Friday, October 29, 2021
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Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Friday, October 8, 2021
About COP26 Coalition
About COP26 Coalition
The COP26 Coalition is a UK-based civil society coalition of groups and individuals mobilising around climate justice during COP26. Coalition members include environment and development NGOs, trade unions, grassroots community campaigns, faith groups, youth groups, migrant and racial justice networks – to name a few.
Our aims
World leaders and experts will meet in Glasgow in November at the global climate talks, COP26.
Global problems need global solutions. The decisions made at COP26 will shape how governments respond (or not) to the climate crisis. They will decide who is to be sacrificed, who will escape and who will make a profit.
So far, governments have done too little too late: colluding with corporations and hiding behind green washed ‘solutions’ that actually don’t exist yet, that don’t address the scale of the problem, and in many cases rely on more exploitation of people and the planet.Justice won’t be handed to us by world leaders or delivered by corporations. Only we can imagine and build the future that works for all of us. The transformative solutions that we need to survive and build a more just and fair world can only be brought about through collective action, solidarity and coordination, from our local communities and international levels.
We are bringing together movements from across the world to build power for system change – indigenous movements, frontline communities, trade unions, racial justice groups, youth strikers, landworkers, peasants, NGOs, grassroots community campaigns, feminist movements, faith groups – to name a few. Wherever you are in the world, now is the time to join the fight for climate justice. We need all hands on deck: in workplaces, communities, schools, hospitals and across national borders. We will be putting indigenous, frontline and Global South communities front and centre. We need your help to amplify their voices and demands.
6 November: Join us in actions across the world so that we can be loud and clear to the world leaders discussing our future: we want climate justice now!
7-10 November: Join us for our People’s Summit for Climate Justice where the climate justice movement will be coming together to discuss, learn and strategize for system change. You can join in online from anywhere in the world, or in-person in Glasgow.
Coalition members
350.org
ACORN
Anticapitalist Resistance
ASRAD-MALI
BFAWU
Biofuelwatch
Black Environmental Initiative
CAFOD
Campaign against Climate Change
CEMVO Scotland
Centre for Alternative Technology
Centre for Applied Buddhism
Center for Sustainable Development Initiative (CENSDI)
Christian Aid
Climadapt
Climate Craic
Climate Crisis Hub & Film Festival
Climate Emergency UK Ltd.
Climate Psychology Alliance
Climate Tracker
Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Coal Action Network
Collaboration for Change
Conflict and Environment Observatory
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Cyrog Enterprise Ltd
Demand Climate Justice
Democratic Left Scotland
Earth Strike
East and Southeast Asian (ESA) Scotland
Eco-Congregation Scotland
Eco Dharma Network
Eco-Dundee
ecoartscotland
Ecojustice Legal Action Centre
EcoNexus
Ecostage
Equity
ETC Group
Extinction Rebellion Scotland
FDA Union
Feminist Exchange Network
Force of Nature
Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Global Center for Climate Justice
Global Ecosocialist Network
Global Justice Glasgow
Global Justice Now
Global Witness
GoBike
Greenpeace UK
Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Hamish the Highland Coo
Health Poverty Action
If Not Us Then Who?
