Kyle Meyaard Schaap
In this episode of Citizens’ Climate Radio, we explore the intersection between the Bible and climate change. More specifically, we discuss the Christian faith and how it inspires its followers to advocate for the planet.
Pastor Kyle Meyaard Schaap, husband, father, and self-described disciple of Jesus, is Vice President of the Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN). EEN is a ministry that educates, inspires, and mobilizes Christians in their effort to care for God’s creation. Pastor Schaap is also of the book, Following Jesus in a Warming World: A Christian Call to Climate Action. It was published by Intervarsity Press, and is a memoir and theological field guide written for millennials and Gen Z believers. His message is that there is a space for Christians in the environmentalist movement.
In fact, Pastor Schaap reminds us that the Bible starts off with Genesis where God gives man authority over creation. Schaap reveals to us how his faith as a Christian inspires his climate work. Jesus asked his followers to love their neighbor as themselves, and Schaap asks Christians to extend this invitation to love all things, including the natural world. Even further, Pastor Schaap suggests as Christians strive to be like Jesus, they must be impatient for the Kingdom of God. He urges fellow Christians to commit to creation care.
“Our hope, and God’s good plans for the world, has always been more stubborn than our fear of our ability to derail them.” -Kyle Meyaard Schaap
Take Action to Save God’s Creation
A Climate Life Verse
Ruth Abraham, a member of the Citizens’ Climate Radio team, shares with us the Bible verse that speaks to her about creation care and our need to clean up the pollution in the world. She is inspired by the Christian hymn “Joy to the World,” which was written by Isaac Watts, and a verse in Luke’s Gospel.
Luke Chapter 2 verse 7:
“And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Joy to the world / the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King /
Let every heart / prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
/(say it with me now)/
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.”
But the resonating line for Ruth is “prepare Him room.”
In light of the humble reception Jesus received when he first arrived on earth, she recommends we consider how to prepare for his second coming. For Ruth, that means cleaning the air and water that God has gifted to us.
Take a Meaningful Next Step
Each month we will suggest meaningful, achievable, and measurable next steps for you to consider. We recognize that action is an antidote to despair. If you are struggling with what you can do, consider one of the following next steps.
- If you are a trained clergy or a lay minister, the Red Cross is actively looking for volunteers to provide spiritual support to people who experienced a disaster. Besides big regional disasters like hurricanes, tornados, and wildfires, the Red Cross also responds to local disasters like house fires. Learn about the many volunteer opportunities at RedCross.org.
- World Vision focuses on helping the most vulnerable children overcome poverty so they can experience the fullness of life. Inspired by their Christian faith, they help children of all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places. Part of this work includes disaster management. As storms and floods have increased, so has the efforts of groups like World Vision. They also assist during disasters caused by extreme weather and political crisis. Learn how you can get involved in their emergency support efforts.
Dig Deeper
- I’m a Climate Scientist Who Believes in God. Hear Me Out. – The New York Times
- Citizens’ Climate Radio episode 30: What Does the Bible Say about Climate Change?
- God Uses Changing Climates to Change Societies (Christianity Today)
- Citizens’ Climate Radio episode 56: Rev. Tony Campolo’s Call to Save Creation
Resilience Corner
“Resilience is about recognizing a challenge and moving through it, so that we’re a little bit stronger on the other side of it.”
Tamara Staton returns this episode with a new series: Resilient Climate-teering through Unexpected Climate Connections. The goal is to have you, the listener, worry less and act more.
After revealing the motivation behind the name “Climate-Teering,” Staton begins to equip us with the tools necessary to combat the inevitable challenges that come alongside climate change. She reminds us that resilient minds respond to conflict with an “I got this” attitude.
Good News
CCR’s very own intern, Lila Powell, delivers a story about various faith groups who are collaborating to advance a climate preservation mission. In 2022, Egypt hosted COP27. In attendance were several religious institutions and a wonderful demonstration of interfaith conversations in support of climate policy. In addition to committees, some faith groups have gone as far as publicly divesting from fossil fuels. It is a great step forward.
If you have an idea for a Good News Story, contact us: radio @ citizensclimate.org
Listener Survey
We want to hear your feedback about this episode. After you listen, feel free to fill in this short survey. Your feedback will help us as we make new decisions about the content, guests, and style of the show. You can fill it out anonymously and answer whichever questions you like.
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Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.
