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Full text
of Archbishop’s
statement for Environment Sunday 2009:
“This year the
theme of the United Nation’s World Environment Day is 'Your
Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'. Whilst it will
be for governments meeting in Copenhagen in December to agree a
successor to the Kyoto regime for global reductions in carbon
emissions - and we all want those to be both ambitious and
deliverable - we have a part to play. Governments need to know
that people want them to be ambitious. They need a mandate. So
what can we do? I think there are two things we can do. We
can, and we should, pray. Climate change is not only an
environmental issue - probably the most important we face; it is
also an issue of justice. As usual the poorest are likely to
suffer the most though the richest have contributed most to
pollute the atmosphere and accelerate global warming. So we can
pray that a proper sense of responsibility (not least to the
generations who will follow us) and of justice guides the hearts
and the minds of the politicians who will meet in Copenhagen.
This Sunday -
Environment Sunday - is an obvious opportunity for us to focus
our own hearts and minds on this issue.
The second thing we can do is get involved in the preparations
for Copenhagen. Between now and December there will be
activity, lobbying and hard thinking going on in civil society
as well as government in preparation for the Climate Summit.
Many faith groups and civil society organizations, (and that
includes the Church of England), will be organising events to
heighten awareness of the issues and the opportunities which
the summit brings. I shall be going to Copenhagen to support
those and to emphasise the strength of the concern that people
of faith have for the future well-being of our planet. Please
include in your prayers this Environment Sunday all whose
efforts in the months to come could make a real difference for
the sustainability of our planet and we who live in it - it is
God's creation that we are striving to care for and as God's
children that we pray and act.”
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