Plans are advancing for the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change, to be held in New York from 21 to 22 September. A new website featuring interfaith perspectives on climate change, highlighting the upcoming summit, has recently gone online.
The website, which was developed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and Religions for Peace, intends to offer a variety of faith-based perspectives on climate while encouraging people to get involved in addressing climate change issues.
The site (http://www.interfaithclimate.org), currently featuring the upcoming Interfaith Summit on Climate Change, will also focus in future on the interfaith voices in advance of the COPS 21 climate change meetings to be held in Paris in December, 2015.
In addition to information about the upcoming summit, the site also offers videos, documents and suggested ways to get involved.
“A new video we posted recently and called The Green Mosque is a compelling story of a young Muslim woman in Cape Town, South Africa who is working with her community to increase awareness about the environment and its impact on climate change,” said WCC director of communication, Mark Beach.
“The site is meant to increase awareness about climate change from a religious and faith-based perspective,” Beach said. “People of faith have something to say about climate change, such as Mariam, interviewed in The Green Mosque video, showing that they understand the issue and there are things within their own community that can be done. Her work is inspiring.”
There is also a video featuring perspectives from the local community and churches in Tuvalu about the rising of sea levels and what it means to this small Pacific Atoll. The webpages will continue to be enriched with new materials in the coming weeks.
The Interfaith Summit on Climate Change is part of a global effort to mobilize people and communities on the issue of climate change. Some 30 religious leaders will gather for the two-day summit where the involvement of indigenous peoples and youth will be vital.
In attendance will be leaders from various spiritual traditions such as Christian (including Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox), Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Brahma Kumaris, Indigenous and multi-spiritual.
The summit will convey the concern of faith communities around the world regarding the proposals of the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Summit, taking place one day later on 23 September at the UN in New York.
Website: http://interfaithclimate.org/reflections
Minute on Climate Justice adopted by the WCC 10th Assembly
WCC’s work on climate justice and care for creation