Citizens’ Climate Radio is a monthly podcast hosted by CCL volunteer Peterson Toscano.
Read the Transcript
Episode 84: Unraveling the Bible’s Message on Climate
Peterson Toscano
Welcome to Citizens’ Climate Radio — Your Climate Change Podcast. In this show we highlight people’s stories, we celebrate your successes, and together we share strategies for talking about climate change. I am your host, Peterson Toscano. Welcome to Episode 84 of Citizens’ Climate Radio, a project of Citizens’ Climate Education. This episode is airing on Friday May 26, 2023.
Peterson Toscano
In today’s show Lila Powell shares a Good News Story about the roles religious institutions are taking globally to address pollution which leads to climate change. Tamara Staton is back with us to talk about resiliency. She begins a new series called Climateering through Unexpected Climate Connections, and Ruth Abraham will share with us how a classic Christian hymn and a Bible verse help ground her climate work.
Peterson Toscano
But first, I chat with Kyle Meyaard-Schaap. He is the Vice President of the Evangelical Environmental Network. Kyle holds an undergraduate degree in religious studies from Calvin University and a Master of Divinity degree from Western Theological Seminary. He is an ordained in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. I first met Kyle when he was the national organizer and spokesman for Young Evangelicals for Climate Action. He appeared with Corina Newsome in our most downloaded episode, “What Does the Bible Say About Climate?”
Earlier this year Intervarsity Press published Kyle’s book, Following Jesus in a Warming World: A Christian Call to Climate Action. In our most recent conversation you will hear us talking a lot about the Bible and how it convicts both of us to love and to do good works for people and our earthly home.
Peterson Toscano
When you meet somebody, and they ask, so what do you do? What’s your go to answer these days?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
Yeah, I wear a few different hats. I think my favorite go to answer is a pastor who works to help the church recover its calling and responsibility to care for God’s creation. I have an almost five year old, and a 14 month old, they keep us very, very busy. I say us because another important part of my identity is I’m a husband, been married to my wife for almost 10 years.
Peterson Toscano
There are some identities that some Christians think might disqualify someone from being an actual Christian. For instance, for some its being a liberal. You can’t be a liberal and a Christian or others say you can’t be an ultra conservative and be a Christian. And a lot of Evangelicals might think you can’t really be a Christian, if you’re an environmentalist, or if you’re concerned about climate change.
Peterson Toscano
So my question is, Are you a real Christian? And why? How is that possible?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
It’s a great question. Yeah. So, one of the things that I like to do sometimes, if I’m giving a presentation at a church or to a group of Christians is, I like to ask them, What do you call somebody who cares about the environment? It’s an opportunity for people to kind of name what you just named. So you get answers like tree hugger, environmentalist, liberal, and it’s great. We kind of laugh, we’re rolling. And then, I say, great answers. What about disciple? A lot of what we try to do at the Evangelical Environmental Network, where I’m the vice president, is let people name those perceptions that a lot of them have, and then trouble it and say, Okay, great. Those are all fine answers. But can we call somebody who cares about the environment or God’s creation? Can we call them a disciple?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
Is it possible that a fundamental part of what it means to follow Jesus is actually to care about the works of his hands, and to recognize the ways in which environmental harm and degradation and pollution and climate change all of the things that are degrading God’s good creation, not only harm non-human creatures, but also humans as well? And is it possible that this call that Jesus puts on all of us to love God and to love our neighbor is inseparable from how we treat the rest of creation? Because we’re going to love God who created all things and stepped back and call that good over and over again, and who still loves and cares for it and provides for it, then we have to care for the works of His hands and do what He said in Genesis which is to serve and protect it.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
And if we’re going to love our neighbors, we have to grapple with the realities that are harming our neighbors around the world and down the street, things like stronger storms, more prolonged protracted droughts, wildfires, pollution from industry and setting fossil fuels on fire. All of these things in my mind are inextricably wrapped up with what it means to try to follow Jesus well and put into practice what he said was most important, which was to love God and to love our neighbor.
