable populations, such as Indigenous peoples, small island nations, least developed countries, and climate-displaced persons.
  • Include Climate and Environmental Justice in Adaptation/Mitigation. We urge the U.S. to include climate justice and reject environmental racism in adaptation/mitigation efforts, and ensure a just transition for fossil-fuel workers. We also urge the U.S. to ensure protection of human rights, especially for Indigenous and local communities.

We are prepared to partner with you to help solve the climate crisis as we care for the needs of the most vulnerable. We pray for the moral leadership of the U.S. government at this critical moment. Please lead the nations of the world to a meaningful and lasting agreement to protect our climate, on behalf of all of us, and for the future of our children and the generations yet to come.

Use this link to sign the letter to President Biden

Meeting the World in Geneva: Attending UN Biodiversity meetings in a Post-Pandemic World

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Here are excerpts from an article that Cynthia Gonzalez, advocacy coordinator for St. Columban Mission for Justice, Peace and Ecology, wrote for her organization. She composed the piece after attending the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 14-29, 2022, with her colleague Amy Echeverria.  Cynthia, who resides in El Paso, Texas, is a board member of New Mexico El Paso Region Interfaith Power & Light (NMEPR-IPL).

By Cynthia L. Gonzalez

After two years of a world pandemic, our perceptions of what the world looks like and how it feels might be different. At least that is how it has been for me. For example, walks by the park in my neighborhood are such a treasure to me now. After several months of spending most of my time at home, those walks by the park have become my moments of peace and comfort. The same happens when I see people gathering, smiling, or having conversations. In a way, I feel like it is the first time that I have seen people doing that. I think the pandemic has helped me recognize things that were there before, but I just didn’t notice or appreciate them. Through conversations with friends and relatives, I have found that many feel the same way.

A couple of months ago, in March of 2022, I had the opportunity to travel to Geneva, Switzerland, and attend meetings of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD). It was the first time I had traveled outside the country since the pandemic started. These UN CBD meetings were so important because the discussions we had were meant to help the global community advance the agenda of COP15.

COP15 is scheduled to take place later this year and the world’s governments will adopt a decade-long strategic plan to conserve and protect the world’s biodiversity. This strategic plan will also help shape action on this issue for decades to come. After a global pandemic, political instability around the world, and the disastrous signs all around us of environmental collapse, the significance of the meetings in Geneva were even more powerful than I anticipated.

I am privileged to have been given an opportunity to see first-hand how interconnected our world is. I am grateful that I got to hear the testimony from developing countries, who are more severely impacted by ecology degradation even though they contributed the least to the problem. Their presence reminded me that what we do in the United States and in other rich nations, ripples across the planet and impacts people far from our homes.

The meetings were long, technical, and intense. Even strong delegations with more than six representatives (the maximum number of delegates allowed at the same time in the venue) found it difficult to keep up with the discussions on many critical agenda items. These larger delegations often had part of their team following the discussions from their hotel room or even from their home countries

Cynthia Gonzalez (L) and Amy Echeverria (R)

Advocates representing Indigenous groups, local communities, youth, women and girls, and civil society organizations, of which the Columbans were a part, were present throughout the meetings. We were all there asking for ambition during the negotiations and shared the same sense of urgency.

The voices of indigenous groups and youth were particularly powerful. Indigenous groups currently protect 80% of the world’s biodiversity. Their voices as the experts at conservation were critical, especially because many conservation actions could impact their ancient traditions and lifestyle. They’re also great teachers at showing us how to take care of Mother/Sister Earth, as they often refer to our planet. They’ve also been some of the groups more severely impacted by the current degradation of our forest, land, and sea. I was inspired by their tenacity and commitment to protect our common home.

As the UN CBD meetings started coming to a close, the delegations decided it was important for them to hold another set of meetings from June 21-26, 2022 in Nairobi, Kenya. The goal of these meetings is to continue to work of developing the strategic plan that will be presented and adopted at COP15. The fact that they had to add another meeting to their calendars gave me a clear sense of how enormous the work ahead is.

And yet, after months and months of isolation, after what felt like a never-ending series of crises from COVID to political unrest to the war in Ukraine, attending these meetings in Geneva (at the epicenter of international action) was an incredible and life changing experience for me.

As Pope Francis reminds us, “All it takes is one good person to restore hope!” (LS #71).

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