News, Boost, Updates
July 17th sum-up Faiths4Future, Climate Cafe Multifaith
Bookstart! August 10th—a Thursday—the Climate Cafe gathers for something new. We are going to jump into to ‘summer reading’ vibe with an uplifting book read. Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation by Paul Hawken. Barak Gale will lead the conversation. Read some or part of the book if you can. If you don’t quite get to it, come anyway. No reading necessary to enjoy the conversation. We know your book stacks are high, so we will offer a short presentation with highlights and invites from the book. To purchase the print book, please consider ordering from your local bookshop, or bookshop.org. I ordered though my local and it was there overnight—way better than amazon, faster! Plus I saved transport emissions and supported a mom & pop. Thursday, August 10th 11:00am Pacific / 2:00pm Eastern Time. Register.
Boost - Events
Solar for Congregations. Interfaith Power and Light webinar upcoming Climate and Energy Resources for Faith Communities: A Briefing with the U.S. Department of Energy on July 18th.
March to End Fossil Fuels. People vs Fossil Fuels is organizing a March on September 17th in New York City. GreenFaith has promoted this March…online details are few, check with your local GreenFaith circle and see more information here.
Movement Cafe July 19st. The next Movement Cafe from the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement will speak to Disaster Response and Resilience within the UMC denomination. Speakers will share what is happening from Florida, North Carolina, New Jersey and Alaska. Learn more and register.
Be a UM Earthkeeper! Global Ministries seeks U.S.-based United Methodists to lead grassroots environmental projects that are action-oriented, antiracist, bold and entrepreneurial. Is this you? Find the application and more information here. The next training begins in October.
Resources
A Multifaith Climate songbook from GreenFaith.
Liturgy - Season of Creation. As the Season approaches, expect more resources to pop up. It is indeed really good news to google ‘season of creation 2023’ and get so many hits!! New from the United Methodist Creation Justice Movement worship team is a full liturgical resource including prayers, communion, sermon starters, hymns and children’s ministry. Download here.
Season of Creation. Season of Creation began as an Orthodox and Catholic effort and is now celebrated across the world and in many denominations. The Season begins September 1, find the central movement page here.
Reports
Find reports on the reports page.
A lot of reports this week! Some of these are really dispiriting. Take heart! The more we can better understand the truth of where we are, the better we can forge a path away from harm and back to a vibrant planet.
Global Crop Failure Risk. A new report in Nature Communications, read an article about the report in Vice Scientists Raise Alarm Over Risk of 'Synchronized' Global Crop Failures. Read an essay about the report from one of the report authors in Carbon Brief: Scientists Raise Alarm Over Risk of 'Synchronized' Global Crop Failures. Read the report.
Exponential Growth for Renewables. Some good news! A surge in renewable energy projects keeps the planet on track for net-zero. Read an article from CleanTechnica about the report One-Third Of All Electricity Will Come From Renewables By 2030. Read a summary of the report from report author RMI: Global power system on track for the IEA’s ambitious net-zero pathway. Read the report.
Unlivable Planet. This report looks at the cost of burning fossil fuels in human lives as temperatures humans cannot survive burst through the ‘climate niche’ and force climate migration. An article about the report from ProPublica: Climate Crisis Is on Track to Push One-Third of Humanity Out of Its Most Livable Environment Read the report.
Emissions from Logging too high. A new study that gives some hard numbers around just how much impact logging and timber harvest has on carbon emissions. Read an article about the study from Mongabay Timber harvests to meet global wood demand will bring soaring emissions: Study Read and article about the study from The Hill The wood industry releases more carbon than Russia — and we’re mostly not counting its emissions: study Read the study.
Divestment and Pensions. A new report from stand.earth and the University of Waterloo. Read an article about the report from CommonDreams US Public Pensions Are Paying Huge Price for Not Divesting From Fossil Fuels, Report Shows Read the press release: U.S. public pensions could be $21 billion richer right now Read the report.
