By SIMON CALDWELL
Catholic News Service
GLASGOW, Scotland - Thousands of Catholics took to the streets of the United Kingdom to show their sup- port for action to halt climate change and reverse ecological degradation. Many joined the Nov. 6 Day of Action in Glasgow, Scotland, the host city of the Oct. 31-Nov. 12 U.N. Climate Change Conference. They took part in a three- mile march that drew up to 100,000 demonstrators from all over the world. It was the largest of about 100 protests in the U.K. alone and the largest demonstration since the beginning of COP26, as the conference is known. Many Catholics chanted and carried banners as they marched with such groups as the Scottish Catholic In- ternational Aid Fund, and CAFOD, its English and Welsh counterpart. Others came as part of the Lau- dato Si Movement, which processed in front of a huge inflatable globe, or with Je- suit Missions or in parish or school groups. They braved five hours of strong winds and driving rain to gather in Kelvingrove Park in the west of the city and walk to drum beats with thousands of other Chris- tians through the city center to Glasgow Green in the east. CAFOD member Emily Murray, 20, from Reading, England, said visible ac- tion was essential because she believed the poor of the world were "already being op- pressed by climate change." "I think people need to start acting while they still have time," she told Catholic News Service. "We need to slash emissions by half. "More than ever young people are really interested in climate change. If we leave it to the government, if we leave it to policymakers, they are not going to get it right ... history is going to hold us to account." Ayaat Hassan, 17, attend- ed the event with a large party from Notre Dame High School in Glasgow. "As the youth of today, we are the ones who are going to be most affected by climate change, and we deserve to get heard," she said. "The politicians are not listening to what we have to say. It is very important for us to come out so they are forced to listen." Colm Fahy was one of 28 young adults to walk 52 miles from Edinburgh to Glasgow with Jesuit Mis- sions on the "Growing Our Future" pilgrimage ahead of the conference. He said he hoped real change would come from COP26. "Pilgrimages go to miracu- lous things, if we think about Lourdes and Guadalupe," he told CNS. "We think some- thing remarkable could hap- pen." Scottish Bishop William Nolan of Galloway also marched with the demon- strators. "It really is a case of make or break. We know what the problem is, we know what the solution is. Now is the time to do it," he told CNS. "I am very encouraged by what we call civil society, all the people who are here mak- ing their voices heard and who appreciate the impor- tance of this, that we have to do something now," he said. Passionist Father Antony Connelly of St. Mungo's Par- ish, Glasgow, said Catholics present were heeding social teaching on the environment developed since the pontifi- cate of Blessed Paul VI and preached emphatically by Pope Francis. "For us, it's an emergen- cy," he said. "We need to care. We need to love our planet again, and we need to be lov- ing those who are suffering the effects of climate change, especially. "It's the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor that we are committed to. It is hurting those who are poor the most. I hope this will be a turning point. I would be very proud if it was, but I am still praying for a miracle." The first week of COP26, which brought together leaders of 196 nations, saw promises to reduce defores- tation, methane emissions and burning coal in an at- tempt to limit global warm- ing following warnings that if global temperatures rise over 1.5 degrees, significant climate events such as floods, droughts and rising sea lev- els will follow. Alistair Dutton, chief ex- ecutive of SCIAF, said the progress of the first week of the summit left him feeling "pretty optimistic." "The analysis of all the processes and pledges so far has us down at 1.8 degrees," he said. "Now we clearly need to do more. We have got to hit 1.5 degrees, but we have closed the gap enormously in just one week. "That's a massive turning point," he continued. "This COP has switched the dial in terms of ambition." "I think that's great but we also have to make sure we do it quickly enough ... we need to do 70% of it by 2030. That's where there is no plan for it at the moment." In spite of the pledges, no consensus has yet been agreed that could meet the U.N.'s main objectives to re- duce global warming. The second week of the summit was expected to raise additional challenges of how to finance the efforts of devel- oping countries to meet the challenges of climate change, including protecting them- selves from its most harmful impacts.