Peterson Toscano
How has your faith affected your work around the climate and how has climate work affected your faith?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
We don’t do this work. We as the Evangelical Environmental Network as young evangelicals for climate action, we don’t do this work. And I certainly don’t do this work because I consider myself an “environmentalist.” And I don’t do this work because I’m a Democrat or a Republican. I do this because I’m a Christian. Jesus is the reason that I do the climate work that I do. I’m just trying to get better at following him, because that’s the most important thing in my life.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
Likewise, my faith has been enriched and deepened immensely by my climate work and my climate action. The task of evangelizing the good news of Jesus and the good news of the kingdom of God has to be in enfleshed, it has to be concrete, it has to be active, it has to be a verb, and it can’t just be praying with somebody, “the sinners prayer”, and then saying, congratulations, you said the magic words, now you’re in the kingdom of heaven. It has to be deeper than that. It has to connect to people’s real lives, because that’s what Jesus did. Jesus didn’t stumble upon a blind beggar and say, “Oh, hang on a little longer. When you die, you’re gonna get a reward.” No! He said, “See! Now, right now.” He was impatient for the kingdom of God to break in right here right now.
Peterson Toscano
I love that, “impatient for the kingdom of God,” that’s awesome. When I first became a Christian at a little Bible Church, in a little town in Pennsylvania, everyone kept asking everyone, what’s your life verse, and at first, I had no idea what they were talking about, like what? Like your life first, like one to guide you through your life. And mine has changed through the years depending on where I’m at. But I definitely have a climate life verse. What I love about the Bible is it can apply to lots of things. And that can be done inappropriately, and it can be done very movingly. And so for me, my climate life verse these days is Romans 12, 1&2: “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service, and be not fashioned according to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that she may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” I have these memorized in old versions, but the part that really jumps out at me is to not be fashioned according to this world.
Peterson Toscano
And what I have found growing up in America, which is such a great country that does so many great things. I find that life has gotten more and more detached from nature. And we noticed this, particularly during the pandemic, when we were able to reconnect with nature in so many ways. You know, in the world, it’s like, we’re being told that, we’re apart from nature, that we can go into nature. And really what I’m hearing as I’m sitting and listening is that I am nature and I have to be transformed by the renewing of my mind to see that I’m not outside of this ecosystem. I am reliant upon it.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Peterson thanks for sharing that. I personally have been so compelled and convicted by indigenous wisdom and indigenous spirituality, particularly indigenous Christians, who bring their cultural identity and the generational wisdom of indigenous people to the gospel and to Scripture, and I think they in particular, have such a better grasp of what you just said, this idea that we are creation, we are embedded in creation, something about kind of post-enlightenment, Western ways of being human loves to evacuate ourselves from the Created an order and place us in a hierarchy of being at the top and say we are somehow separate from and different from creation. And oftentimes we’ll go back to Genesis and say, because we are made in the image of God and no other creature is. And I actually find that really ironic, I share about this a bit in my book, because I think that actually does the exact opposite, rather than allowing us to set ourselves over/against creation. And Lord, our image bearing capacity over the rest of creation as some privilege that the rest of creation doesn’t have, it actually calls us to a deep and holy responsibility to the rest of creation in the midst of creation,
Peterson Toscano
Any life verses or climate life verses you’d like to share?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
One of my favorite climate verses is from Colossians 1:15-20, “He is the image of the invisible God, Christ, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers. All things have been created through Him and for Him, He Himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church, he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place and everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. And through him, God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
I love so many things about that passage. But one of the things I love most is this repetition of all things, all things, all things, all things. It’s over and over in that passage, and I think it’s Paul, trying to get our attention, and trying to undo that anthropocentrism that I just talked about. It’s not that, you know, Christ created humans, only and in Him, humans hold together. No! All things. Christ is concerned about all things that everything was made for him, not for us and for our personal use. And this idea that he’s reconciling all things to himself, not just human hearts, and human souls, which tends to so often be the focus of our gospel, but everything somehow all of heaven and earth is bound up in God’s saving sites.
Peterson Toscano
You echoed so much of what Reverend Tony Campolo said. When I interviewed him for an episode here on Citizens Climate Radio, he wrote a book back in 1992, How to Rescue the Earth Without Worshiping Nature, a Christian call to save creation. After I spoke with him at a conference, and he said, check out this book.
