Week of Action
Sometimes I like to think I'm superman and can do anything and everything. It's usually around these times that I get sick. Is God sending me a message? Perhaps. Do I get it? Not usually. At least not the last few weeks as a very full month put me under the weather the last few days. Starting to get my energy back after a couple days lying at home oozing all sorts of bodily fluid (what? too much information?)
Anyway, Sunday morning I promised to have links posted here on Kairos' week of action. I apologize for getting them up so late. Check out the link here:
http://kairoscanada.org/index.php?id=624
Kyoto Plus Petition: http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/get-involved/campaign/kyotoplus-petition
And for some more general information on International Day of Climate Action. Read on.
The weekend of October 24th and 25th, 2009, offers an important opportunity for people of faith to express concern about climate change and take creative, unified action.
Saturday October 24th is the 350 International Day of Climate Action. Organized by a global consortium called 350.org ( www.350.org ), the 350 Day of Action campaign is named for 350 parts per million (ppm) measurement of carbon concentration in the atmosphere that leading scientists agree we need to be at or below to sustain life as we know it for human beings and other life forms on this planet.
On October 24th, people from all cultures and faith traditions around the world are planning symbolic and practical actions that express their concern about climate change and begin steps to dramatically reduce CO2 emissions. This is urgent. We are currently up to 387 ppm. Only a concerted global effort involving thousands of communities and individuals can raise awareness about climate change and our urgent need to reduce CO2 emissions not in ten or twenty years but right now.
Renowned American author and environmental activist Bill McKibben is the founder of 350.org and the leader of this Day of Climate Action campaign. McKibben frequently writes about climate change and renewable energy and is an active member of the Methodist Church. Only a religious understanding of the world, believes McKibben, can really get at how deep the environmental and climate crisis is. It is, at its heart, a spiritual crisis, a crisis of our relationship with the planet, with one another and within ourselves. McKibben believes people of faith can have a powerful impact on healing these personal and planetary issues and can lead communities far and wide in mitigating the worst of climate change, especially if all religions work together.
Faith & the Common Good joins 350.org in this campaign, and we invite you and your faith community to join the hundreds if not thousands of actions planned at churches, gurdwaras, mosques, synagogues and temples across the planet.
One action religious buildings with bells can engage in, McKibben suggests, is on October 24th and/or October 25th ring the bells of your religious building (or school etc….) 350 times. This is being called the 350 Rings Action. As McKibben points out, ringing bells is a very old media. We ring them to wake people up and call them to action.
Join with us in action, prayer, meditation and celebration on this momentous weekend. Below are a few suggestions of possible actions. Please plan something in your faith community and/or neighbourhood and then send us your stories of action to Faith & the Common Good's editor (editor@faith-commongood.net) so that we may publish them in our next December 2009 FCG e-letter.
. Sound your community bells, chimes, drums.... 350 times, sing, chant, blow a horn, or publicly sound out 350 in whatever way best fits your tradition. (see The Sound of 350 video http://vimeo.com/4396638 for inspiration)
· Hold a prayer service for and/or in a place particularly threatened by climate change.
· Host a community climate change dialogue in your church, mosque, synagogue, temple, or other ‘sacred space’, like a meadow or forest, garden or park.
· Incorporate some form of eco-themed art, music, poetry or story-telling to make your worship services or climate change events more meaningful and helpful to CO2 reductions.
· Stage a peaceful demonstration in a public place to express your community’s support for a rapid shift from fossil fuel-based energy to renewable energy systems.
· Organize a service action in your community of faith, such as committing to supporting local, organic foods for your place of worship and/or homes of congregants.
. Plant 350 trees
. Reduce your heating bill by $350 with energy retrofits
. Fill the Hill: Travel to Ottawa and join the largest demonstration ever to promote action on climate change with a commitment to reducing carbon dioxide levels to 350ppm or less:
http://www.100000onthehill.com