As the Rev. José González-Colón was preparing his keynote speech for this year’s Peace Breakfast, his drafts were left in tatters by a fast-changing world rocked by protests and a pandemic raging in the midst of climate change.
Another hot and dry summer last year caused many heat-related issues and stresses for farmers in Central Europe. Plants had to be watered around the clock, just to keep them alive.
Thirty years ago, I remember we had to clean smashed insects from our car windshield practically every other day. Now we hardly have to do it at all because our insects are fewer in number, and even our bees are in danger.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed that zero carbon emissions must be achieved by 2050 by the world if we are to avoid catastrophic climate impacts such severe and recurrent droughts and record-breaking storms as well as the inundation of small island states and coastal cities.
A group of Presbyterians will be making their way to the 223rd General Assembly this summer by foot. Organized by Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and Fossil Free PC(USA), participants from around the country will walk 260 miles from Louisville, the site of the offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to St. Louis, where this year’s G.A. will be held.
Cleanup continues in South Dakota after an oil leak in the Keystone Pipeline earlier this month spilled more than 210,000 gallons of oil approximately three miles southeast of Amherst. The state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources says it is the largest Keystone oil spill to date in the state.
Presbyterians attending Big Tent in St. Louis had an opportunity to hear the pros and cons of divesting from fossil fuel companies. The Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Faith-Based Investing and Corporate Engagement hosted a workshop bringing together representatives to discuss when and if divestment should take place.
The Synod of the Northeast of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to take immediate steps to divest from the fossil fuel industry. Expressing concern about the impact of climate change on God’s creation, commissioners of the regional body say they are compelled to take action.
Approximately 25 environmentally-focused Presbyterians took a half a day away from General Assembly business for a bus trip along the Columbia River Gorge on Wednesday. Nestled between the Oregon/Washington State border, this vast waterway is a salmon spawning ground. But pollution and the threat of new corporate development is placing the region in a state of concern.
