Scale Up Climate Action

This Great Idea comes straight from Kathrine Hayhoe, lead scientist for Nature Conservancy, author of …. and generally brilliant guru of faith-based creation care.

It also happens to coincide with my own conviction that God’s good creation is crying out to congregations for help.

Let’s go, Church! We can be leaders in caring for the climate right where God planted us!!

In her November 23, 2024, Talking Climate with Katharine Hayhoe post, entitled, ‘Why Global Action Always Falls Short – and What You Can Do to Help’, Hayhoe shares insights from COP29 in Baku, Aerbaijan, including the $300 billion a year proposal to fund poorer nations – and the power those poorer nations wielded to bring that dollar amount up by $200 billion annually. She then outlines the need for change in the structure of the meetings because they, ‘no longer meet the scale or complexity of today’s climate crisis’. Along with many others, Hayhoe proposes that ‘countries unwilling to commit to phasing out fossil fuels should no longer be eligible to host these conferences…’

She also writes, ‘I believe climate action must extend well beyond national gatherings. It has to become a shared responsibility across every region and sector. We need collaborative efforts’ – between cities, organizations, and energy companies.

Congregations could/should be on this list!!

In the What You Can Do section of the post, Hayhoe writes:

‘For climate action to happen at scale, conversations have to move beyond international summits [or congregational in-fighting] — to what’s happening in our communities, our workplaces, and our organizations. And there, change isn’t something we wait for; it’s something we catalyze.

One of the most impactful things you can do, according to social science, is start a conversation about climate solutions where you work or study. Ask what your organization is already doing, and what more it could do—and share that with people around you, particularly those who can make decisions. From what I’ve seen, big change rarely starts at the top. Much more often, it begins with someone inside who cares enough to speak up—and that someone could be you.

If you don’t know where to start, organizations like Climate Voice and Hurd are great resources. Climate Voice helps employees advocate for climate commitments within their workplaces, and Hurd is an app that, as they say, “turns every job into an opportunity for climate action” through connecting people who want to make this a priority. This week, take a few minutes to explore their resources. Then take the next step: start that conversation.’

There you have it – two fantastic resources right in the Great Idea – to help get you started on up-scaling congregational conversations about climate care.

Rather than focus on small scale efforts, get essential practices in place.

Recycling, composting, light switches, energy audits, even pollinator plots – these are great and worthwhile and necessary. Keep up the great work, anyone and everyone who has made these things happen in your congregations.

No matter what efforts have been made, to date, though: now is the time to think and act even more boldly.

What organizations and businesses and individuals can you partner to create community-wide changes?

How do you normalize creation care within the larger systems and organizations in your community?

How might congregational membership inspire and empower individuals to engage with their schools, work places, and local governments – in a unified voice – to ensure broader returns on creation care efforts?

How does nature’s voice get heard in decision making circles – in local and state-wide governments, businesses and corporations, regional and national church bodies, etc.

Your congregation can catalyze so much in the coming years – and much will be needed.

Hayhoe concludes her post with this encouragement:

‘Don’t wait for someone else. Change starts with us—and it can start now.’

Yes, Christians!! Change starts with us – I’m pretty sure our forebears have made that same commitment – and seen it bear fruit!

Together, we can create scale up creation care no matter what we’ve been doing, no matter where we’re located, and no matter who we are.

Please read her full post here.

Blessings as you care for God’s good creation.

P.S. You might find further inspiration in Katherine Hayhoe’s Mother Jones interview, ‘How Love Powers Climate Action’, of November 17, 2024, in which she clarifies how her Christian faith brings her hope even amidst the scientific realities and knowledge, for which she has a front-row seat.

Find more tips and tools for Climate & Sustainability in our lib guide.