Religious leaders urge B.C. to lead on climate change: Churches of all stripes ask province to set targets in battle against greenhouse gas emissions
Page: A3
Section: News
Byline: Judith Lavoie
Religious leaders of all stripes are coming together in a coalition of strange bedfellows to fight the overarching threat of global warming.
A letter asking that B.C. set mandatory, provincewide targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, sent to Premier Gordon Campbell this week, is signed by 45 community leaders including Rt. Rev. James Cowan, Anglican Bishop of B.C (which includes Vancouver Island); Mark Weintraub, chairman of the Pacific Region Canadian Jewish Congress, and ministers from the United Church of Canada.
Other signatories range from Stewart Philip, president of the B.C. Union of B.C Indian Chiefs and Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, to leaders of environmental and business organizations.
The letter says B.C.'s emissions are up 30 per cent since 1990 and the mountain pine beetle is threatening the future of dozens of forest-dependent communities while extreme weather is disrupting B.C.'s economy and society.
"We therefore call on you to help B.C. become a leader by legislating worldleading, provincewide targets for mandatory emissions reductions," the letter says.
The letter follows a demand by Rt. Rev. Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster, that the province set binding targets for reducing emissions.
Ingham said in a letter to Campbell that care of the planet "has become one of the most pressing ethical, moral and spiritual issues of our time." The push by churches, synagogues and mosques to stand up for the Earth is welcome said former environment minister David Anderson, a practising Anglican.
"I have been puzzled and saddened by the reticence of the Church to speak out forcefully and frequently on this issue," he said.
"I think this is a fundamental moral issue. Our civilization has to face up to its responsibility and we are not doing so.
What right do we have, for the benefit of our highly selfish lifestyle, to destroy the lives of people in third world countries." Anderson, who led climate change debate for five years as Liberal environment minister, said his insistence on the urgent need for action was the reason he was fired from cabinet in 2004 by former prime minister Paul Martin.
"I was pressing far too hard. I know that's why I was fired as environment minister and dropped from cabinet," he said.
Muslim Naz Rayani said climate change was the hot topic this week when he took a group of about 60 people to visit his mosque in Vancouver.
"Man has been given the responsibility to look after Mother Earth for future generations. It's up to us," he said.
In Islam, the biggest struggle is keeping a balance between the spiritual and wordly life and the environment must now become part of that personal equation, Rayani said.
In Victoria, faith-based climate change action is being led by the recently formed Care for Creation Committee, a joint effort by the Anglican Church of St. John the Divine and First Metropolitan United.
"This is a problem that will affect everyone on Earth and it is an issue we can work on together, regardless of our belief systems," said St. John the Divine parishioner Clare Attwell.
The Care for Creation Committee is putting on a presentation of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth followed by a community discussion at First Metropolitan, Feb. 12 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Between Feb. 21 and April 4, there will be a series of Wednesday noon forums at St. John the Divine on "God, Climate Change and Us."
Edition: Final
Story Type: News
Length: 575 words
