Anglican Action Plan to Advocate for Creation and against Climate Change

The Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN) met on Aug. 4 to 10 in Lima, Peru. Canadian participant Revd. Ken Grey noted that "ACEN representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Madagascar and Peru described how deforestation and associated environmental degradation continue at a frightening and devastating rate, often at the expense of indigenous communities who have undertaken subsistence farming for centuries". After this meeting  Revd. Gray, chair of Greening Anglican Spaces of the Anglican Church of Canada, declared that "Creation is in crisis. Anglicans must act".

Not only did participants learn of on the ground degradation of the environment in South America but saw to it that a plan be put forth to deal with it. ACEN convener Bishop George Browning of the Anglican Church of Australia heralded a call to "scrutinise and transform our own relationship with God’s creation". ACEN says that by September 2011 they will have an action plan for worldwide Anglican environmental advocacy.

Read about it more here

Wildlands League asks Ontario Government to start land use planning in Northern Ontario 'Ring of Fire'

The Wildlands League and Noront Resources Ltd. are jointly requesting that the Ontario government start land use planning with First Nations communities located in the northern Ontario Ring of Fire.

"In a letter addressed to various government ministers, the public interest group Wildlands League and Canadian mining company Noront highlight the "urgent need" to develop and approve compressive land use plans that will protect First Nations' land while preventing delays and missteps for mining companies developing in the area.

"What First Nations communities need to see is the options available to them and the cost and benefits of those options," said Anna Baggio the director of conservation and land use planning at Wildlands League.

Land use agreements are part of the government's Far North Act, which aims to protect 50 per cent of Northern land (225,000 kilometres) from development while providing stability for mining companies exploring and developing in Northern Ontario. Baggio said land use agreements with First Nations communities and should have been implemented last fall when the Far North Act was initially passed.

See Ring of Fire update

Environment | Citizens for Public Justice

Environment | Citizens for Public Justice

Ocean Life Sustainability Report on Grocery Retailers

Three of seven grocery chains receive passing grade on the sustainability needs required for ocean life. Read about it here

ALSOC

Anglican-Lutheran Stewards of Creation Event

Youth Event registration.
The time for the event is drawing closer.

August 12 to 14, 2011  --ALSOC Event in Kitchener

Fifty B.C. faith leaders urge politicians to protect environment

Fifty B.C. faith leaders urge politicians to protect environmentMedia Release

Following the election of a federal Conservative majority government, 53 of B.C.'s Faith Leaders stress the importance of provincial action on climate change.

May 9, 2011.

(Vancouver) Faith leaders from across the province have come together to stress the importance of caring for creation and fighting climate change. On May 9, an open letter was sent to Premier Clark and NDP leader Adrian Dix, urging them to work toward "mitigating the damage already done to the natural world," and to "provide citizens with a new vision of relationship with the earth."

"That there was almost no mention of climate change or environmental protection during the federal election campaign is deeply troubling," comments Susan Draper, KAIROS BC-Yukon Network Coordinator. "This failure to acknowledge or even recognize our intricate and dependent relationship with the earth has placed this province and our country at the crossroads. Because the federal government has not taken significant action on climate change and environmental protection, it is even more important that our Provincial government assumes more leadership on this critical issue. Concrete actions to reduce energy consumption as well as initiatives such as carbon taxes, the banning of fuel tankers from our coastal waters, and the Western Climate Initiative are important steps our provincial leaders can take to help us transition to a different way of living on this planet."

"These are issues that threatens the health, safety, and quality of life for future generations," says Rev. Ken Gray of the Church of the Advent, an Anglican church in Victoria and one of the letter's signatories. "In many cases, the desire for profit has led us to put short term human needs ahead of all other values and all other beings that share this planet with us. The consequences are obvious: the impacts of global warming caused by humanity's burning of fossil fuels are increasingly visible and threatening much of what we know and love about this beautiful province."

For further inquiries or additional contact information:

Susan Grace Draper
KAIROS BC-Yukon Network Coordinator
graceful@shaw.ca
250-370-0121

Green Awards at Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Huron 2011

Green Awards at Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Huron 2011