Let's Partner Toward Climate Justice

Help make the CRC’s presence at COP 21 a reality, and join us in our journey toward a universal climate agreement! Donate here. 

In a warming world where local fisheries are collapsing, soil is degrading, sea levels are rising, and more and more people are being driven from their homes, why has the church remained so quiet? Climate change is one of the most pressing moral issues of our lifetime, but when it comes to offering lament, seeking forgiveness, and working toward solutions, the church is often nowhere to be found.

This is more than a simple oversight; it is a moral tragedy, because for millions of impoverished people around the world, climate change isn’t a political debate or an abstract concept. It is a reality in which adaptation can mean the difference between life and death.

The Christian Reformed Church believes that the global church has a crucial and necessary role to play if the world is to begin adequately addressing the threat of climate change. It’s high time that the church stands up and is heard, and the CRC is planning an exciting campaign to begin to do just that. Here are the basics:

• Governments from all over the world will be gathering in Paris in November/December, 2015 for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, where a potential global treaty on carbon emissions will be negotiated.
• The CRC will spend the summer and fall of 2015 recruiting 30 congregations in the United States and Canada and providing them with resources to educate themselves on creation care in general and the COP 21 process in particular.
• In November, a group of 3-4 CRC members will travel to Paris to represent the CRC and participate in the negotiation process. They will also communicate regularly with the 30 congregations back in North America with on-the-ground updates and analyses.
• After COP 21, these 30 congregations will be empowered to engage in a number of advocacy efforts (i.e., letters to the editor, lobby visits) to make sure that the progress emerging from the meetings in  Paris is translated into concrete policy back home.

We’re pretty excited about the opportunity that COP 21 provides to put our faith into action, but excitement won’t foot the bill. If this campaign is going to happen, we’ll need to partner with many others who also believe COP 21 presents the church with an opportunity to speak prophetically and to hope boldly -- people like you. (To see the full budget for the project and how we'll use these funds, see the end of this post.)

We are hoping to raise every penny for this campaign, and that’s why we’ve set up a crowdfunding page because, while we are approaching a handful of large donors, we hope that the bulk of our funding can come from people like you. People that are passionate about seeing something done about climate change, but not always sure where to start. We want this to be a partnership, and you can be assured that 100 percent of the money you pledge will go directly to making this campaign a reality, and your pledge for this campaign will be used for this campaign only.

So how about it?

Will you partner with us?

Project budget: 

Coordinator (one of the co-coordinators is currently on staff) $14,000

Ten Climate Mission Organizers @ $1,500                              $15,000

Communications firm                                                                 $5,000

Travel for four-person delegation to Paris @$1,500                 $6,000

Two weeks lodging/board in Paris @$1,000                              $4,000

Technical costs connected to communication links                    $2,000

Miscellaneous costs                                                                     $4,000

TOTAL                                                                                   $50,000

[Image: Flickr user DinosaursAreNotDead]