Peterson Toscano
I read it and I was like, Okay, now I need to talk to you like, where are you at today? I mean, this is 1992. He’s talking about this. And boy, he’s so fiery about this, and so fiery about our responsibility as believers, that it is a call and in a moment, I’m going to ask you about your book. But that Colossians passage that you brought up reminds me of something really, that has been percolating in my mind and heart. And it’s how do we make the invisible visible? Because all things are visible and invisible. And one of the problems with climate change is pollution. But it’s invisible, because carbon dioxide is invisible. And that’s something that is natural, that is good. But everything in moderation. And now the system has been overwhelmed with too much. But the problem is, you can’t see it. I mean, sure. You can see smokestacks and particulates and other things, but carbon dioxide? You can be in the most pristine wilderness, and you don’t see it. What is our role on earth to make the invisible, Visible?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
Yeah, wow, I love that. Part of our task of making the invisible, visible is helping people connect the dots between what is invisible, which is the a lot of the pollution and what is visible, which is the consequences of that pollution. So we can see stronger, more dangerous storms, we can see heat waves in places that shouldn’t have heat waves that are killing hundreds of people. We can see wildfire smoke, we can see asthma attacks that are damaging the bodies of millions of our kids–black and brown, especially–around the country. A lot of what what I try to do and what we try to do in our work is doing that for people and lifting up the medical research that says: “Look, exposure to particulate matter has all of these knock on impacts for everybody’s health, but especially the most vulnerable, including the unborn, including pregnant women.”
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
This is part of what it means to love people and our neighbor to help people experience that abundant life that Jesus said he came to offer. The whole ball of wax when it comes to God’s rescue mission was about turning the invisible visible, right, think about the Incarnation, it was taking the invisible God and making him visible. God is all about making himself visible to his people, whether it’s through Christ and the Incarnation, whether it’s in the bread and the wine of communion, whether it’s in the waters of baptism, or the pillar of cloud and fire that led the Israelites out of bondage into freedom, whether it’s the temple or the tabernacle, like God is an invisible God, but he’s all about making himself visible and coming close to his people.
Peterson Toscano
Yeah, like entertaining angels unaware. Yeah, right. I love that. So you wrote the book, Following Jesus in a Warming World: a Christian Call to Climate Action
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
It’s part memoir, it’s part theological/Biblical Studies, and it’s part field guide. I especially wrote it for millennials and Gen Z Christians, because a lot of it was born out of conversations that I had when I was at Young Evangelicals for Climate Action, traveling the country talking to young Christians. I especially wanted that audience to feel seen, to feel validated to be told no, you’re not crazy. Yes, this is central to our call to follow Jesus, and to give them tools for how to do it. So I wanted to read from my epilogue, this was me trying to offer a hopeful vision to close the book about what I think it might look like for the church to wake up again to its calling to care for God’s creation, and to lead the way.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
I structured the epilogue as a letter to my imagined grandchild on her high school graduation day. So it’s dated May 22, 2066. On the day you were born, I spent a lot of time ruminating on your future, an old habit. I guess I picked it up around the time your dad was born. Back then the fierce storms and punishing heat that have been taken for granted during your life, were just beginning to break through into our reality. For much of my life to that point, they had been mostly abstractions, dangerous offspring of our inaction that would one day grow up and move out of the house to wreak their havoc on the earth. But innocuous enough as they really just stated in the womb of our collective ignorance and denial. By the time your dad was born in 2018, though, the consequences of our procrastination were becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
There were some our age even then who were choosing not to have kids deciding that the future was too dangerous, too unpredictable to be able to morally justify yoking a human life to it for decades to come without that humans prior and informed consent, a sentiment your grandma and I could certainly understand, though never quite embrace. I guess our hope and God’s good plans for the world has always been more stubborn than our fear of our ability to derail them. But that doesn’t mean the fear hasn’t been there, ever mingling with the hope. On the day your father came into the world, that alloy of hope and fear was forged and lodged deep in my heart for good. There’s a paradox to loving other mortals, that even as your heart remains fixed in your chest, it’s twin beats inside someone else’s. You watch your own heart mirror as it jumps and laughs and aches. It’s a phenomenon that repeats itself whenever we make the dangerous, awesome choice to love. All these years, as my own fearful heart has pumped dutifully inside my aging chest. It has replicated itself as first your dad and his siblings were born. And then again, when you and your siblings and cousins all entered this precious, precarious place, all of my dear ones.