Ignite Life (Ignite TV CIC)
International Development Education Association of Scotland
International Tibet Network
Islamic Relief UK
Jubilee Scotland
John Muir Trust
Kanlungan
Keep Scotland Beautiful
Landworkers’ Alliance
Learning for Sustainability Scotland
MEDACT
Migrants Organise
Migrants Organising for Rights and Empowerment (MORE)
Mothers Rise Up
Movement for the Abolition of War
Muslim Council of Scotland
mySociety
MY World México
National Union of Students (NUS)
Not1More
Nourish Scotland
Organic Growers of Fairlie
Our Kids’ Climate
Parents For Future UK
Parents for the Future Scotland
PCS Union
Pedal on Parliament
Permaculture Association (Britain)
Positive Money
Propagate (Scotland) CIC
Quakers in Britain
RADE
Radical Independence Campaign – Climate Group
Rapid Transition Alliance
Real Farming Trust
Reclaim the Power
RedGreen Labour
Rising Tide UK
ScotE3 (Employment, Energy and Environment)
Scotland Malawi Partnership
Scottish Artists Union
Scottish Communities Climate Action Network
Scottish Community Alliance
Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign
ScrapAntics
Socialists for Independence
Stop Ecocide International
Stop the JNF
Students for Global Health
Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK)
Surfers Against Sewage
System Change Not Climate Change
Take One Action Film Festivals
Tearfund
The Arkbound Foundation
The Hysteria Collective
The Robin Hood Tax
The Surefoot Effect, CIC
The X:talk Project
UK Youth Climate Coalition
UKSCN
UN House Scotland
UNISON
Unite Union
Unity Consulting Scotland Ltd.
University & College Union (UCU)
University & College Union Scotland
War on Want
Water Witness
Women’s Budget Group
Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International
Women’s Environmental Network (Wen)
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)
Woodcraft Folk
Woodlands Community Development Trust
Wretched of the Earth
Young Friends of the Earth Scotland
Yes to Fair Redevelopment
Local members
Aberdeen Climate Action
Blackwater Valley Friends of the Earth
Bolton UNISON
Bristol Friends of the Earth Group
Bristol NEU
Cambridge Friends of the Earth
Cambridgeshire Climate Emergency
Carfree Glasgow
Divest Strathclyde
Dundee Trades Union Council
Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council
Edinburgh EIS
Edinburgh UCU
Friends of the Earth Tayside
Gate Church Carbon Saving Project
Get Glasgow Moving
Glasgow Buddhist Centre
Glasgow Calls Out Polluters
Glasgow Community Food Network
Glasgow COP Collective
GUEST – Glasgow University Environmental
Sustainability Team
Interfaith Glasgow
Lambeth UNISON
Liverpool Friends of The Earth
London Hazards Centre
London Mining Network
Medway Trades Union Council
Ninewells Community Garden
North Staffordshire Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (NorSCARF)
Northant Friends of the Earth & Greenpeace
Our Air, Our City
Oxfordshire COP26 Climate Alliance
Penn Climate Action
Pontypridd Green Week
Sustainable Kirriemuir
The Edinburgh Remakery Ltd
Transition Edinburgh
Transition Stirling
Zero Carbon Llanidloes
Our key areas of work
Learning within our movements: We support civil society, especially in Scotland and the UK to use COP26 as a learning moment to strengthen our movement, and to mobilise behind strong climate justice demands. We will also help explain the basics of the negotiations, as well as all the issues from a climate justice perspective.
Centring voices of those most impacted: We support, train and coordinate to ensure that the voices of those most impacted by the climate crisis (for example, frontline and indigenous communities in the global south) are heard in the run up to and during the COP, transforming our movements in the process.
Logistics and international solidarity: We provide support, advice, and information for the visa process, travel arrangements and accommodation for global south participants.
People’s Summit and civil society spaces: We ensure civil society has spaces to meet and organise during COP26, including a counter summit as a focal point for events, mobilising, learning, strategising.
Mobilisations: We coordinate a mass civil society action during the COP, complementing other decentralised actions in run up to and during COP, by providing a coordination space to inform targets, messages and actions.
Developing transformative policy demands: We develop political narratives and frameworks that deepen the understanding and connections between demands for decarbonisation at the national level and the impacts of different approaches and solutions on the global south. These include the need for financial and technical support for those already being impacted by the multiple crisis of climate and inequality.
