'No Fly' Climate Change Summit

Adrian Shaw, has forwarded us the following article from Trevor Grundy through the Ecumencial news International.

Faith activists take part in 'no fly' climate change summit ENI-10-0044

By Trevor Grundy
London, 19 January (ENI)--Religious leaders who are concerned about the outcome of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen, called COP15, have held their first "no fly" conference, and have urged politicians to follow the example of the world's great faiths in the fight against climate change.

"It is inspiring that we can use modern technology to bring together Christians, Jews and Muslims from across the globe to talk about how their sacred texts inspire them to preserve God's creation, without the need for flying," said Rachel Ward of the Bible Society, which initiated the online conference.

A panel of faith activists and environmentalists in Washington, Nairobi, Jerusalem and Geneva used video conferencing technology to exchange information about climate change with each other and with others who logged in for the discussion.

The meeting took place within a new online social network called Faith Climate Connect.
Participants at the 14 January video discussions, "discussed the practical role that faith, and in particular sacred texts, can take following the disappointments of COP15," said Simon Cohen, whose Global Tolerance company helped arrange the "no fly" conference.

They event organizers said the key to the future is to increase dialogue without increasing carbon footprints, and that "no fly" meetings linking environmentalists, religious leaders and politicians is now the best way forward.

"We have to connect all our networks around the globe, and use every means at our disposal to secure a future for the planet. It belongs to God. We have it on trust," said James Jones, the Anglican bishop of Liverpool.

A survey of people using Faithbook, an inter-faith networking page on Facebook, found that nearly half of all religious people would like their spiritual leaders to cut down on air travel as part of an effort to tackle climate change.

The Bible Society commissioned the survey, in which 64 percent of the 285 people questioned said they believed religions had not done enough to tackle climate change.

"With the failure of Copenhagen, the role of civil society becomes paramount," Alison Hilliard, a representative of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, a group that campaigns to link faith groups and environmental issues, told Ecumenical News International.

Those taking part in the networked video conference included Professor Jesse Mugambi, who teaches religious studies at the University of Nairobi, and is a member of a World Council of Churches working group on climate change.

Others included Rabbi Michael Kagan from Jerusalem, who is co-founder of the Jewish Climate Initiative, and Professor Seyyed Nasr in Washington DC, who is an authority on Islamic science and spirituality, and one of the patrons of the Religious Education and Environment Programme, which provides materials for teachers in Britain. [470 words] ENI News Headlines and Featured Articles are now available by RSS feed. See http://www.eni.ch/rss/ All articles (c) Ecumenical News International .

Credits
Video conferencing photgraph by by scottfeldstein.