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On Tuesday 2nd of October a
small group from St Mary’s met by Tower Bridge to join the last mile of
Christian Aid’s Cut the Carbon march and to attend the service of
celebration in St Paul’s Cathedral.
This was Christian Aid’s
most ambitious protest yet; a thousand mile, 80 day march with thousands
taking part to highlight climate change.
Climate change is hitting
poor countries now, with flooding, drought, and increasingly
unpredictable weather conditions. Farms, families and communities are
torn apart, and millions of people are forced from their homes. |
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Diseases are
increasing. Christian Aid has predicted that 183 million people are likely
to die from climate-related diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa alone by the end
of the century. But poor countries have contributed virtually nothing to the
problem. On average, the lifestyle of a person in the UK contributes ten
times more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere per year than that of a person
in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The march started in Northern Ireland on 14th July, went by boat to Troon in
Scotland and then wound its way southward through a myriad of towns and
cities. Thousands of people have joined in and marched a few miles of this
epic journey, on the way, they have met MPs, companies and thousands of
individuals. But there was also a team of 18 core marchers from rich and
poor countries from Bangladesh, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, El
Salvador, England, India, Kenya, Mali, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, the
Philippines, Scotland, South Africa, Tajikistan and Wales who have marched
the whole 1000 miles.
So why did we go and why did some people feel so strongly on this issue that
they left homes, jobs and families for three months on the road. The reason
is simple climate change is having such a terrible effect on the lives of
the world’s poorest people that Christian Aid does not think its worth
helping them if they do not campaign to raise awareness of the problem at
the same time.
This year, the UK has a national and an international opportunity to address
the injustice of climate change. The government can use the Climate Change
Bill to commit the UK to cuts of a least 80% in CO2 emissions by 2050 and to
require companies to publish details of the full extent of their CO2
emissions to an agreed standard. Internationally they can push for other
rich countries to match this reduction at the UN climate change meeting in
Bali in December.
At the service in St Paul’s the following opening prayer was used.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the commitment of those who have walked so
far to bear witness to the damage done to your creation and to the people of
your world. We give you thanks to all who have welcomed them and for those
who have listened to their message. And we pray that, following their
example, we may redouble our efforts to make the suffering of the world’s
poorest people more widely known and do whatever we can to bring about a
swift reduction in carbon emissions. Through the one who became poor for our
sake, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Many individuals and churches have been encouraged by Christian Aid’s work
and are already calling for a strong effective climate change bill. If you
want to join them all you have to do is write to your MP or join the
Christian Aid campaign:
Text CUT to 84880(standard text rates apply) or go to
http://www.christianaid.org.uk/climatebill
Anne Carroll
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