Decision making & structure
The Coalition’s decision-making body is the Coordinating Committee, composed of representatives from each of the Working Group and reflecting a the full range of constituencies represented in the Coalition. The Working Groups take forward the plans of the Coalition. The following Working Groups are currently operational:
Communications: the Communications Working Group is in charge of communicating key information and messages from the Coalition. The Working Group manages the Coalition’s social media channels and produces a fortnightly newsletter, The Rising Clyde. It also manages the Coalition’s traditional media work, including maintaining a spokesperson network.
Culture: the Culture Working Group coordinates artistic and creative work within the Coalition.
Fundraising: the Fundraising Working Group is composed of fundraisers from members of the Coalition who work together to secure the funds necessary to the work of the Coalition and manage a budget.
Glasgow Local: the Glasgow Local Working Group provides space for local movements and groups based in Glasgow to organise and build power ahead of and during COP26.
Global Solidarity: the Global Solidarity Working Group liaises with organisations and movements from around the world to inform the work of the Coalition, as well as to support these movements – especially in the Global South – to maximise their participation at COP26. The Working Group holds regular International Assemblies for this purpose.
Logistics: the Logistics Working Group is mostly composed of and works closely with Scottish groups to manage venue booking, accommodation, and visa support. The Working Group seeks to support Global South participation at COP26 in particular.
Mobilisations: the Mobilisations Working Group coordinates a variety plans for climate justice movements to mobilise in the run up to and during COP26.
Political Strategy: the Political Strategy Working Group is in charge of coordinating the Coalition’s demands and strategy relevant both to the “inside” policy arena and to the broader politics “outside” the negotiations.
The Coalition has also formed or is in the process of forming several caucuses, including a Trade Union caucus, Youth caucus, and People of Colour caucus. Source
Francis: No Glasgow!
Contrary to the previsions, Francis will not be going to Glasgow for the Cop26 climate jamboree, Secretary of State Parolin said today.
During his controversial September 1 Cope interview, Francis had confirmed his intention to participate, "Yes, in principle the plan is for me to go. It all depends on how I feel at the time. In fact, my speech is already in preparation, and the plan is to be there."
IlSismografo (October 8) writes that Francis’ December visit to Malta, Greece, and Cyprus, will also not happen, calling this a “precautionary decision.” Source
Saturday, October 2, 2021
Pope To Youth4Climate: Education Should Foster Care For Environment
Pope to Youth4Climate: Education should foster care for environment
Pope Francis sends a video message to some 400 young people from 197 countries participating in a 3-day Youth4Climate meet taking place in Milan, northern Italy.
Technical and political solutions to humanity’s crises, such as climate change and the environment, are not enough unless there is a culture of care and responsible sharing, which is nurtured through an education that promotes development and sustainability based on fraternity.
Pope Francis made the point in a video message to young people participating in a 3-day Youth4Climate event in Milan, northern Italy, in preparation for the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, scheduled from November 1 to 12 in Glasgow, Scotland.
Youth4Climate
Some 400 young climate champions from the 197 member countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are interacting with one another in the September 28 to 30 Youth4Climate event to help develop concrete proposals that will be presented to the ministers attending the Pre-COP26, Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, in Milan and COP26. These initiatives are being sponsored by the Italian-British co-presidency of COP26.
Among the participants is Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage environmental activist, who at the start of Youth4Climate demanded “we want climate justice, and we want it now". Noting that emissions continue to rise, she said, “We can reverse this trend, but drastic solutions will be needed.”
Challenging, listening, dialoguing
Speaking in Spanish, Pope Francis thanks the young participants for their “dreams and projects of goodness” and their concern for human relations and the environment. Their vision, he says, is capable of challenging the adult world, as they are prepared not only for action but are also willing to listen patiently and engage in constructive dialogue and to understand one another.
Importance of education
The Holy Father encourages them to join forces through a broad educational alliance to form generations that are steadfast in goodness, mature, capable of overcoming fragmentation and rebuilding the fabric of relationships, in order to make humanity more fraternal.
