Climate Change

As an international development practitioner with World Renew, I work with staff who live in countries that are impacted by these extreme weather events. Time and time again I hear that it is climate change that is causing their communities many hardships.

“Climate change is a global problem with grave implications:
environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods;
it represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”

~ Pope Francis

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the historic Paris Agreement, the Canadian government is set to announce a national Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

This framework will determine how we, as a nation, respond to the climate crisis.

Three years ago, I retired from several decades of work in the corporate world. I became a bit circumspect, weighing my achievements and accomplishments against the goals, dreams and intentions I had had for my life. (Thank God for Grace!) I also started to think about what I wanted to focus on in the remaining years of my life. Pretty standard fare for a man of my age in my situation, I think.

August has arrived! If you’re a church leader, you may be looking for a curriculum for your small group, adult study classes, or youth group.

In the words of Pastor Christy Knetsch, whose congregation in Grand Rapids has recently used several of these curricula,

“The Christian Reformed Church is committed to equipping congregations. I am so glad that we have been able to utilize these resources so that we can ensure that not only the head, but heart and hands are empowered to promote justice in the square inches where God gives us influence.”  

Unless you’ve been on a media fast for the last 6 months, chances are you have heard something about the Paris climate talks.You may have thought that the adoption of the Paris Agreement last year by all attending 196 nations of the world was the finish line; that the work of reaching a global consensus on climate change and a shared path forward had been accomplished. Well, yes and no...

From 2006 – 2010, the country of Syria suffered the most severe drought ever recorded. Climatologists maintain that this drought was exacerbated by climate change: crops and animals died, and an estimated 1.5 million Syrian farmers were displaced. Food insecurity, economic depression, and social instability contributed sparks to the explosion of chaos now infecting the entire Middle East.

“Climate change is affecting us all, and is especially impacting our Indigenous brothers and sisters here in North America and in most of the global south.”

These were just some of the challenging words spoke by Dr. Katharine Hayhoe spoke in her recent address at Tyndale University College and A Rocha Canada’s A Climate for Change event.

You’ve likely heard a lot lately about the Paris climate talks that wrapped up a few weeks ago, and you’ve likely been left wondering what it’s all about. The follow up from Paris has seen lots of high talk from government officials and lots of complicated jargon, but little plain-English explanations of what the agreement actually says and what it means.

So in case you’ve been wondering what this whole Paris Agreement is all about, here are five things you need to know:

One Inuit leader said "we are human barometers of climate change."

At the opening session of COP21, President Áder of Hungary shared a conversation he had with his unborn grandchild in a dream. The dream was haunting; his grandchild repeatedly asked him why he did not take action on climate change despite overwhelming evidence from scientists.