Climate Action 'a marathon not a sprint'

Online events offer wonderful opportunities. One was a three-day gathering on 9-11 April, organised by the international group 350.org and called 'The Global Just Recovery Gathering'. It highlighted global interconnectedness and offered inspiration to build a future without fossil fuels. Activists from over 60 countries participated, numbering at least 17,000. The majority were young people, but it was inclusive of all ages.

Participants heard directly from world leaders in climate campaigning - including Greta Thunberg, Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein and Kumi Naidoo; engaged directly with indigenous peoples struggling to save their lands and biodiversity; and touched on strategy issues such as civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action. Half a dozen sessions ran simultaneously at any one time, all with technical support and simultaneous language translation. It was impressive!

The faith component included a session, 'Catholics facing climate change at a local level'. Members of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) spoke about imperatives from Catholic Social Teaching to act for climate justice. 2020/2021 are big years for Catholic divestment from fossil fuels and religious orders have been particularly supportive of the boycott. A GCCM animator in Mexico reported that the Archdiocese of Monterey has proposed 72 actions at parish level and with young people. These include responsible consumption, clean energy and transport and protecting biodiversity. Education work underlines that Christian faith promotes care of creation and social well-being, and that ecumenical and interfaith collaboration is important.

There were sessions on issues, such as the impacts of gas exploitation in Mozambique's troubled Cabo Delgado region, where industrial development is extracting fossil gas offshore and then liquefying it for export. "Gas is central to the conflict" said a local person in Palma, which she described as "a militarised, poverty-ridden town". We heard that Friends of the Earth has made a legal challenge to UK's $1 billion grant to the gas project and it will be heard at the High Court in London next week. A 'gastivist' reported that corporations extracting gas are largely based in Europe and they are expanding, despite public statements recognising climate change. Cyclones in the region are more severe and destructive because the ocean around Cabo Delgado is heating. We heard that, "profits from the gas exploration can't be more important than lives of local communities" and "keep the gas in the ground."

Around 90 people joined a session on the impact on local communities of coal mining in Africa. The 'DeCOALanise' movement is growing internationally. Samia from Kenya's Lamu Island reported on opposition to coal there and linking with campaigners against a new coal- fired power plant in Kitui. We saw a photo of a street protest in Nairobi where an elderly man travelled from Kitui with a piece of coal to say how worried he was about it. Raaya spoke from a boat on the beautiful Lamu coastline to say that she is involved with 'Voice of the Women' which has compaigned for conservation and for investment in renewable energy for more than a decade. In the discussion, Daoula joined in from Senegal to say his community has a similar struggle with a coal mine there.

Ninety people attended a session on the Keystone XL Pipeline in Canada and the US and heard Nick, from a native American collective in Dakota's Black Hills, greet in his native language and talk about human rights, clean energy and his community's experience of huge corporations having the power to manipulate the justice system. He reported that every gathering of protestors included prayer, "to give a spiritual grounding". Spirituality featured strongly in another session, 'Biodiversity: the missing discussion in climate change action'. Speaking from the Philippines, Columban priest John Leyden suggested that, "indigenous people have taught us that in our relations with the biosystems we took a wrong turn a long time ago." He referred to theologian Thomas Berry that, "we need to reinvent ourselves as a species."

'The future of aviation' looked at initiatives with trade unions to convert jobs, for example aircraft maintenance engineers could work in renewables. Campaigns to introduce a 'frequent flyer levy' and stop airport expansion were explored. It was pointed out that airlines mainly serve the elite. 1% of world's population causes 50% of commercial aviation emissions. 80% of the world's population have never been on a plane. .

The call for climate justice has prompted some to use nonviolent direct action to be heard. A session on this issue attracted 165 people from around the world with simultaneous translation into eight languages. South African activist and former head of Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo, said that justice struggles, such as the struggle against apartheid, usually move forward "when decent people step forward". He felt "it is civil disobedience which will urge people in power to act more urgently". He called for creative actions that will motivate ordinary people. Referring to Arctic protests he has been involved with, he said he would now change 'Save the Arctic' banners to 'Save Fr Christmas' because that is what people understand by the frozen north. He underlined that all actions must be nonviolent, coming from a place of love, not anger.

A moving session on 'Building power through youth organising' started with young musicians from the global south performing hauntingly beautiful songs. One focused on 'the sighs of glaciers'. Then an amazing panel demonstrated the passion of youth globally on climate. Brianna Fruean from Samoa, with a gentle pink flower in her hair, said, "I am fighting for my home's survival" and "front line communities are in this fight because we need to be." Ray Valmores-Salinas from the Philippines reported that her country is already experiencing "climate catastrophe" as the ocean around it warms and typhoons hit heavily. She spoke about being called a 'terrorist' or 'communist rebel' in a country where environmental activism is dangerous. "I have experienced sexual abuse from police, but we are not ending our call for justice", and she added that "youth don't want to inherit a world that is on fire".