Peterson Toscano
You do something so important in writing this letter, and it’s something that I think is very helpful for all of us who do climate work, and that is to imagine a future where there’s success. Yeah. It would be so easy to write a letter of apology. For all the ways we didn’t do it. But it takes a lot of creativity and determination to imagine a world where solutions change things. Yeah. And I believe this is something unique that believers bring to the climate movement. We believe in forgiveness, redemption, new life and miracles. We believe that hearts and minds can change and we have experience of it. The gift that we can bring this movement is hope, and hope grounded in reality, of course, but hope that that sustains us, because we do believe in impossible things.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
I mean, there is in there a note of apology, because we have failed, right? We should apologize. Yeah, we have things we have things to apologize for. But we don’t have to live there. The biblical structure of hope is instructive there. And I like what you said about hope grounded in reality. I’ve studied scripture in seminary and that’s kind of my training and my background. And especially in the Psalms. When you look at the formula of hope for the ancient Hebrew people, it was always lament, moving into hope. But you could never get to hope without lament. You had to go through lament first. We can’t stay in lament. But there has to be a role for lament with movement toward hope, if hope is going to be authentic and biblical and meaningful.
Peterson Toscano
Anything else you want to add about your book about young evangelicals for climate action, about climate change and faith?
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
I think we covered it. Yeah, this is a great conversation. Thank you.
Peterson Toscano
I feel like I was at church, like a good church.
Kyle Meyaard Schaap
A good church!
Peterson Toscano
Not just just church, a good one.
Peterson Toscano
That was Kyle mayor Scott, author of Following Jesus in a Warming World, A Christian Call to Climate Action. It’s published by InterVarsity press, and is available wherever you get books. You can learn more about Kyle and the book over at his website. kylemeyaardschaap.com I will have links in the show notes for you. Visit cclusa.org/radio, and look for Episode 84. As part of this conversation about faith, climate and the Bible, I asked Citizens Climate Radio team member Ruth Abraham to reflect on a Bible passage that motivates her to care for creation.
Ruth Abraham
When Peterson presented the idea of a climate life verse, I thought I’d first pitch my favorite Christmas Song: Joy to the World by Isaac Watts. First released in 1719, it’s a classic, but If you’re not familiar with it the first verse goes like this: Joy to the world, the Lord is come/ Let Earth receive her King / Let every heart prepare Him room /And Heaven and nature sing /And Heaven and nature sing /(say it with me now)/ And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.
Ruth Abraham
The song continues with imagery of white fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains joining together in harmonious praise to their creator. But the resonating line for me is “prepare Him room.” The line is from Luke Chapter 2 verse 7 (quote) ” Mary gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
Ruth Abraham
The first time around, Jesus entered the Earth with very humble beginnings. Many nativity scenes depict the manger where baby Jesus was born surrounded by donkeys and horses and hay. The opposite of the ideal place to keep a newborn, especially one of royal descent. Now, as many Christian believers including myself await his second coming we have a second chance to spruce the place up a bit.
Ruth Abraham
And I take note from the best host I know : my mother. She makes sure our home is immaculate for any guest’s first time into our home. Every forgotten corner gets dusted, all our fun table decor gets taken out from hiding and are set as center-pieces. And after we’re done mopping the floor. its “shining-like-the-top-of-the-Chrysler-building” tidy. Of course, there’s also a home-cooked meal to top things off. This ritual is done so that we can create the most inviting atmosphere.
Ruth Abraham
So that got me thinking about how to prepare Him room for a second visit. If someone I acknowledge as King of kings is coming back to visit the planet he left over 2000 years ago, how much effort should I put into cleaning the land and water and caring for the creatures he gave us to look after? Who is already doing that work, and how can I contribute to the effort? As for me, I would start off with prioritizing renewable energy and reforestation, so we could guarantee clean air and preserve lungs and lives while we’re at it. This is Kingdom building for me and how I approach my faith and my professional purpose in life.
Peterson Toscano
Thank you so much, Ruth. Now it’s time for the resilience corner with Tamra Staton CCL’s education and resilience coordinator.
Tamara Staton
Hi, I’m Tamara Staton, and this is the resilience corner. I’m excited to dive into our new series called Resilient Climateering through Unexpected Climate Connections. This isn’t a series about weather or science or graphs or data, though I might reference a few of those from time to time. Instead, this is a series about things that help us worry less, and act more on climate: experience through a lens of playful curiosity. Together, we’ll explore practical ideas for thriving in the face of climate change, so that we can be as effective as possible for as long as possible.