Pope Francis regards young people not just as the future of the world but also its present, “who are building the future today, in the present”. The Global Compact on Education, which was launched in 2019, he points out, is a step in this direction and seeks to provide shared responses to the historical change that humanity is experiencing and which the pandemic has made even more evident.
Harmony among people and with creation
A salient feature of Pope Francis’ pontificate is his concern for the created world, the environment. In this regard, he released an encyclical in 2015, Laudato si. Last year, he released another encyclical, Fratelli tutti, on fraternity and social friendship.
In his video message, he tells the young participants in Youth4Climate that technical and political solutions are not enough if they are not supported by the responsibility of each member and an educational process that promotes a cultural model of development and sustainability centered on fraternity and alliance between human beings and the environment. He says, “There must be harmony between people, men and women, and the environment. We are not enemies, we are not indifferent. We are part of this cosmic harmony.”
Culture of care
The Pope believes that common ideas and projects can help find solutions to energy poverty and putting care of common goods at the center of national and international policies, promoting sustainable production, circular economy, the sharing of appropriate technologies. Wise decisions based on experiences of past years, he says, help make a culture of care and responsible sharing possible.
Pope Francis concludes his video message, encouraging young participants in the Youth4Climate event in their commitment to “the good of humanity”. Source
Bringing Laudato sí To Communities
Bringing Laudato sí to communities
In addition to its new name and new mission statement, the Laudato sí Movement also discerned a new identity statement which re-affirms its self-understanding as “a hybrid movement that brings together both organizations and grassroots members.” The new identity statement reads:
GCCM seeks to be a Spirit-led movement that brings Catholics together to fulfill its stated mission [listed above]. The movement brings together a wide range of Catholic (1) organizations and (2) grassroots members from around the world. These members walk together in synodality and communion with the universal Church on a journey of ecological conversion. Seeking unity in diversity, organizational and grassroots members come together to pray, collaborate and mobilize in response to the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” Guided by a spirit of subsidiarity, when the time and context are right, they co-create or engage with local Laudato Si’ Circles and Chapters and connect with the global movement on a wide range of initiatives to bring Laudato Si’ to life.
In a statement announcing the changes, the Laudato sí Movement said, “With a new name, better-defined values, and a clearer mission statement, [the Movement] looks forward to amplifying how Catholics and people of good will all over the world bring Laudato si’ to life every day in their communities.” Source
Laudato sí Movement: "Thank You” From The Pope
“Thank you” from the Pope
As the Movement continues the process of renewal, Pope Francis himself offered words of encouragement. Insua told Vatican News that the Movement had written to the Holy Father informing him of the discernment process and seeking his input; and asking for his blessing before moving forward and changing the name. The Pope wrote a brief response which arrived on the Vigil of Pentecost, “which was a very strong sign,” Insua said. He noted that the discernment process had “been characterized by an atmosphere of synodal prayer, asking for light from the Holy Spirit.” In his message, the Pope thanked the movement for its mission of promoting integral ecology and for the assistance it offered to the Church and the world. Insua noted, too, Pope Francis’ hope that Laudato sí might not remain on the library shelf, but might become a living document. Source
Laudato sí Movement Consolidated And Renewed
Laudato sí Movement consolidated and renewed
The Global Catholic Climate Movement on July 29 changed its name to Laudato sí Movement (LSM). Climate and integral ecology are at the heart of the Movement, which takes its cue from Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on care for our common home. Speaking with Vatican News, the executive director of LSM, Tomás Insua, speaks about a “synodal journey” aimed at a deeper ecological conversion. As the Movement continues to renew itself, Pope Francis offers a word of thanks for its work.
“To inspire and mobilize the Catholic community to care for our common home and achieve climate and ecological justice”: with its new mission statement, the Laudato sí Movement, originally known as the Global Catholic Climate Movement outlines its new objectives as it enters a new phase of its work for the environment.
