What Role Does Our Faith Play in Compelling Us to Care for Creation?!

In the face of an imminent environmental crisis, a powerful climate justice movement is rising from the heart of faith communities across Canada.

Worship that has integrity refuses to divorce praise of the Creator from love of creation. Hands that are raised in praise of Creator God must seek to also reach out in actions that defend the welfare of creation. Anything less risks expressing empty words of adoration devoid of committed action.

For over sixty years, Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ) has been inspired by faith to act for social and environmental justice in Canadian public policy. From coast to coast to coast, CPJ’s prophetic advocacy has championed refugee and migrant rights, poverty eradication, and climate justice.

Give it up for the Earth!, CPJ’s annual Lenten environmental campaign connects faithful communities and individuals across Canada to unite in calling for a just transition towards a sustainable and equitable economy. Each year, church congregations and individual participants foster a deeper connection with all of creation by committing to alter or replace lifestyle habits associated with high GHG emissions with more sustainable choices.

However, our vision for climate justice transcends individual actions to seek systemic transformation in Canada’s national climate policies. That's why every year, we pen an open letter to the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change Canada and Natural Resources, calling on them to champion policies that will preserve the beauty, complexity, and life-sustaining nature of God’s creation.

This year, we renew the urgent call to end all of Canada's public subsidies to the fossil fuel sector and divert these funds towards just transition programs that aid workers and provincial economies to transition away from dependence on fossil fuel revenues. We also urge elected officials to raise Canada's current emissions reduction target to 60% below 2005 levels by 2030. Finally, we call upon the government to pledge $1.8 billion annually in gender-responsive and grant-based climate finance. This commitment is vital for addressing the mounting loss and damage costs in developing countries and for supporting worldwide mitigation and adaptation efforts. Such an initiative is essential to ensure Canada fulfills its fair share in combating the climate crisis, particularly as the world’s seventh-highest per capita emitter.

But that’s not all! As a part of this transformative journey during the season of Lent, we provide participants with theological and informational resources, such as our Eco-Spirituality in Action webinar, which highlights how calls for climate justice are rooted in our Christian theology.

Give it up for the Earth! is not simply a campaign; it's a national movement driven by faith, hope, and the unwavering belief that together, we can build sufficient momentum towards climate justice in Canada. Last year, with the support of thousands of faithful and justice-oriented individuals, CPJ’s Give it up for the Earth! helped pave the way for the advancement of Bill C-226, which strives to create a national strategy on Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice. Your support this year would enable us to secure more urgent climate legislations and environmental commitments.

Your participation in Give it up for the Earth! is more than just a personal or a household pledge to reduce your GHGs; it’s also more than a seemingly passive signature on an open letter. It is a profound testament to elected officials that faith communities are not just concerned about the state of the planet, but are also committed to a mission of stewardship, fiercely determined to safeguard the intricate harmony of nature that is essential for the flourishing of all creation. CPJ’s Executive Director, Willard Metzger, articulates the urgency of this call by stating that “Climate change is an urgent spiritual matter, because it is inseparably linked to our love of our Creator. Now, more than ever, we believe that it is important to amplify our shared laments and shared commitments, as people of faith, to work towards climate justice.”

To participate in our 2024 Give it up for the Earth! Lenten campaign, please visit cpj.ca/fortheearth.