UN Global Resilience Report. A Special Edition of the Global Assessment Report from the UNDRR (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction). “Growing disaster risks and a confluence of shocks are creating domino effects across economies and undermining sustainable development on all fronts, according to a new report by the United Nations.” Read the press release New report shows climate disasters are reversing global development at unprecedented rates. Read the report.
Statistical Review of World Energy report. There are changes of authorship this year and following for the World Energy Report. This is an industry report and has been produced annually by BP. Going forward will be produced by the Energy Institute—an industry group. The report indicates that despite the rise of renewables, energy consumption in general is rising, so fossil fuels are as plentiful as ever, comprising 82% of the mix and causing an increase of .08% in emissions for 2022. Read an article about the report it The Guardian Greenhouse gas emissions from global energy industry still rising – report and from Reuters Renewables growth did not dent fossil fuel dominance in 2022, report says. Read the report.
New Climate Word:
Polycrisis. Add this one to ‘megadrought’ and ‘bombcyclone’ and ‘pyrocumulonimbus tornado.’ We are experiencing ‘ climate polycrisis’ defined by the UN this way: “The impacts of climate change are causing existing hazard events to become more intense and occur with greater frequency. These impacts combine with other risks and threats such as conflict, epidemics or inflation, creating compound crises, a phenomenon increasingly referred to as a polycrisis.” My question of course is, where do we go from here? And when will it be enough to stop burning fossil fuels?
Deep Dive - heat
June 2023 was the hottest June on record, and this week of July record temperatures are being made including temps of 126º in Sanbao, China and a heat index of 152º in the Persian Gulf (Gulf water was 90º+)—this is the kind of heat humans cannot survive. And from Vox It’s even hot in Antarctica, where it’s winter. With both land, air, and ocean temps high, here is an explainer as to how the ocean can be so hot The ongoing marine heat waves in U.S. waters, explained. A good opportunity, too, to share this link again from a couple of weeks ago, from VOX How heat waves form, and how climate change makes them worse. (More on heat and oceans from earlier news here.) Mom’s Clean Air Force has a helpful fact sheet for those with outdoor ministry & faith events this summer, available in English and Spanish.
Good News
Sweet Armadillos! Nature positive solutions at their cutest. Mongabay reports on the efforts in Brazil to protect and redirect armadillos when their sweet tooths (teeth?) get them into trouble with local bee keepers. Sweet solution: Armadillo-friendly honey helps Brazil beekeepers, giant armadillos
Four Million Mangrove trees! Iraq and the UN are working together to restore carbon-rich and resilient, climate-important mangrove forests by planting 4 million mangrove trees. From Arab News Iraq plants mangrove forest to fight climate disaster
Securing Biodiversity. The EU is moving ahead with plans to protect and restore nature. From Inside Climate News European Union Approves Ambitious Nature Restoration Law “European countries hope healing forests, wetlands and oceans will help them meet their climate and biodiversity targets, and bolster food security.”
Green Bank. I don’t have time for a deeper dive on this today, but the Green Bank is important and a key part of the climate recovery legislation passed by the Biden Administration. What this means, tho, is the as clean energy projects surge globally, this funding is like adding good fuel to a good fire. From PBS WATCH: Biden administration makes $20 billion ‘green bank’ available for clean energy projects
Plug those wells! And in even more good news, The Hill reports Biden administration announces $650 million to plug orphaned gas and oil wells.
Not-so-good News
Reparations to those harmed. Despite the most harms affecting those people, species, and lands that are not at fault for climate change, the BBC reported that the US refuses climate reparations for developing nations
Rural Impacts. There are global impacts and suffering due to climate change, but there is also suffering in the US. Lack of access to health care, 1950s infrastructure, and outdoor labor put rural people at increased risk. Rural Americans find little escape from climate change
That’s enough bad news for today. I am raising my heart for the better news to come.
Find the news archive here.
Prayer this week - Prayers for all those trapped and suffering in the growing heat, including humans, the elderly and infants and expectant mothers. Prayers for the animals, sweltering also on land and in the sea. Prayers for a continued turn away from fossil fuels and toward a just, vibrant, and nourishing earth for all.
Richenda