2 WWW.THERECORDNEWSPAPER.ORG WORLD THE RECORD NOVEMBER 11, 2021
Catholics march for climate justice
'History is going to hold us to account,' says marcher at climate protest
Bishops in Amazon ask COP26 for action to save the planet
By LISE ALVES
Catholic News Service
SO PAULO - Bishops from the Amazon region are asking leaders from around the world gathering for the U.N. Climate Change Con- ference to commit to protect vulnerable communities and the Amazon ecosystem. The recorded message, produced by the Pan-Ama- zonian Church Network, or REPAM, was released dur- ing the U.N. conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Interna- tional representatives at the conference are discussing roads to a sustainable ecol- ogy, reduction of greenhouse gases and solutions to miti- gate the negative effects of climate change on the world's populations. "I urge COP26 partici- pants to listen to the cries of the peoples, waters and forests of the Amazon and to pressure the Brazilian gov- ernment to effectively com- mit itself to the defense of the original peoples, forests and waters of the Amazon," re- tired Bishop Erwin Krautler, president of REPAM-Brazil, said in the video, released Nov. 5. With the video, the reli- gious, who all live and work in the Amazon region, hope to mobilize society and pres- sure the Brazilian govern- ment and others at COP26 to adopt concrete and urgent measures to protect the rain- forest. The pleas came from Bra- zilian bishops and foreign bishops who live in the Ama- zon region and want its pres- ervation, like French Bishop Jess Mara Lpez Maulen of Alto Xingu-Tucum; Ital- ian Bishop Adriano Ciocca Vasino of So Felix; Irish Bishop Derek John Christo- pher Byrne of Primavera do Leste-Paranatinga; German Bishop Norbert Hans Chris- toph Foerster of Ji- Paran; and Polish Bishop Marek Marian Piatek of Coari. "Along with Pope Francis, we ask for urgent and cou- rageous commitments from COP26 to combat climate change and protect our beloved Amazon," said Bishop Vasino. "We are in the Amazon (region), we are with Pope Francis, and we are follow- ing the COP26 conference," agreed Archbishop Roque Paloschi of Porto Velho. Pope Francis told Alok Sharma, COP26 president, that the conference "can and should actively contribute to the conscious construction of a future where everyday behavior and economic-finan- cial investments can really safeguard the conditions of a dignified life for human- ity today and tomorrow on a healthy planet." "We are all aware of the important task of show- ing the entire international community if there really is a political will to allocate, honestly, responsibly and courageously, more human, financial and technological resources to mitigate the negative effects of climate change," the pope said. In early November, the Pan-Amazonian Church Network and the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon delivered a letter to COP26 participants in which lead- ers stated the need to "start acting and in an integral way, to respond to all this infernal reality, ratifying the Paris Agreement and all that it implies. We are all part of the problem, but also part of the solution." "We want to express to you our feeling of bewilderment and, at the same time, of im- potence when contemplating and experiencing the chaos that our planet is experi- encing, among other things, because of climate change and its catastrophic conse- quences for humanity and for the common home, as Pope Francis has so wonderfully called it," said the letter. "As men and women of goodwill, we hear the cry of the poor and also the cry of the earth, who moans in labor pains," it said, quot- ing from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. "And that is why, with great concern, we address you in the cur- rent conditions in which our threatened and tormented planet lives."
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CNS Photo by Simon Caldwell
Emily Murray, 20, from Reading, England, who is a member of CAFOD, the overseas aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, posed with a placard during a Day of Action at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 6.
CNS Photo by Ueslei Marcelino, Reuters
A Guajajara Indian "forest guardian" drew water from a well at a loggers camp on Araribia Indigenous land near Amarante, Brazil, Sept. 11, 2019. Bishops from the Amazon region are asking leaders from around the world gathering in Glasgow, Scotland, for the U.N. Climate Change Conference, for com- mitment to protect vulnerable communities and the Amazon ecosystem.
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