The birth of the Movement
The Movement was founded in 2015 by a group of 17 Catholic organizations and 12 representatives of academic institutions and civil society from all continents, and is committed to helping the faithful respond to the exhortations of Pope Francis' encyclical on the care of the common home, published that same year. Today, six years later, the Laudato sí Movement includes more than 800 diverse entities. Recently, the Movement undertook “a journey of discernment over 18 months long.” Tomás Insua, co-founder and executive director of that reality, explained to Vatican News that the journey was a reflection on identity, mission, name and structures that compose the movement.
“What emerged was that the name Global Catholic Climate Movement, which served us well in the very beginning, didn’t reflect the broad work in support of the Laudato sí encyclical that we were doing,” Insua said. “So after a long discernment process that included a consultation of our members at and our key partners … we ended up discerning that the name should be Laudato si Movement.” He said, “The name intends to reflect better the work, the more holistic work to care for our common home that we have been doing in recent years. The broader work of integral ecology and ecological conversion, that we are doing in the service of Laudato si.” The new name was chosen from a list of 25 possibilities.
Lorna Gold, president of the board of directors, who introduced the changes in an online meeting on Thursday, emphasized, “It is important to note that the mission is being broadened to include the concept of ecological justice, based on the spirit of Laudato si’, where ‘everything is interconnected’.” Source
Zambia: Season Of Creation Is A Time For Renewing Our Relationship With The Creator And With All Creation.
Zambia: Season of Creation is a time for renewing our relationship with the Creator and with all creation.
In a keynote address over the weekend, Bishop Mulandu called for celebration, conversion, and commitment when it comes to the Season of Creation. He said the Season of Creation is an annual ecumenical season where Christians, in particular, pray and act together for our common home.
“The Season of Creation has a special significance for the Catholic Church, particularly since Pope Francis proclaimed 1 September as an annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. As we know, the Season of Creation is marked throughout the Christian world from 1 September to 4 October (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi). It celebrates the joy of creation as well as encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the environment. This year the theme for the Season of Creation is: A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God,” Bishop Mulandu said.
The ancient Greek word Oikos described the basic unit of society. In the Season of Creation theme, oikos references our common home, God’s household (oikos).
The Month of September
Bishop Mulandu explained that for the Church, the month of September is filled with activities and symbols.
“The Church has traditionally dedicated September to the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows falls on 15 September. The aim is to appreciate the role our Mother Mary played in the history of salvation, especially its accomplishment through pain,” the prelate of Mpika explained and added, “Furthermore, September is the month of the Bible. This is the month in which we celebrate the memorial of a great Biblical scholar, St. Jerome, on 30 September. St. Jerome translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, in the 4th century AD," he said.
Nevertheless, September is also devoted to living out the Christian faith in the care for God’s creation, Bishop Mulandu explained.
“The Season of Creation runs yearly from 1 September to 4 October when the Church celebrates the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. As such, this period is that time of the year when we renew our commitment to praying and caring for creation. It should be characterised by prayers for creation throughout the month while engaging in different activities to care for creation throughout the Season and beyond,” Bishop Mulandu said.
Proposed Activities of the Season of Creation (2021)
By living one’s faith in a practical manner, the Christian concretely embraces their Season of grace and faith, Bishop Mulandu said. He urged the Christian faithful to combine prayer with practical actions that demonstrate care for creation. The Bishop then proposed various activities that the faithful could engage in during the Season of creation.
These include participating in the celebration of Holy Mass or a para-liturgical service to launch and close the Season of Creation; communal Bible study on the biblical basis of creation and its care; pastoral reflections; application of the theme to daily Christian life; planting a tree or starting a garden; pilgrimage to an ecological site of beauty, while praying the Rosary; advocacy; campaign for ecological restoration through radio, TV and social media; works of charity with the poor and the vulnerable; organising a clean-up exercise in places where solid waste is not well managed.
The faithful can also hold, St. Francis Day on 4 October or simply meditate on ecology. Source
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