Contents
 back to Faith |
 previous story
|
next story 
|
Use an old envelope again
Print on both sides of the paper, too, Jo Hill of Tearfund advises
 Moving home: Nur Mohammed in Bangladesh JIM LORING/TEARFUND |
| The psychological effects of moving house are thought to be on a par with illness, unemployment, or divorce. But stress levels rocket when you have to move because the ground beneath you is literally breaking off and sailing away with your home into the sea.
Nur Mohammed (above) has lost three homes. He lives on Hatiya Island, off the south coast of Bangladesh — or used to live there. Tearfund met him years ago to highlight the effects of a changing climate on the poorest people living a subsistence lifestyle.
For any of us, an upheaval of our home is stressful, as was highlighted by the thousands of people in South Yorkshire still living in caravans outside their houses after flooding. The Environmental Agency report that about five million people, in two million properties, live in flood-risk areas in England and Wales alone.
But, every year, weather-related disasters kill 45,000 people, and a further 245 million people are affected through homelessness, loss of income, and the destruction of infrastructure: 98 per cent of these people come from developing countries, which highlights the link between poverty and vulnerability to disaster. The UN estimates that there could be up to 50 million environmental refugees by the end of the decade.
The use of energy in our homes has a direct impact on the homes of the world’s poorest people. In God’s eyes, we are inextricably linked to each other: the Church should be the world leader in calling for change.
Of the least developed countries in the world, Bangladesh is likely to be hit hardest by weather-related disasters. We can remember Mohammed’s story, and call for environmental justice.
Let your local MP know that your church takes the effects of climate change seriously.
The carbon fast
IN ASSOCIATION with the Church Times, the Christian relief and development agency Tearfund invites you and your church to help to restore the environment and join in a carbon fast during Lent. Each week, we print daily carbon-fast challenges.
Friday 22 February Cut the air miles. Try not to consume any food that you know has been imported by plane. Saturday 23 February Live the good life. Compost. Put the nutrients from food waste back into the soil –– not into a methane-emitting landfill. Sunday 24 February Grace Maglasey and her husband Andrew struggle to grow enough food because their village in Malawi is caught in a cycle of floods and droughts. Join in with Grace’s prayer today: “We pray that those of us who farm should harvest a lot of food so that this year we will not have hunger. In the name of Jesus, Amen.” Monday 25 February Run your washing machine only when you have a full load, or use the half-load or economy programme. Tuesday 26 February Find one way to save paper today: re-use an old envelope; print on both sides of the paper; or use the two-pages-per-sheet setting. Wednesday 27 February Turn the taps off. In one week, a dripping hot tap could fill half a bath. Thursday 28 February Counsel your local council. Thank it for their recycling facilities, but ask whether it could provide any more for other items. Please ask your local MP to ensure the Government delivers a tough Climate Change Bill in the UK. At Tearfund’s website, there is a draft letter that you can use. The Bill needs to include: • A target to cut at least 80 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. • Emissions from international flight and shipping set in the targets. • Binding carbon budgets with annual milestones, to make sure that emission reductions stay on course. Tearfund: “Christians passionate about the local church bringing justice and transforming lives — overcoming global poverty.”
|
