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Climate Change. A world-class problem that threatens everyone and everything on the planet. The world is slowly heating up, rising in average temperature each year, getting hotter and wetter (CHE, Nov 2011). Climate Change was first known as Global Warming in the 1950s, but in 1896 Svante Arrhenius concluded that human behaviour caused a change in our climate (Dictionary, n.d). The devastating effects of the changing climate impacts all lives, natural disasters like hurricanes increase in rate and severity, and coastal flooding would create even more damage due to melting ice caps. (NASA, Mar 2005). These disasters are threatening 800 million lives, 11% of the world’s population (Conversation International, n.d.)

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CHE. 2011. Global Climate Change Will Spawn Wilder Weather, Study Finds. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.chronicle.com/article/global-climate-change-will-spawn-wilder-weather-study-finds/#:~:text=It's%20getting%20warmer%2C%20leading%20to,getting%20wetter%2C%20producing%20more%20floods.&text=heat%20waves%20will%20increase.%E2%80%9D%20Also,latitudes%20and%20in%20the%20tropics. [Accessed 17 September 2020]

Dictionary.com. n.d. The Changing Language Of Climate Change – Dictionary.com. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/e/new-words-surrounding-climate-change/. [Accessed 17 September 2020]

The Rising Cost of Natural Hazards. 2020. The Rising Cost of Natural Hazards. [ONLINE] Available at: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/RisingCost/rising_cost5.php#:~:text=The%20one%20way%20in%20which,wind%20speeds%20of%20tropical%20storms. [Accessed 17 September 2020]

Climate Change - 11 Facts You Need To Know. n.d. Climate Change - 11 Facts You Need To Know. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.conservation.org/stories/11-climate-change-facts-you-need-to-know. [Accessed 17 September 2020].

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Figure 1 explains the multitudes of people affected by the changing planet, millions of people displaced, undernourished due to the increasing magnitude of natural disasters. This infographic was published in March 2019, over a year ago. The related impacts of Climate Change affect people and their lives. It is not only the environment that Climate Change touches but our lives.

Source: World Meteorological Organization. 2020. State Of The Climate In 2018 Shows Accelerating Climate Change Impacts. [onlin
e] Available at: <https://public.wmo.int/en/media/press-release/state-of-climate-2018-shows-accelerating-climate-change-impacts> [Accessed 3 November 2020].

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Figure 2 demonstrates the difference of half a degree, how the increase in average temperatures affects our Earth. The planet is slowly rising in temperature and the difference in rising 1.5 degrees and 2 degrees matters. Even if the temperature rises 1.5 degrees 46 million people will be impacted by the rising sea level by 2100.

Source: Our warming world: How much difference will half-a-degree really make? 2018, WWF, viewed 3 November 2020, <https://www.wwf.org.uk/updates/our-warming-world-how-much-difference-will-half-degree-really-make>.

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Christianity’s holy scripts write that God people must look after the Earth and care for it, as it is God’s creation, making it sacred. From the Bible, “Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and overall the creatures that move along the ground.” [genesis 1:26]. Of Judaism, Deuteronomy 16:20 the Torah states “Justice, justice shall you pursue” (Jewish Values on Climate Change & Energy 2014), which refers to solving social justice issues such as climate change.

References

Jewish Values on Climate Change & Energy 2014, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, viewed 10 November 2020, <https://rac.org/jewish-values-climate-change-energy>.

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https://www.arrcc.org.au/

ARRCC (2008)

Australian Religious Response to Climate Change

“Promoting ethical, environmentally sustainable, healthy, and contented lifestyles which respect the Earth’s precious natural resources, and to advocate, from a faith perspective, for public policies which contribute to climate justice.”

ARRCC execute their mission through campaigns, such as their ‘Eat Less Meat Campaign,’ regarding the effect of meat consumption on the planet. ARRCC is the first national multifaith organisation focused on environmental action, using their platform and faith-based knowledge to take political actions.

https://operationnoah.org/

Operation Noah (2004)

“Operation Noah is a Christian charity working with the Church to inspire action on the climate crisis”

Operation Noah is a Christian organisation running multiple campaigns encouraging awareness of Climate Change within churches. In 2012 the organisation made a declaration at the beginning of Lent, explaining that looking after the earth, God’s creation is written in the Christian gospel and is a part of the church’s mission.

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I initiated a survey to receive public opinions on Faith and Climate Change. I received 19 responses, with majority of respondents either with no religion or Christian. There was one Hindu and one Jew.

Religious sources state we must be the ones to look after the earth, the Bible states it was humanity’s duty to care for God’s creation, as did the Qur’an, and the Jewish Mitzvot. That way it is everyone’s responsibility to look after the Earth as it is His creation, making it holy.

Multiple participants of the survey stated that their faith does not affect their perspective on Climate Change but believe that something should be done about it. Despite reading in question 6 of how large masses of people will lose their home, 30% of people still responded that climate change is not a Social Justice Issue. All participants believed that it is everyone’s duty to respond to Climate Change.

A Christian participant responded that as a Christian, they are caretakers of Earth and the people living on it. They feel called to respond to climate change because of their Christian belief. Another Christian believes that the Earth will end, and Climate Change is just a part of the cycle, but also that if we work together, we can properly look after the world that God gave us to care for.

Someone with no religion stated that even without faith, people should feel empathy for the environment as a basic human emotion.  Another stated that everyone should be striving for change and helping the planet.