wfn.org | [ENS] Anglicans sing, pray at UN to stop global warming

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

11/17/2003

Anglicans sing, pray at UN to stop global warming

by Margaret Bullitt-Jonas 

[Episcopal News Service] Under threatening skies, nearly three hundred
worshipers from diverse faith traditions gathered November 12 outside the
United Nations in a service of repentance and renewal to stop global
warming.  Among them were two Episcopal bishops, ten Episcopal priests, and
the Anglican Observer at the United Nations. 
The service marked the fifth anniversary of the United States signing the
Kyoto Protocol to address global warming.  Congress never signed the treaty,
which President Bush has rejected as too costly.

"Meanwhile, greenhouse gas emissions soar out of control," states the
"Interfaith Call for Repentance and Renewal" issued by the group.
"Unchecked, global warming will bring rising sea levels, storms, drought,
disease, agricultural collapse, displacement of peoples, species extinction,
and incalculable suffering to our children and grandchildren. The first
victims are the poor and powerless among us, along with nature itself.

"People of faith and conscience cannot remain silent while creation is
pillaged. We in the United States, whose 4.5% of the world9s population
contributes 25% of global greenhouse emissions, bear a moral responsibility
to heal the earth9s wounds and build a sustainable economy."

Asking the world9s forgiveness for the United States failure to address
climate change, worship leaders pledged to mobilize faith communities to
protect the environment.

"Every religious tradition forbids theft, but global warming steals from our
own children and grandchildren," said the Rev. Fred Small, co-chair of
Religious Witness for the Earth, which organized the service. "As Americans,
we repent our nation's recklessness.  As people of faith, we ask our
political leaders to stop the despoliation of God9s creation."

Other speakers included Enele Sopoaga, ambassador to the UN from Tuvalu, a
small Pacific island nation facing inundation by rising sea levels caused by
global warming; Bishop Roy F. (Bud) Cederholm, Jr., from the Diocese of
Massachusetts and Bishop Catherine S. Roskam, from the Diocese of New York;
Archdeacon Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Matalavea, Anglican Observer at
the United Nations, from Samoa; Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg of The
Spirituality Institute; and Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, representing the
Unitarian Universalist Association.

After the service, some participants met with diplomatic missions to the
United Nations while others attended workshops on climate activism.

Traveling to the event, some participants literally "walked the talk" of
reducing carbon emissions.  Four Buddhist monks led a contingent of walkers
all the way from Western Massachusetts.  Others arrived in fuel-efficient
hybrid cars or vans powered by biodiesel made from vegetable oil.  On a
chartered bus from Littleton, Massachusetts, riders paid an extra five
dollars to purchase renewable energy offsetting the carbon dioxide pollution
from their trip.

-- The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas is priest associate at All Saints Parish