Category Archives: climate change

‘Pope’ and ‘Martin Luther’ visit Nottinghamshire fracking site

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The Pope and Martin Luther were two characters in a play performed by a group of Christians outside a site in Nottinghamshire threatened with fracking last week. Members of Christian Climate Action travelled from across the UK to meet with local people for a prayer vigil at Tinker Lane near Blyth.

Pope and Martin Luther at fracking site

CCA perform Reformation play at fracking site

The vigil included liturgy, prayer, sung worship, and a play entitled ‘A Radical Reformation of the Economy’ in which Pope Frances and Martin Luther are characters calling for a reformation which sees humanity place care for creation above success of the economy. Most of their lines in the play are words the real Pope Francis and Martin Luther wrote.

IGas has planning permission to carry out exploratory drilling for shale gas on the site. This is the first step towards fracking. The vigil offered those who attended a chance to pray for the protection of creation and that fracking will not happen.

Caroline Harmon, a member of Christian Climate Action who attended, said:

‘Local people don’t want fracking in Nottinghamshire; science tells us that the earth cannot sustain life as we know it if we continue to extract fossil fuels; and the bible calls on us to care for the creation God has placed us in.

‘We first visited Tinker Lane in the summer of 2017. It’s fantastic to come back and see lots of local people fighting this at the gates of the site, but also sad to see the progress IGas has made in erecting equipment on the site.

‘We prayed for strength and perseverance for local opposition groups, and for the repentance and conversion of humanity as we seek to learn to live within our means in God’s earth.’

More information and photos are on the CCA website: https://christianclimateaction.wordpress.com.

More about possible fracking at Tinker Lane and those who are fighting it here.

Church of England breaks its Engagement with Fossil Fuels at staged wedding

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Church of England breaks its Engagement with Fossil Fuels at staged wedding

On Monday 8th May, Christian Climate Action staged a wedding between the Church of England and fossil fuels to protest the Church’s continued investment in the industry. The sketch and short prayer vigil took place on the steps of Church House, Dean’s Yard, Westminster.

The event, which was part of the Global Divestment Mobilisation, aimed to encourage the Church of England to show moral leadership and divest from the fossil fuel industry. Currently the Church is pursuing a policy of engagement – holding shares in the industry and using shareholder status to try to change the industry’s behaviour. Christian Climate Action believes that engagement cannot work because there is not enough time for it to prevent runaway climate change having a devastating impact on people and God’s creation. They also do not think it is right for the Church to profit from an industry that is making money from wrecking the earth’s climate.

In the sketch, where the Bride of Christ, representing the Church of England, was to be given in marriage to the fossil fuel industry, there was an objection from Jesus Christ, who persuaded the bride to break her engagement with fossil fuels and seek forgiveness.

After the play the guests heard about the impact of coal mining and climate change in Colombia and Uganda before joining in a short prayer vigil.

Diana Salazar, of Colombia Solidarity Campaign, said, ‘the Church of England invests in BHP Billiton and Anglo American, two of the biggest mining companies in the world, and both with significant coal mining operations. They are among the owners of the Cerrejon opencast coal mine in Colombia, which has a history of forced evictions of farming communities and destruction of rural livelihoods. The mine has a massive impact on water in an arid region, and when mine management are challenged about this they try to evade responsibility by blaming water shortages on climate change. Climate change is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, primarily coal, so this is rather an ironic excuse for a coal company to use.’

Jim Green talked about his recent visit to rural Uganda with a Christian Development Agency. ‘Every community we visited were talking about the effect of climate change. For some it meant having only one meal a day, or, in some cases, one meal every two days.’

The Church Commissioners were ‘invited’ to the ‘wedding’ but were unable to attend.  Before leaving, Holly Petersen, dressed as the Bride of Christ, handed in some chocolate hearts and a card to the Church Commissioners’ Communications Officer, asking them to conclude the Church’s engagement with fossil fuels.

Caroline Harmon of Christian Climate Action said:

‘The Church of England claims to be a responsible investor, and has a strong moral voice. It claims to understand the threat and urgency of climate change, yet instead of divesting from the biggest fossil fuel companies, they continue to engage. As part of the Global Divestment Mobilisation we invited the Church Commissioners to the wedding of the Church and fossil fuels, where we highlighted the impacts of climate change and prayed for more urgent action.’

More photos are available here