Newsletter February 2013 Ash Wednesday Declaration – one year on It is one year since Operation Noah launched the Ash Wednesday Declaration. This ch

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Newsletter February 2013

AWD

Ash Wednesday Declaration – one year on

It is one year since Operation Noah launched the Ash Wednesday Declaration. This challenges Christians and the church to realise that care for God’s creation – and concern about climate change – is foundational to the Christian gospel and central to the church’s mission. It was signed by many prominent church leaders.

The Declaration is framed around seven biblical themes and asserts that to be a Christian is to accept the call to radical discipleship through our witness, service and advocacy for care of God’s creation. It sets out the need for urgent action in recognition that the growing threat of climate change is one of the most significant moral issues facing us today. Scientific research makes it clear that time is running out. Alarm bells are ringing around the world. All of us are needed to play our part in protecting our fragile earth!

Operation Noah would like to call our supporters to help us mark this anniversary. Here is a prayer that has been written specifically for use in services on Ash Wednesday and during Lent. Please encourage people to use this in your churches. Don’t forget that there is also an excellent Lent course based on the Ash Wednesday Declaration, for use with home groups or as individuals.

Prayer for Ash Wednesday

'Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all that is, loving Father of us all, in whose hands are the depths of the earth and the heights of the mountains, and in whom we live and move and have our being; at your command all things came to be, from the vast expanse of stellar space to this fragile earth, our home. We give you thanks for your creation as gift of your love. We grieve over the devastation and pollution caused through our selfishness, and we repent of our sin. In Christ your Son you make all things new. We pray for grace to respond to your call for justice, and for your love to be shown in our love for our neighbours throughout your world and for generations yet to be born. Help us in our responsibility of care for your creation, in sharing your gifts, and working for a just and sustainable economy. Strengthen us in the hope that all things are in your hands. Help us to live and work in hope, in response to your gift and in the light of your Kingdom.'

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Join our Operation Noah Ambassadors

How, as Christians, can we translate this Declaration into exemplary, practical action now? One way is to help engage a wider audience in the need for urgent change. The Operation Noah Ambassadors will take forward the vision and messages around how we can tackle climate change in both the political sphere as well as through our actions as individuals and communities. The Ambassadors will engage with different audiences through church groups or congregations, schools or youth groups to galvanise action through education and leadership. If you are interested in becoming an Ambassador please get in touch at ambassadors@operationnoah.org. Training and support materials will be provided.

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Energy Bill - Important actions this month

At the end of last year we called upon Operation Noah supporters to write to their MP to get key amendments made to the new Energy Bill currently going through parliament. The Bill will be going back to the House of Commons in March and further debated in the House of Lords later in the Spring. This February is a critical time to make our voices heard, to ask for radical reforms to UK energy policy. If targets for decarbonising our electricity production are not integral to the Energy Bill now it will pave the way for expansion of dirty fossil-fuel industries over the next 30 years. If we follow this path we will not be able to meet our legally-binding national targets set out in the Climate Change Act. Instead, there needs to be greater long-term investment in renewable, low-carbon technologies and investment in energy-demand reduction, which will create many new jobs and boost the green economy.

The updated briefing on the Energy Bill, compiled by the Methodist, Baptist, URC, Quakers and Church of England is available here, as well as advice on how to write to your MP. You could also organise a local event at your church or in your community to raise awareness about the Energy Bill, and even invite your MP. Resources and briefings are available here to help you. The call for a decarbonisation target in the Energy Bill is supported by many other NGOs, organisations, businesses and political parties, as well as the Committee on Climate Change that advises the Government. Also, see Friends of the Earth campaign here.

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New insights on climate change

Greenpeace recently released a new report ‘The Point of no return: the massive climate threats we must avoid’, which outlines the impact of the planned expansion in new dirty fossil-fuel industries around the world, including coal mining, tar sands, shale gas, Arctic and off-shore drilling. It states that this trajectory of expansion sets us firmly on the path to a 5-6 degree global temperature increase that will have devastating consequences and bring about large-scale human tragedy. The report also reiterates that we still have a 75% chance of staying below a 2 degree increase and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. If these proposed new dirty energy projects are abandoned and we carry out the vision for an energy revolution we can still avert this catastrophe. This decade is the crucial period to halt global warming. In the next few years we must reach a peak in greenhouse gas emissions globally, and then steady decline in emissions if we are to stay below a 2 degree rise in global warming. See the full report here.

Nicholas Stern, the author of the government-commissioned review on climate change, recently commented that he had underestimated the risks: ‘I think I would have been a bit more blunt. I would have been much more strong about the risks of a four- or five-degree rise. This is potentially so dangerous that we have to act strongly.’ He also called for governments to radically shift their economies to low-carbon and more environmentally sustainable technologies. In the UK, the new proposals to exploit Britain’s shale gas reserves, through hydraulic fracture 'fracking', flies in the face of common sense.

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Upcoming events

Christian Ecology Link hosts their annual conference The Stream of Life on Saturday 16th March in Leeds. It will focus on nourishing the roots of our environmental action and deepening our relationship with what sustains us in creation and in our care for it, with Philip Roderick, Director of the Quiet Garden Movement, Leader of Contemplative Fire, and Adviser in Spirituality, Sheffield Diocese.

Cheapside Debate: Can technology save the planet? Tuesday 16th April 1pm, St. Mary-le-Bow Church, Cheapside, London EC2V 6AU
Chaired by Operation Noah's Board member, Rev Chris Brice, with speakers Dr Bernie Bulkin (Office of Renewable Energy, DECC) and Dr Mayer Hillman (Policy Studies Institute, University of Westminster)

Help Keep the Ark Afloat

If you would like to support the campaigns of Operation Noah you can make a monthly donation or one- off donation here. We are very grateful for all the help we receive from donors.

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