"This cycle – poverty that begets climate change, and vice versa – threatens the future of all people, rich and poor alike, and of all things in the world that God so loves."
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Over the last few weeks, our Lenten series has introduced the basics of climate change and what Americans can do to begin addressing this deadly threat to humanity's future. The impact of climate change extends far beyond America's borders, however. Among its most severe effects is the exacerbation of the reach of global poverty, the killer of 30,000 of God's people around the world each day.
As you probably know, the Episcopal Church has pledged to make the fight against global poverty a mission priority during the current triennium through engagement in advocacy for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The UN Development Program calls climate change one of the most significant threats to the achievement of the MDGs. In fact, if the onslaught of climate change is not checked, hunger in Africa could double by 2020, and the number of Africans without clean water could expand by as many as 250 million.
Why is this?
Simply put, global poverty and climate change fuel one another, making each problem significantly more deadly. Rising temperatures around the world have increased the frequency of natural disasters and taxed the ability of poor countries to fight ongoing challenges related to poverty and disease. Conversely, as poor countries seek to lift themselves out of poverty, they must provide reliable-energy sources for their citizens, and financial necessity often forces them to choose sources like oil and coal that threaten to increase significantly the world's greenhouse emissions. Extreme poverty also destabilizes countries and regions thus increasing global instability and insecurity.
To learn more about how climate change fuels global poverty, and vice versa – and how climate change threatens global stability and security – click here.
Lenten Discipline: Advocacy is Action
This week, write your members of congress urging them to support legislation that provides for a critical reduction in our nation's own greenhouse-gas emissions that cause climate change and exacerbate the effects of global poverty around the world. Click here to see more about the issue and send an easy to personalize message to your members of congress.
