The Faith Community Reflects on the Copenhagen Conference

The UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, which started today and runs through Dec. 18, is very relevant to the Bread for the World Institute's 2010 Hunger Report, A Just and Sustainable Recovery.  The hunger report argues that reducing climate change and creating so-called green jobs are key factors for economic growth and reducing world-wide hunger and poverty.

And the faith community is well represented at the Copenhagen conference. Odyssey Networks, a coalition of coalition of Jewish, Christian and Muslim faith groups, is providing daily videos featuring the perspective of faith leaders and organizations who are attending the conference.  Be sure to check the link to the videos daily for interviews with major leaders from virtually all the world’s faith communities about their impressions of the conference and issues related to climate justice.

And the Sojourners blog is providing coverage through its Climate Justice Clips.

We are fortunate to have a representative from the faith community in  New Mexico covering the conference.

Joan Brown, an Albuquerque-based Franciscan sister and director of the New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, will be writing daily blogs from the conference.  She is also at the conference as a Franciscans International Volunteer Delegate. 

Below is an excerpt from her first blog post.  Click on this link to check for her daily updates:

So, why am I going to Copenhagen? What difference will it make? Does this trip justify the carbon footprint?  I am conscious of my carbon footprint. I cannot anticipate what difference this trip makes. Finally, I travel to Copenhagen out of a call.

St. Francis of Assisi, Patron of Ecology, proclaims all creatures, elements and humans as brother and sister in his Canticle of Brother Sun. To really know in our souls and hearts that we are truly brothers and sisters with even the mosquitoes requires conversion that leads to changes in lifestyle and policy.  Humans have a much nobler destiny, I believe, than to be shoppers and consumers.  We are part of the anima mundi, the soul of the world. We rest in the heart of God, Allah, Buddha and from this place we hear our vocation collectively and individually to live in harmony for the integrity of creation and the future.