Tamara Staton
Let’s start with the concept of climate-teering. When I was a kid, I distinctly recall watching a super hokey TV show called The Mouseketeers hosted by Annette Funicello. A bunch of kids ran around and then sat in a circle proudly donning Mickey Mouse ears. From what I’ve heard, Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande are more recent Mouseketeer representatives. But when you combine climate change, a very serious topic for most of us with the very light hearted concept of a Mouseketeer you get a Climate-teer, someone deeply concerned about climate change, who infuses a playful spirit into their climate perspective an approach a climate-teer does their best to enjoy the process of doing what matters so deeply. During a workout, one of my coaches said that just because we take the work seriously doesn’t mean we have to take ourselves seriously. In other words, just because something is serious, doesn’t mean it has to be heavy. Climateteering is one way to not only stay present to the purpose in the climate work that we do, but to truly enjoy the process as well.
Tamara Staton
And in regards to resilience, let’s see personal resilience as our ability to stay strong and steady in the face of climate change. What does that look like? Or more importantly, what might that sound like? A resilient mind says, I got this. This is hard but worth it. I’m not sure how I’m going to do this. Ooh, this feels like way too much right now, but I’ll figure out a way. Resilience isn’t a matter of consistently streaming thoughts. Instead, it’s about recognizing a challenge and moving through it, so that we’re a little bit stronger on the other side, the strength adds up and can help us overcome the next challenge.
Tamara Staton
In upcoming episodes, I’m going to stretch my imagination by creating relationships where none seemed to exist. Are you up honing your playful spirit as a climate here, play along and try to guess in advance where I might be going with each of these connections. And bonus points. If you’d like to share your guesses with the rest of us, email us at Or share on our Twitter account @citizenscradio.
Tamara Staton
Next month, I’ll dive into our first set of unexpected Climate Connections: joy and climate. Two concepts that we usually don’t pair together but actually have quite a powerful relationship. I’m Tamara Staton and with the resilience corner, thank you for listening and for your commitment to progress. To learn more about tools, trainings, and resources for staying strong through the climate challenge, check out our resilience hub at CCLusa.org For slash resilience. From there, you can also access and share resilience corner videos with friends and family who might be interested. And until next month, consider this. Find your passion, let it guide you and you’ll do amazing things for our world.
Peterson Toscano
Thank you so much Tamara, it’s great to have you back. Our good news story today comes from Citizens Climate Radio team member, Lila Powell.
Lila Powell
Hi everyone, I’m Lila Powell- here with a Good News Story! In November 2022, Egypt hosted the 27th COP… I wasn’t sure what COP was either, so don’t worry! COP is short for the “Conference of the Parties”. It’s an international climate meeting held yearly by the United Nations. Representatives from countries worldwide gather to discuss and negotiate action on global climate change.
Lila Powell
There were a ton of religious institutions present to lend their support at COP27. This includes representatives of Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. Over 40 events, workshops, and panels were hosted by these faith institutions. The Multi-faith Alliance for Climate Action was actually launched at COP 27. This is a global initiative aimed to create a bridge between different faith organizations. Their hope is to work together and explore specific areas for climate action.
Lila Powell
But you should know… COP 27 wasn’t the start of religious institutions taking action against climate change. Over the years, more and more religious institutions have turned to finance to take a stand against climate change. In fact, over the past 6 years, hundreds of Catholic institutions have committed to divesting from fossil fuels. Which is in line with the church’s teachings to care for our common home.
Lila Powell
Additionally, 35 faith institutions from six countries made a significant announcement… Together they possess over 1 billion dollars in assets, and they have all declared that they are divesting from fossil fuel companies. I think Archbishop Eamon Martin from Northern Ireland explains their decision perfectly… He says, ….“We all share responsibility for the problems facing our world, but equally, we share responsibility for finding the solutions”…
Peterson Toscano
If you have a good news story you want to share on the show, email me radio@citizens climate.org That’s
Peterson Toscano
Thank you for joining me for Episode 84 of Citizens Climate Radio. Citizens Climate Radio is written and produced by me, Peterson Toscano, other technical support from Ricky Bradley and Brett Cease and I get a lot of help from Ruth Abraham and Lila Powell. They help with social media and transcripts and blogs and editing so much. Thank you Ruth and Lila. Social media assistance from Flannery Winchester and from Syeda Naqvi, and moral support from Madeline Para.
Citizens Climate Radio is a project of Citizens Climate Education.
