Every year South Africans use approximately 8 billion plastic bags, and less than 1% are recycled. Most end up in landfills or the ocean. With the support of A Rocha “Christians in Conservation,” South African Churches have launched a campaign to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags. At the launch, Rethink The Bag campaign founder Hayley MacLellan shared stories of the … [Read more...]
Coming together for water crisis awareness and solutions
Water is essential to sustaining all forms of life on Earth – a heavenly gift. Yet, driven most critically by climate change, water crises are on the rise and access to safe, clean water for drinking and for purposes of sanitation – as well as, of course, agriculture – is becoming increasingly problematic in many parts of the world, including our own. It is also becoming … [Read more...]
Interfaith lovefest ‘brings hearts and minds together’
Nobody does pageantry like people of faith — and that was decidedly on display Thursday night as the 2015 Parliament of the World's Religions opened with a lengthy processional at the Salt Palace in downtown Salt Lake City. Chiefs from seven American Indian tribes, wearing traditional feathered headdresses and fur cloaks, led the way to the podium as a drum circle … [Read more...]
Wearing away the stone of climate change
We sometimes have very strange ways of imagining small island states and global warming, writes Dr Terry Brown, former Bishop of Malaita, Anglican Church of Melanesia (1996 to 2008) for World Environment Day. For example, we may think of the small island as a kind of oil rig, locked forever at a certain height from the bottom of the sea, being overwhelmed by the rising sea … [Read more...]
Church leaders pledge support for strike
A range of high-profile church and community leaders have issued a petition calling for humanitarian support to families in the platinum belt. “There is a humanitarian tragedy unfolding on the platinum belt. While supporting current attempts to reach a settlement to the dispute, the reality on the ground is that children, women and men do not have food, and hardship will … [Read more...]
Uniting to resolve Cape fishing permit crisis
Southern Peninsula faith leaders and clergy will unite this evening in support of fishing communities in serious crisis in the Western Cape. Date: Wednesday, 12 February 2014 Venue: Holy Trinity Church, Kalk Bay Time: 19h00 On New Year’s Eve, the long term fishing rights in eight fishing sectors expired and led to the fishing industry experiencing a … [Read more...]
St John the Baptist goes green
After four years of thoughtful, creative and spiritual work, St John the Baptist congregation in Pinetown has registered as a SAFCEI Eco-Congregation. The Rector, the Revd. Dr Andrew Warmback, and Dot Saunders, a stalwart environmentalist, have championed the process. “We have come a long way,” explained Dot at their Eco-congregation award ceremony in February. “From a small … [Read more...]
Call to end Mozambique monoculture plantations
In previous years, the Diocese of Vasteras, the Lutheran Swedish Church and the Norwegian Lutheran Church Endowment, have been investing heavily in the expansion of pine and eucalyptus tree monocultures in central and northern Mozambique through the companies Chikweti Forests de Niassa, TectonaForests of Zambezia, Ntacua Florestas de Zambezia and Florestas de Messangulo. To … [Read more...]
