Climate Strikes
25/09/2019 4:55:27 PM | Elise Mason
Last Friday, the 20th of September, myself and The Justice Conference team headed into the Melbourne CBD (along with 100,000 of our closest friends) to make a stand for climate justice. You’ve probably heard of the climate strikes by now, it would be hard not to have, considering was plastered all over social media! There were over 2,500 events in 185 countries with an approximate whopping 4 million global attendees, all organized by a 16-year-old activist, Greta Thunberg. This historic movement saw millions gather and unite to call on their governments to deliver better climate action plans at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York this week.
The message was clear – our house is on fire and now is the time for action.
I couldn’t help but notice that many of the attendee’s messaging were based off concerns for their own and their decedents futures. We were surrounded by children eager to secure a safe and healthy future on this earth. We stood shoulder to shoulder with parents and grandparents who fear the worst for their descendants. We endured with our peers who see the science and can’t deny the reality that climate change brings. To quote one patron “doesn’t matter how old, young, rich or poor, this thing is real.”
One message that I feel was left out of the conversation was that of what is already happening in the global south. We are already seeing catastrophic weather events and instabilities wreaking havoc on the world’s most vulnerable people.
Climate change has caused global hunger to increase. Don’t get me wrong, we have made strides in poverty alleviation over the last 50 years and there is much to celebrate, however we cannot ignore thatthis issue of famine is getting worse, not better. 821 million people today (up from 811 million in 2017) do not have adequate access to nourishment with a staggering 150 million children’s growth stunted. Last year theUN published a reportoutlining some of the key statistics and reasons for this increase. The report found that climate change affecting rainfall patterns and agricultural seasons as well as droughts and floods are key drivers to the rise in hunger.
Additionally, our waste and pollution not only have an environmental impact, it has a human impact too. Earlier this year,Tearfund UK released a reportmaking the connection between mismanaged plastic waste and deaths in the global south. The report was the first of its kind to address the impact that mismanaged waste actually has on the world’s most vulnerable people. Spoiler alert, the statistics aren’t great. One person dies every 30 seconds due to a pollution-based disease, and over 2 billion people worldwide live and work amongst piles of waste. To put that into perspective for you, multiply the entire population of Australia by 8 and then imagine us all in a rubbish dump. This isn’t a small is problem that we can ignore. We are blessed enough to live in a country where our rubbish is collected and dealt with for us, a luxury that majority of the world don’t have.
In case you’re not yet overwhelmed, let me inform you that there is a very real relationship between climate change and conflict. In fact, you could almost say that climate instability can be a key driver of conflict. Last yearUNESCO released this article, bringing to light the fact that changes of the world’s physical landscape often lead to geopolitical changes, threatening to destabilise already vulnerable regions. As resources become more and more scarce there is added stresses on nations to manage what is available and ensuring an equal distribution of resources.
I call all this out to remind us of Provers 31:8-9 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and the needy”. As Christians, we have a biblical mandate for speak up for our brothers and sisters around the world who are not heard. Climate change isn’t just a fear for their futures, it’s their current reality. To quote one of my heroes William Wilberforce “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
Let’s continue to advocate for the vulnerable. Let’s continue to call on our government for better action for those whose voices are not being heard.