Greta Thunberg spoke from her home in Sweden to say she felt a "moral duty" to act on climate change once she knew about it - "I am autistic and so I had to go full in". Today she is motivated by communities on the front line of multiple struggles - "if they can do it then I can and I want to be able to say I did everything I could." Ugandan Vanessa Nakate spoke about being inspired by Greta to start striking for climate justice in Kenya in 2018. She highlighted the links between climate and racial justice, pointing out the historical background of CO2 emissions. She also told the story about the media cropping her from a photo with young white activists at Davos in January 2020. Now she's pushing for diversity in environmental activism.

All the young women underlined the connection of issues: climate change, biodiversity, poverty, economic justice, violence, gender and race. When asked about the power of youth, they felt, "young people get outraged about humanitarian needs"; "along the way dreams get hammered out of us, but not the youth"; "young people understand they will be the most affected". Greta Thunberg warned participants not to be fooled by big players offering narratives that now things are happening to tackle the climate crisis. "The biggest challenge is to call that out" she said; "and this is a marathon not a sprint". She reflected that, "small steps in the right direction but with no structural change are not enough.... too many lives depend on it."

This was echoed in a session about planning for the COP26 UN meeting on Climate Change in Glasgow in November. Several participants commented that, "COP26 is about elite of this world showcasing that they're doing something about climate change when they're not" and "it's more about stopping them doing bad things than encouraging good things." But cynicism is not stopping engagement with the COP, and participants spoke about supporting grassroots campaigners from the global south to attend with visa support, cheap accommodation and finance.

There was wariness too about 'False Solutions to the Climate Crisis'. In this session we heard about vast sums being poured into climate geoengineering research. Big mining companies and billionaire Bill Gates are among those working towards technological 'solutions' without much reference to international regulations. (And they haven't been listening to Pope Francis either, who is sceptical about technical fixes.) Campaigners fear, for example, that 'ocean fertilization' - dropping nutrients into the ocean to stimulate plankton - is potentially harmful to marine eco-systems and will change ocean chemistry. Then there is stratospheric aerosol injection, which aims to block sunlight, but could disrupt weather patterns. A proposed test over Northern Sweden by Harvard University was described, as "a slippery slope of risky solar geoengineering experiments". Indigenous people in Sweden have complained that they have never been consulted, but there are still plans for the experiment to go ahead in June. Such paths to tackling the climate crisis were thought to carry unacceptable transboundary risks. The feeling was that, "we should focus on real solutions" and "such projects do not address root causes of the climate crisis."

Throughout the gathering there was music and creative art. One image that stays with me are musicians playing instruments made out of ice. More than 100 people - some sitting cross-legged on the floor - joined a 'Wellbeing and Activism' workshop, which focussed on gratitude and appreciation for the natural world as a way of coping with eco-anxiety.

This prepared us for the next session, 'How to postpone the end of the world'. From India, Dr Vandana Shiva, pointed out that the planet is not going to end, but what we are talking about is the potential end of ecological space for human society on the planet. "Science says that if we don't change within the next decade, extinction is on the cards" she said, "and the planet can tolerate just a few more decades of industrialism". She repeated her decades-long campaign, calling for an end to genetically modified crops, produced as part of industrial agriculture, destroying huge tracts of Brazil and elsewhere. However, she saw positive signs in the growing movement for 'no patents on seeds'. She called for participants to plant more gardens, saying, "we planted a garden at the Paris climate talks". She called for fake solutions to be challenged.

In the same session Ailton Krenak, a Brazilian indigenous, made a passionate plea for fossil fuels to stay in the ground. Krenak lands and rivers have been poisoned by mine tailings. "The oil civilisation has drenched us in petroleum - oil above me; oil below me; I am drenched in oil." He felt, "we have transformed from citizens into consumers, but we need to reclaim our role as citizens." He was mystified by the damaging role of arms companies and by "miserable countries that launch rockets to Mars, and a generation of idiots buying tickets to go there."

When 350.org started in 2009, the name came from the need to stay below 350 parts per million of climate-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We're almost at 420 parts now in that short time! A constant theme was that dreaming together is important and that we must learn to value Earth systems that maintain life. This inspirational gathering showed the importance of listening to grassroots activists, especially the young, and having faith in the insights of victims of destructive economic structures. Church people must have humility to engage with like-minded communities outside our usual circles. These imperatives are there in Laudato Si'. Then perhaps we can together build justice and real security in our shared home.

LINKS

Website: https://justrecoverygathering.org/

Recordings of sessions at: https://350.org/what-comes-after-the-global-just-recovery-gathering/

Sing for the climate - www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxVcUsUa5Ns